You may have seen in the news that cyber attacks are becoming more and more common, as well as more sophisticated. With that in mind, organizations need way more than just standard security measures used in the past to defend themselves. They must stay ahead of attackers by having an understanding of their strategies, the tools they use, and possibly any weaknesses. That’s where threat intelligence hops in, providing valuable insights into the evolving threat landscape and enabling security teams within organizations to make actionable decisions.

‍

If you’ve seen such terms like cyber intelligence, tactical threat intelligence, or cyber threat analysis thrown around, but aren’t quite sure what they mean and what do they do in the field of cybersecurity, you’ve come to the right place. In this blog, we will break down what is threat intelligence, explain the types of it, and check out how it can enhance your own orgnaization’s security posture. Let’s roll!

What Is Threat Intelligence?

To put it bluntly, threat intelligence refers to collection and rigorous analysis of information about any up-and-comming or currently occurring threats that could compromise the company’s or organization’s assets, systems, networks, and anything along the lines of it. This process involves gathering raw data from various sources, processing that same data into meaningful information, and finally using it to inform incident response, vulnerability management, and threat-hunting efforts.

‍

Threat intelligence is a massive help hand for organization and it lets them understand threat actors – the cybercriminals, hacktivists, and nation-state actors behind any attacks. It provides actionable insights into their motives, what techniques they use, and their attack vectors (methods used to crack into systems). The main goal of threat intelligence is turning raw data into actionable threat intelligence that security teams can use to prevent cyberattacks before they happen.

Types of Threat Intelligence

Based on the nature of the data and audience that it serves, threat intelligence (a large subject on its own) is divided into distinct categories. Knowing these types is a massive help when you wish to grasp how threat intelligence fits into an organization’s security posture:

‍

• Tactical Threat Intelligence
  Tactical threat intelligence is focused on the immediate tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used by various threat actors. This category of cyber threat intelligence includes analysis of tools and methods used in specific attacks. To give an example, this threat intelligence might focus on a sophisticated phishing campaign that targets a very particular sector. The end goal of tactical intelligence is to support daily security operations by providing lighting-fast, actionable insights.
• Operational Threat Intelligence
  This type provides a broader understanding of threat actors' motivations and capabilities. It focuses on cyber threat analysis of specific campaigns or attack groups, helping security teams understand the "who" and "why" behind the attacks. Operational threat intelligence is useful for organizations that want to get ahead of potential threats by analyzing patterns and behaviors.
• Strategic Threat Intelligence
  Strategic threat intelligence offers a high-level view of the threat landscape and its potential impact on business decisions. This intelligence is often used by executives and decision-makers to align their security strategy with emerging threats. For instance, if a particular industry is being heavily targeted by a threat actor, executives can decide to allocate more resources to enhance security in that sector.
• Advanced Threat Intelligence
  Advanced threat intelligence goes a step further by using more sophisticated methods to track threat actors and predict potential threats. This often involves intelligence gathering from obscure or hard-to-access places, like the dark web, where attackers may be discussing or planning their activities. This kind of intelligence helps in threat hunting, where security professionals actively seek out potential threats before they can harm an organization.

The Intelligence Lifecycle

In the pursuit of understanding what is threat intelligence, it’s very important to wrap your head around the intelligence lifecycle – the process through which collected data transforms into actionable threat intelligence. This lifecycle typically follows these stages:

‍

1. Planning and Direction
   The first phase of the intelligence lifecycle. Here, the security team ponders the goal of the intelligence program. They do this by raising questions about what they need to know about the threats they are trying to analyze. The questions in mind could be something along the lines of what assets do we need to protect and who are our likely threat actors.
2. Collection
   The collection phase is not about admiring the collection of your comic book figurines. The collection phase involves gathering raw data from various sources such as internal security logs, external threat intelligence tools, dark web forums, and shared industry intelligence feeds. This data can include anything from malware signatures to specific attacker TTPs.
3. Processing
   Once data is collected, it needs to be put to actual use. Processing involves organizing the pure and raw data into a format that can be used for analysis. This might involve filtering out useless data that managed to wander into the dataset and prioritizing the most urgent threats.
4. Analysis
   In the analysis stage, these smart intelligence analysts go through the data to solve the puzzle and uncover patters that attackers use. Cyber threat intelligence analysts vigorously go through this data in the pursuit of getting closer to informed decisions. To illustrate, they might just see that a certain threat actor is doing some hard and dirty work by using a completely new type of malware that targets one specific, yet bad, vulnerability.
5. Dissemination
   The insights generated from the analysis need to be shared with the right people. This could mean alerting the security operations team about a specific attack vector or presenting strategic insights to C-level executives.
6. Feedback
   After the intelligence is used, feedback is crucial to ensure continuous improvement of the intelligence process. Security teams review the outcomes and refine their cyber threat intelligence framework based on lessons learned.

‍

Threat Hunting vs. Threat Intelligence

We’ve come a long way here in this blog, and you may have started wondering how threat hunting and threat intelligence differ. Before we continue, keep in mind that despite serving different purposes, the are absolutely crucial in enhancing the organization’s security. So what are the differences here?

‍

Threat hunting is the proactive approach where cybersec professionals actively go around various sources and look for threats that have managed to go past detection of traditional security tools. On the other hand, threat intelligence is all about gathering data to get ahead of the attackers and creating defenses before anything bad occurs.

‍

When mixing together threat hunting with threat intelligence and using them both at the same time, organizations can create comprehensive and state-of-the-art defense strategy. While threat hunting uncovers hidden attacks that are already there, threat intelligence provides information for the future, so to say: it helps preventing attacks before they happen, by knowing how those attacks may go down.

What Is CTI in Cyber Security?

CTI (Cyber Threat Intelligence), despite sounding very techy and difficult, is not that hard to get the grasp of. It refers to the very specific type of intelligence that is focused on cyber threats. CTI cybersecurity is fully dedicated to understanding and defending against potential threats that could wreak havoc on organization’s digital assets.

‍

The role of a cyber threat intelligence analyst is crucial in the process of CTI. These brainiac analysts collect and analyze data about various threat actors and the methods they use, providing very valuable insights to the security team at hand in the pursuit of making business decisions and preventing data theft.

The Importance of Operationalizing Threat Intelligence

Gathering intelligence is only half the battle. The real value comes from operationalizing threat intelligence—using the insights gathered to inform security actions and improve an organization’s defenses. This can include everything from fine-tuning security tools to better detect potential threats, to developing playbooks for incident response.

‍

For example, if threat intelligence reveals that certain attack vectors are being used more frequently by threat actors, the security team can prioritize monitoring those vectors. Likewise, if intelligence indicates an increased risk of attacks from a specific threat actor, additional resources can be dedicated to defending against their tactics.

Threat Intelligence Management and Continuous Improvement

To get the absolute best of threat intelligence, organizations are ought to have strong threat intelligence management in place, up and running. This involves making sure that the intelligence is integral to day-to-day security operations and aligned with broader business goals.

‍

One of the ways to ensure effective threat intelligence management is through the use of cyber threat intelligence frameworks, such as MITRE ATT&CK. These frameworks provide a structured and rigorous approach in identifying and mitigating attacks based on known techniques, patters, and procedures.

‍

Besides that, effective threat intelligence management requires pure commitment to continous improvement. Threat actors are constantly evolving, they do not sit idle and wait for tools to fall from the sky, and that’s why organization’s threat intelligence capabilities must evolve too. This process can involve upgrading threat intelligence tools, training cyber intelligence analysts, or refining intelligence lifecycle based on constantly new data and experiences.

Key Components of a Successful Threat Intelligence Program

A robust threat intelligence program includes several key components:

‍

• Actionable Insights
  Intelligence must be relevant and actionable, allowing security teams to quickly respond to potential threats and improve their security posture.
• Collaboration
  Effective intelligence requires collaboration across teams and even industries. Sharing intelligence within industry groups can help everyone stay informed about emerging attack vectors.
• Automation
  Given the vast amount of raw data collected, automating parts of the intelligence process can help organizations stay on top of evolving threats. Threat intelligence tools that use machine learning and artificial intelligence can help filter out false positives and highlight real threats.
• Incident Response Integration
  Intelligence must be tied to incident response strategies. This means ensuring that the security team is ready to act on the intelligence as soon as it’s received, whether it’s blocking an attack or patching a vulnerability.

‍

In the end, understanding what is threat intelligence is a must for any type of organization that is looking to stay one (or more) steps ahead of cybercriminals and protect its assets. By leveraging tactical, operational, strategic, and advanced threat intelligence, organizations can almost magically transform raw data into valuable insights that guide their security professionals in making informed, proactive decisions.

‍

From upgrading the armor of incident respons and vulnerabilty management to strengthening the overall security posture, threat intelligence plays the main role in today’s cybersec. As the threat landscape keeps on getting more advanced, staying informed and continuously improving your intelligence capabilities will be key to mitigating potential threats and staying many steps ahead of annoying and destructive threat actors.