Nicholas Au

Singapore · Husband · Father · CTI Analyst · auhoeweng@gmail.com

Former law enforcement officer specializing in cyber intelligence for 12 years. Decided to switch things up and bring my experience to the cybersecurity sector. Dedicated husband and father, loves spending time with my family.

OSINT and SOCMINT specialist, social engineering practitioner, GIAC Advisory Board Member. Certified in GCIH, GCTI and GOSI.

Check out my curated OSINT toolkit here.

Experience

Lead Cyber Threat Intelligence Consultant

Ensign InfoSecurity Pte Ltd

Intelligence operations lead, I oversee the team's daily operations, ensuring everything runs smoothly while coordinating cross-team collaboration, assisting with threat-informed threat hunting, incident response, and red-teaming efforts. I lead a skilled and diverse team of analysts, coming from all walks of lives, providing fresh perspectives into cyber news and issues. We make sure to stay ahead of emerging threats, and work closely with other teams to apply a threat-informed approach.

February 2024 - Present

Senior Cyber Threat Intelligence Consultant

Ensign InfoSecurity Pte Ltd

As a Senior CTI consultant, I focused on providing cyber threat intelligence and analysis for clients in the financial services and media sectors. I also spearheaded Ensign's managed phishing services and security awareness training, leveraging my expertise in social engineering. Although this work extended beyond traditional CTI responsibilities, my background in social engineering and social media intelligence (SOCMINT) made me a natural fit for these projects, allowing me to help clients enhance their overall security posture through targeted training and simulations.

June 2022 - February 2024

Field Intelligence Officer

Singapore Police Force - Police Intelligence Department

As an intelligence officer in the Singapore Police Force, my role focused on gathering intelligence and information from the local and regional cyberspace to ensure the safety and security of Singapore. My work gave me plenty of opportunities to gain experience in OSINT and SOCMINT research, allowing me to develop a deep understanding of local and regional social discourse, online trends and emerging threats. Beyond my core responsibilities, I also conducted training sessions for internal and external departments across Singapore's public service, sharing my expertise to strengthen broader intelligence capabilities. In this role, I also had the opportunity to participate in conferences organized by INTERPOL and the United Nations, focusing on cross-border collaboration and training for law enforcement across Southeast Asia. These initiatives aimed to raise the standards of cyber law enforcement in the region, allowing me to contribute to and learn from international efforts to strengthen cyber defense and intelligence-sharing between countries.

June 2010 - June 2022

Teaching Assistant for GIAC SEC487 - Open Source Intelligence

SANS Institute

I served as a Teaching Assistant for the GIAC Open-Source Intelligence Gathering and Analysis (SEC487) during SANS 2022 in Singapore from 17-22 October 2022. Under the guidance of Course Instructor Jeff Lomas, I supported students in mastering OSINT techniques and methodologies, providing assistance with practical exercises and facilitating discussions to enhance their learning experience.

October 2022

Teaching Assistant for GIAC FOR578 - Cyber Threat Intelligence

SANS Institute

I served as a Teaching Assistant for the GIAC Cyber Threat Intelligence (FOR578) during SANS Secure Singapore 2024 on 4 March 2024.

March 2024

Teaching Assistant for GIAC SEC497 - Practical OSINT

SANS Institute

I served as a Teaching Assistant for the GIAC Practical OSINT (SEC497) during SANS October Singapore 2024 on 21-26 October 2024. Under the guidance of Course Instructor Jeff Lomas, I supported students in mastering practical OSINT techniques, assisted with live Labs exercises and facilitating discussions using real world examples and case studies to supplement their learning.

October 2024

Education

Singapore Institute of Technology - University of Liverpool

Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Criminology and Security
Analysis and discussion of current local and global affairs, which involves cross-disciplinary subjects such as Sociology, Social Policy, Criminology and Research.

Activities and societies: SIT Community Service Club - President, Academic Year 2016/17
Student Management Committee - President, Academic Year 2016/17
Student Ambassador at University of Liverpool Experience Day 2016
SIT Representative at Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean’s Visit in March 2016
Organizing Committee - Dialogue with SITizens, An Evening with PM Lee Hsien Loong

University of Liverpool is a partner university of Singapore Institute of Technology.

August 2015 - May 2018

Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Diploma in Multimedia and Animation

Specialisation in Interactive Media, web and digital design

April 2007 - April 2010

Skills

  • MITRE ATT&CK Framework
  • Cyber Threat Intelligence
  • Deep & Dark Web Research with Social Engineering
  • OSINT & SOCMINT Research
  • Adobe Creative Suite
  • Public Speaking & Presentation

Interests

My personal interests revolve around spending quality time with my family, which is always my top priority. In my free time, I enjoy indulging in hobbies that I couldn't afford as a child, like collecting Pokémon cards, Digimon toys and figurines, professional yo-yoing, and playing with retro game consoles like the Gameboy Advance, SEGA Genesis, PlayStation VITA. I also love tinkering—whether it’s creating digital art and custom collectible cards or working on watchmaking projects using SEIKO parts (Seiko mods).

When forced indoors, I follow a number of Japanese and Korean comics (Manga and Manhwa) and indulge in Japanese anime. Some of my favourite titles include Digimon, Bleach and Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer).

Certifications

  • GIAC Advisory Board
  • GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH)
  • GIAC Cyber Threat Intelligence (GCTI)
  • GIAC Open Source Intelligence (GOSI)
  • MITRE Engenuity - ATT&CK® Threat Hunting and Detection Engineering Certification
  • MITRE Engenuity - ATT&CK® Purple Teaming Methodology Certification
  • MITRE Engenuity - ATT&CK® Adversary Emulation Methodology Certification
  • MITRE Engenuity - ATT&CK® Cyber Threat Intelligence Certification
  • MITRE Engenuity - ATT&CK® Security Operations Center Assessment Certification
  • NUS-ISS - Python for Data, Ops and Things
  • NUS-ISS - NICF - AISP Qualified Information Security Professional
  • Casugol - Advanced Data Science Professional (ADSP)

  • Currently pursuing Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). Please refer to my LinkedIn for verification of certifications.