Cyber Threat Intelligence: An Overview

It’s a concept often mentioned and discussed in light of recent cyber crimes on online data and information. But what is cyber threat intelligence really all about, and how does it deter these cyber attacks and protect private data online? 

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Cyber threat intelligence is the collection of information from open source intelligence, social media, human intelligence, technical expertise and resources, or intelligence from the deep and dark web. It seeks to research and analyze trends and technical developments in the areas of cybercrime, hactivism, and cyber espionage or cyber spying. The goal is to create preventive measures based on those accumulated data and maintain international security. 

Intelligence tactics, techniques, and procedures have existed long before cyberspace. They are ultimately rooted in defense, and in a military context the principles seek to know the intent of the opponent to inform battle strategies, or to prepare for an attack. 

Cyber threat intelligence is hardly an end-to-end process. It also goes by the intelligence cycle, where data collection is undertaken, results are analyzed, and the resulting intelligence is disseminated and evaluated in light of new information and consumer feedback. As technical intelligence, for example, one may look at indicators of specific malware. Meanwhile, operational intelligence is concerned with the details of an incoming attack and assesses the organization’s ability to determine future threats. 

Cyber threat intelligence has proven beneficial to every level of state, local, tribal, and territorial government entities, from senior executives to police chiefs to policy makers. It also offers value to experts such as security officers, terrorism analysts, and accountants. 

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Richard Blech is an entrepreneur, investor, and innovator. He is also the CEO of Secure Channels, a company that comes up with solutions designed to be customizable to its clients’ environment without compromising the level of protection it provides while avoiding additional maintenance and support efforts by support teams. Learn more on this page.

A Quick Look At Cyber Threat Intelligence

For today’s businesses and organizations, it is no longer enough to deal with cyberattacks once confronted by them, or act once damage has already been done. As a preemptive move, companies allocate time and resources to protective strategies such as cyber threat intelligence (CTI), is which organizing, analyzing, and refining information about potential or ongoing cyberattacks that threaten them.

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CTI is mainly intended to help companies and organizations know and understand the risks of common and severe threats from the outside, ranging from zero-day threats to advanced persistent threats or APTs. It involves detailed information about certain threats to help protect them from the most extensively damaging attacks that could occur in the future.

CTI can provide different benefits to different people in the organization. For directors and executives, it can help improve situational awareness and offer scalable, repeatable processes and platforms to leverage their security strategy. It will also help Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) to educate senior leadership on current and emerging risks, as well as the most effective ways to manage them.

This isn’t an end-to-end process, but instead a circular process known as the intelligence cycle. In the cycle, requirements are stated, data collection is implemented and evaluated, and the results are analyzed to produce intelligence reports. The resulting intelligence is disseminated and revisited regularly to consider new information and user/consumer feedback.

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The desired output is greater insight into cyber threats, making room for faster, more targeted responses to them as well as proper development and allocation of IT and other resources.

Richard Blech is the CEO of Secure Channels, a company that offers customized data security solutions without compromising the level of protection provided while avoiding additional maintenance and support efforts. For similar reads, click here.