Cecilia Anastos holds a Master’s Degree in Strategic Intelligence with specialty in Middle East Issues, a Graduate Certificate in Cybercrime, a B.A. in Criminal Justice w/sp in Psychology, and a Dog Trainer degree from the Animal Behavioral College.

Ms. Anastos is also an award-winner fine artist with her art studio located in Ramona, CA; and she trains service dogs for children with disabilities.

Fluent in five languages, she is a pioneer in the utilization of digitized open source and publicly available information to create actionable intelligence, and in the reduction of digital signatures in the cyberspace domain. She designed and taught the first cyber defense program to US Navy SEALs; as well as police departments, and private sector. She is a researcher in foreign policy, political affairs, demographic trends, socio-cultural dynamics, transnational gangs, indigenous groups, conflict resolution, and cultures in Latin America, Africa, Europe, and Eurasia, as well as in creating strategic models and analysis of predictability for countries and non-state organizations.

In 2016, Ms. Anastos was recognized as one of the most influential leaders in the field of cybersecurity by the San Diego Business Journal’s SDBJ500; and she founded her www.meridusk9.com and art studio www.ceciliaanastos.com.

Ms. Anastos is an Adjunct Professor at San Diego State University where she lectures on the topics of open source information collection and analysis (OSINT), risk management when online/operational security in the cyberspace domain.