C Y N T H I A
H E T H E R I N G T O N
Founder, OSMOSIS Institute | Founder & CEO, Hetherington Group
Cynthia Hetherington, MLS, MSM, CFE, CII is the founder and CEO of Hetherington Group, a cyber investigations consulting, publishing, and training firm. With over two decades of expertise, Ms. Hetherington is a leader in due diligence, corporate intelligence, and cyber investigations. She is the author of three books on conducting cyber investigations and annually trains over 7,200 investigators, security professionals, attorneys, accountants, auditors, military intelligence professionals, and federal, state, and local agencies on best practices. She shares her expertise in an increasingly data-intensive, cyber focused-world through the publication of an industry newsletter, an online blog, and by hosting the annual OSMOSIS Conference.
Ms. Hetherington leads national and international investigations in corporate due diligence and fraud, personal asset recovery, and background checks. With a specialization in the financial, pharmaceutical, and telecommunications industries, her cyber investigations have recovered millions of dollars in high profile corruption cases, assisting on the investigations of the top two Ponzi cases in United States history.
Ms. Hetherington shares her experiences and expertise as a keynote speaker and contributor at women-focused technology events and conferences across the U.S. She is an active member in the Women in Security Forum, the Women Presidents Organization, serves as on the Board of Advisors for Raven, an advocacy enterprise seeking to protect children from exploitation, and collaborates with The National Center for Women and Information Technology to inspire young girls to pursue careers in the industry. She also serves as a lecturer and mentor to CybHER.org and RocketGirls at CyberSpace Camps held at the Kennedy Space Center.
She shares her expertise in an increasingly data-intensive, cyber-focused world through timely publications, an online blog, leading the OSINT Academy (https://osintacademy.com/) and hosting the annual OSMOSIS Conference which provides lead-edge insights for professionals across the global cyber investigations field (https://osmosiscon.com/).
She has held several posts as an educator, including:
• Limited Term Adjunct Instructor in the College of Applied Science & Technology (CAST) at the University of Arizona
• Subject Matter Expert & OSINT Instructor at the National Security Agency Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Operations (CAE-CO) and Cyber Defense (CAE-CD)
• OSINT Instructor, Department of Defense, United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM)
• Faculty Member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE)
• Lead Instructor at OSINT Academy, a collaboration between Dakota State University, the United States National Security Agency and Hetherington Group
A mentor to women and other underrepresented populations across the professional digital ecosphere, Ms. Hetherington shares her experiences and expertise as a keynote speaker and contributor at women-focused technology events and conferences across the U.S. Among her memberships are the Women in Security Forum and the Women’s President Organization. She also serves on the Board of Advisors for Raven, an advocacy enterprise seeking to protect children from cyber exploitation. She collaborates with The National Center for Women and Information Technology to educate young women and girls about cyber and technology careers. She is also a lecturer and mentor to CybHER.org and RocketGirls at CyberSpace Camps held at the Kennedy Space Center.
Ms. Hetherington was awarded the prestigious Women in IT New York’s 2022 Security Leader of the Year. In 2021, Ontic Center for Protective Intelligence honored Ms. Hetherington with the Protective Intelligence Pioneer Award. In 2019, she was honored with the Enterprising Woman of the Year Award by Enterprising Women Magazine and the CybHER Warrior Award by Dakota State University Madison Cyber Labs. Also in 2019, she was shortlisted for the coveted Women in IT New York’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award and named a finalist in the esteemed Ernst & Young LLP New Jersey Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. Ms. Hetherington is a recipient of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ James Baker Speaker of the Year Award.