Threat Intelligence Research

Eric Clay.

Chief Marketing Officer and Co-Lead of Threat Intelligence Research at Flare. I research infostealer ecosystems, cybercriminal markets, and how AI is changing both sides of cybersecurity.

Scroll
About

Eric
Clay.

Eric Clay

I'm the Chief Marketing Officer and Co-Lead of Threat Intelligence Research at Flare, a cybersecurity company focused on external threat intelligence.

My research focuses on the infostealer ecosystem, initial access broker markets, dark web forums, and the growing role of AI in both cybercriminal operations and threat intelligence. I've published in academic journals, presented at DEF CON and BSides, and contributed to reports used by security teams across the industry.

Before Flare, I built marketing and go-to-market practices for cybersecurity companies including Dark Cubed, where I worked on U.S. Department of Defense contracts. I studied History at the University of Virginia.

Expertise

What I
Specialize In.

Infostealer Ecosystem
Research into infostealer malware variants, the infrastructure behind them, and the markets where stolen browser fingerprints and credentials are bought and sold.
Cybercrime Economy
How criminal markets operate: access brokerage, forum dynamics, pricing structures, and the supply chains connecting initial access to ransomware deployment.
Cybercrime Use of AI Tools
Tracking how threat actors adopt AI to improve attack efficiency, lower skill barriers, and automate techniques that previously required manual effort.
AI for Threat Intelligence
Using large language models to extract signal from cybercrime forums, classify threats at scale, and surface relevant intelligence for security teams.
Publications & Presentations

Research &
Writing.

2024
The Use of Large Language Models for Cyber Threat Intelligence in Cybercrime Forums
arXiv · Oct 2024
Publication
Inside the Browsers Secrets
BSides NOVA · Sep 2024
Presentation
Stealer Logs: Access and Espionage in the World's Most Interesting Data Set
DEF CON 32 · Aug 2024
Presentation
Breached Identities and Infostealers: Inside One of the Largest Ongoing Data Leaks in History
Flare · Aug 2024
Publication
Stealer Logs, Single Sign-On and the New Era of Corporate Cybercrime
Flare · 2024
Publication
Initial Access Broker Landscape in NATO Member States on Exploit Forum
Flare · Feb 2024
Report
2023
Data Extortion Ransomware & The Cybercrime Supply Chain: Key Trends in 2023
Flare · Sep 2023
Report
Initial Access Brokers, Russian Hacking Forums, and the Underground Corporate Access Economy
Flare · Aug 2023
Report
How the Dark Web is Reacting to the AI Revolution
FS-ISAC · 2023
Presentation
From Business to Black Market: The New Frontier of AI Exploits
Flare · Virtual, 2023
Presentation
Dissecting the Stealer Malware Lifecycle with the MITRE ATT&CK Framework
Flare · 2023
Publication
AI, Machine Learning, and the Future of Cybersecurity in 2023
Flare Webinar · 2023
Presentation
From the Blog

Recent
Writing.

First post coming soon.

Writing on infostealer ecosystems, cybercriminal markets, and AI in cybersecurity.

Contact

Get in
Touch.

Research collaborations, speaking invitations, press inquiries, or anything related to threat intelligence and cybersecurity. I'm reachable.

eric.clay@flare.io