OfficerCIA is a veteran threat researcher, OpSec educator, and writer known for his contributions to blockchain security and online anonymity. He consults at LegalBlock, helps train teams in operational security best practices, and serves as an admin for the influential LobsterDAO community. With years of hands-on experience in threat intelligence, onchain investigations, and security tooling, OfficerCIA has become a widely respected voice in the DeFi and Web3 security space.
From Telegram chatrooms to targeted threats, one of crypto’s most principled threat researchers reflects on OSINT, burnout, and building your own line of defense.
A quiet town, an iPhone, and the first Ethereum paycheck
Before he became OfficerCIA - a fixture in crypto security circles, LobsterDAO contributor, and architect of some of web3’s most respected OpSec guides - he was just a teenager in a provincial town of 400,000 people, working a metal shop job to save up for an iPhone.
His dream of studying in the capital had fallen flat. Money was tight. His university prospects were going nowhere.
“At 18, I didn’t think I had a future. Then Telegram changed everything.”
Telegram opened a portal to a different reality filled with visionaries, traders, and thinkers. It felt like the antithesis of the dead-end options in his town. His first real crypto job paid him in Ethereum.
“Vitalik and Pavel (Durov, founder of Telegram) didn’t just make tools. They gave people like me a path out.”
Between 2016 and 2018, he dabbled in graffiti, extreme sports, and online subcultures. Then crypto faded into the background as he took up work in a bank’s security department.
But this detour would be a brief one.
Dracula Protocol and the birth of OfficerCIA
In 2020, a former colleague called with a job offer: $2,000 a month to run social media for Dracula Protocol. At the time, he was juggling two jobs and had just moved to the capital with barely anything.
“I saw it as a lifeline. I needed out. That job gave me breathing room.”
That’s when he adopted the pseudonym OfficerCIA; a tongue-in-cheek handle inspired by a GTA Online role and a binge of series like Snowfall. He became active on the social audio app Clubhouse, then moved to Twitter as his following grew.
But within six months, he grew uneasy. The protocol’s founders remained elusive, and their intentions murky.
“I didn’t know who I was working for. I started asking questions. Things didn’t add up.”
He walked away, choosing instead to build something of his own — a blog, a toolkit, and a voice that would become one of the most trusted in the space.
LobsterDAO and the rise of a researcher
LobsterDAO became the next inflection point - a Telegram community built around Web3 culture, DeFi critique, and cybersecurity.
There, OfficerCIA shared guides, ran experiments, and grew a reputation for no-nonsense educational content on threat analysis and personal OpSec.
“It’s one of the rare places where people actually want to learn. That kept me going.”
His “OpSec Self-Guard Roadmap” became a widely shared starting point for users seeking to protect themselves.
And his investigative toolkit, built from dozens of niche utilities, became a launchpad for a new kind of research community.
Walking away from OSINT
Much of his early reputation came from open-source intelligence, also known as OSINT, where he focused on what he calls the “light side” of the practice: finding missing links, exposing fake projects, and piecing together fragmented data.
But the work grew dangerous.
“In 2020, OSINT was still relatively safe. That changed fast.”
He began receiving requests from law enforcement to assist with criminal investigations, without status, without protection, just money. That was the line.
“I don’t want to take sides. I don’t want to be used to hurt someone. Walking away was one of the hardest decisions I’ve made.”
And the risk wasn’t just digital.
He recounts a job investigating ad fraud at a pet food store. He discovered $50,000 a month being siphoned by a co-founder through fake affiliate campaigns.
When he told the truth, 20 anonymous reports were filed against him in a single day, including false accusations that he was a terrorist.
“Police came to my door. I was questioned, then released. But the trauma stuck. I still jump at the doorbell.”
Since then, he’s chosen to work in the open, using his real name and being transparent about who he is.
“If something happens to me, I want there to be a record.”
The human layer of DeFi security
For all the focus on smart contract bugs and protocol exploits, OfficerCIA says most attacks still start with people, not code.
“People are still the weakest link. Always have been.”
In his experience, even the best-funded teams fall short not because of technical flaws, but because they overlook basic human dynamics. The failure to stay current with known exploits. The tendency to avoid reading “disturbing” post-mortems. The lack of muscle memory when it comes to real-world incident response.
“Some teams won’t even click on case studies about physical robberies or phishing campaigns. They say it’s ‘too dark.’ That mindset is a liability.”
For him, real security starts with culture, and a clear understanding of Kerckhoffs’s Principle, the idea that a system should remain secure even if everything about it is public, except the key.
In a distributed, remote-first crypto environment, this mindset is non-negotiable. If a single team member is compromised, whether through malware, coercion, or social engineering, the system must have barriers in place to contain the breach.
A truly secure-by-default DeFi operation, in his view, would minimise critical access, enforce multi-signature wallets wherever possible, and train its staff like first responders.
That means regular drills, incident simulations, and clear protocols for reacting under pressure. It also means equipping contributors with practical tools like Little Snitch or LuLu for monitoring bandwidth anomalies, Dangerzone for safely opening untrusted files, and Fire or PocketUniverse to flag potentially malicious transaction signatures.
Even basic digital hygiene, like never reusing emails across platforms, can make a meaningful difference.
“You train for this like firefighters do. Simulations, drills, reaction speed. You can’t just rely on luck.”
He also flags certain behaviours that should raise concern during hiring or contributor onboarding. Anyone who creates urgency, insists on using sketchy third-party apps for calls, or tries to bypass verification processes should be treated with caution. In his experience, social engineering often starts small — a shortcut here, a favour there — until trust is weaponised.
“They’ll say, ‘Just use this random app, I can’t do Zoom.’ That’s a red flag. Always.”
What’s needed, he says, is a culture of calm skepticism. Not paranoia, but a shared expectation that everyone checks twice before clicking a link or approving a transaction. Because at the end of the day, no tool or audit can replace discipline.
“You don’t need perfect tools. You need habits. You need a team that knows when to slow down and ask questions.”
Infostealers, drainers, and crypto’s real enemies
OfficerCIA sees a growing convergence between the attack methods of web2 and web3.
Malware-as-a-service, affiliate leak kits, and phishing-as-a-product are all now designed to specifically target crypto users.
“Pink Drainer. RedLine. Inferno. They’re not future threats…they’re already here.”
The tools are smart. They scrape wallet addresses, seed phrases, browser fingerprints, and combine traditional phishing with web3-specific lures, like malicious smart contracts and fake delegation links.
“This space attracts attackers because the stakes are high and the barriers are low.”
He urges users to isolate wallets by purpose, avoid reusing emails, and always assume someone is trying to trick them.
“You could be a target. That’s the baseline assumption.”
Audits, bounties, and the false comfort of stickers
Security audits, he says, have become little more than marketing devices for many protocols.
“They slap on a badge and move on. It doesn’t mean anything if it’s not rigorous.”
He’s worked with white-hat groups and bounty platforms like Immunefi and Remedy. While useful, he warns they’re not a silver bullet.
“Contests are cool. But when the codebase is fragile, it’s better to hire old-school firms who go line-by-line.”
He’s also seen projects fail to pay out, or quietly patch issues without crediting the researchers who disclosed them. Transparency, he says, is too often lacking.
“We need better standards. Not just incentives — accountability.”
Justice, karma, and the long game
For someone who’s brushed up against criminal networks, been threatened with violence, and suffered burnout more than once, his ethics remain unusually intact.
“I tried going dark. I tried doing shady stuff. Every time, something bad happened. It felt like karma.”
He believes strongly in cause and effect, and in helping others stay safe instead of chasing revenge.
“My family history taught me something: honest work matters, even when it doesn’t pay right away.”
His great-grandparents survived famine in the Soviet Union thanks to buried treasure they found while working construction. They were poor but honest, and in the end, their luck turned. That story stuck with him.
“I think if you live right, the universe notices.”
Now, his goals are simpler: keep teaching, stay healthy, and find a quiet place to live. He doesn’t own property. He hasn’t struck it rich on memecoins. But he’s still standing.
“You don’t need to be a millionaire to live in peace. You just need to know you did the right thing.”
Building the wall
He ended our conversation with a metaphor he’s returned to often that ties together his philosophy of OpSec, resilience, and survival.
“OpSec isn’t one tool or one guide. It’s a wall you build yourself.”
A wall you maintain. A wall you repair. A wall no one else is going to build for you.
“There’s no plug-and-play solution. It’s about knowing your risks, knowing your rules, and staying one step ahead, even when you’re tired.”
He hopes to return to OSINT someday. But only when the world makes more room for people like him; people who investigate without harming, who protect without stealing.
Until then, he’ll keep teaching others how to build their own wall, relentlessly, brick by brick.
Want to learn how to stay safe in this digital world, or brush up on your web3 security practices?
OfficerCIA publishes practical security guides, threat analysis, onchain investigation tools and more across his platforms: