Who am I
Hey there! I’m Simone Mattia, an Italian security researcher currently working as a threat intelligence analyst at Cleafy. I somehow ended up bridging the gap between information security and data science – and yes, I was doing AI before it was cool to call everything AI!
I’m particularly interested in threat intelligence and how we can leverage statistical and machine learning techniques to extract meaningful insights from threat actors and their malware campaigns. My current work involves hunting down malware families linked to financial crimes, uncovering new threats, and building models that can detect and classify malware at scale.
What’s this blog about
DL4Sec stands for Deep Learning for Security, and that pretty much sums up what you’ll find here. The goal is simple: show real-world applications of deep learning in security problems. Too often, security researcher stay away from AI/statistics, and data scientists don’t dive deep into security challenges. This blog aims to bridge that gap by sharing practical examples, insights, and approaches that actually work in the wild.
Background
My journey started with a Bachelor’s in Information Security, where i established a strong theoretical foundation covering computer science fundamentals, cryptography, and principles of system and network security. Throughout this period, i actively participated in CTFs to apply the theoretical knowledge in practice. I recently completed my Master’s in Data Science, which has given me a solid secondary background in statistical modeling, machine learning, and data analysis techniques.
Before my current role, i mainly worked on designing network analysis models - essentially systems that monitor internet traffic and computer activities to spot unusual patterns that might indicate security threats or malicious behavior. These days, i’m deep into proactive threat hunting, actively searching for and uncovering new threats before they can cause damage. I analyze malicious software and the infrastructure that criminals use to control it. To handle the massive scale of this work, i typically use statistical methods and machine learning to build systems that can automatically detect, categorize, and group similar threats together.
Contact me
Feel free to reach out if you have questions about any of the topics i write about, want to discuss potential collaborations, or just want to connect with a fellow security researcher!