Tailored Intelligence From the Deep: Inside Qintel
From Phoenix Cast by Task Force Phoenix
June 2, 2026 · 59 min
About this episode
The episode features a discussion with former FBI agent Keith Mularski and retired Marine Damon Mathews about intelligence operations in cyberspace.
In this episode of Phoenix Cast, John and Rich sit down with Keith Mularski and Damon Mathews from Qintel. Keith is the former FBI agent who went undercover in DarkMarket as "Master Splyntr," eventually becoming a top-five spammer in the world and a "made man" in the cybercriminal underground before the operation culminated in 80+ arrests. Damon is a retired Marine CI/HUMINT officer now running national security operations at Qintel, and he walks through the years of policy fights and lawyer wrangling that came with pulling human collection into cyberspace. The conversation gets into attribution, what counts as intelligence versus evidence, and when "name and shame" is the right move. Worth a listen if you've ever wondered how 20 years of global collection becomes an 80% solution at the operational level, or why your Uber Eats password might be the thing that outs your tradecraft. We'd love to hear your thoughts! Tweet us @ThePhoenixCast, and don't forget to join our LinkedIn Group to connect with fellow Phoenix Casters. If you enjoyed the episode, help us out by leaving one of those coveted 5-star reviews on Apple Podcasts. Thanks for listening…
People in this episode
Hosts: John, Rich
Guests: Keith Mularski, Damon Mathews
Topics covered
- cybersecurity
- intelligence
- human collection
- cybercriminal underground
- national security
- policy
- attribution
Keywords
- Qintel
- cybercrime
- FBI
- DarkMarket
- intelligence operations
- human intelligence
- cybersecurity policy
- attribution
- evidence
- tradecraft
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Qintel, FBI, DarkMarket, Uber Eats, Pitt Cyber, Police1
More episodes of Phoenix Cast
- Canvas Hack, Firefox Using Mythos & Dirty Frag · May 14, 2026 · 55 min
- The Warrant Officer Part 2 - CW4 Justin Helphenstine · April 24, 2026 · 1h 24m
- Katie Moussouris & Project Glasswing · April 15, 2026 · 1h 23m
- Kyle Kills Databases · April 6, 2026 · 59 min
- Gen AI Conference · March 24, 2026 · 1h 9m
- Every Marine an AI Rifleman · March 4, 2026 · 1h 2m
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Phoenix Cast podcast page.