To view this site you need Adobe Flash Player and your browser must allow javaScripts. Go here to get the latest Flash Player. LEADERSHIP PROFILE BY DAVID SILVERBERG IT’S THE RARE PERSON WHO WILL COME FORWARD UP FRONT AND SAY THAT HE IS PUTTING HIS PAST EXPERIENCE AS A FELON AT THE SERVICE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT, INTELLIGENCE AND HOMELAND SECURITY. In the late 1990s, Michael Bagley was having a tough time financially. A self-employed security consultant who had previously worked on Capitol Hill, he succumbed to temptation. Using some inside information or “social engineering” as it’s known, he used what’s known as a “cage code,” to engineer the transfer of $144,000 from a client company to a gambling casino to cash in a bank in Boston. The first transfer worked. But Bagley went to the well again and the crime was discovered. He was charged with felony fraud and embezzlement and did 73 days in jail and probation as part of a plea agreement. Most people wouldn’t venture near the security industry again after that—or even venture into the public realm. However, Bagley, along with a veteran law enforcement investigator and a cybersecurity expert, last year created The OSINT Group—a Washington, DC-based private intelligence company serving government and private clients. Principals include longtime law enforcement veteran James Smith who, as a private contractor, was part of the US Army effort code-named “Able Danger” that identified Mohammed Atta through data mining as a potential terrorist prior to Sept. 11, 2001 and Karim Hijazi, a counterintelligence, cybersecurity and risk assessment expert. Bagley claims his principals and their associates can produce better, deeper and more connected information using open source data than government or private sector clients can themselves and serve as a “black hat” adversary to strengthen cyber defenses. “Over the last several years, I made a conscious decision to make moves in the national security and cybersecurity sector because I felt like I needed to make an effort to amend for my own ‘intrusion’ into another company,” said Bagley. “In an ironic way, it takes guys who think like me to catch guys who think like me. This is sort of the Frank Abagnale phenomenon. If you saw the Leo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks film, day in newspaper recruitment advertisements for network and cybersecurity experts and people with open source expertise but very little of that resides within existing government agencies or corporations. According to OSINT promotional materials, the company can legally access what it calls “The Deep Web” with technology that provides access to 500 times more sources than conventional Web search engines and can query multiple search sites directly and simultaneously. According to Bagley his team is the best at searching for connected data and then putting it together. “If someone were doing it better, there probably wouldn’t be as many opportunities as there are, there wouldn’t be so many job openings for open source intelligence analysts,” he contended. Bagley is especially concerned that government agencies are hampered by restrictions, clearance requirements and bureaucratic stovepipes. “I have always been a friend of the [intelligence] community [IC]. For the past several years I’ve watched them, I’ve observed them, I’ve monitored them and I realized that open source intelligence is an increasingly valuable commodity for not only the IC but the government but it’s not being used to the best capacity that it can be for any number of reasons: stovepipe reasons, limited outside/external availability of information.” Further, he said, “government intelligence is antiquated. It’s status quo in, status quo out.” One of Bagley’s constant themes is the utility of having an outsider challenging existing assumptions, particularly when it comes to hacking and network intrusions. “Black operations require people to think this way,” he argued. “Otherwise, there are no black teams. If we were all thinking the white way, the right way, we’d have no ability to counter these kinds of events or operations. It takes both kinds of people to work this way.” It’s all part of penance for past transgressions, Bagley said. “In order to do more than I was supposed to do by the court, I wanted to help law enforcement catch people like me and be a friend to the intelligence community—because I know this is a global menace, not just a domestic issue.” HST MICHAEL BAGLEY Chief Executive Officer OSINT Group “Over the last several years, I made a conscious decision to make moves in the national security and cybersecurity sector because I felt like I needed to make an effort to amend for my own ‘intrusion’ into another company.” ‘Catch Me If You Can,’ then you will understand how this works.” Given this history, why should any client trust Bagley and OSINT? According to Bagley, it’s because he’s just a conduit to the rest of the team. “I’m the interface, the strategic operator,” he said. “I’m not doing the technical work. I can’t qualify for clearances. The folks on our technical team would do it. I am the portal to those people. We’re not positioning ourselves to be a true government contractor;we’re positioning ourselves to be a private sector black team and supplement the work that a client can do—or not do. We’re more consulting support and the client could effectively put as many layers as he wants between me personally and the work.” A perceived need Bagley said he sees a need for the kinds of services provided by OSINT Group every 52 April 2009 | www.HSToday.us This month’s issue is now available online at…