CYBER THREAT INTELLIGENCE (CTI) & MODERN SECURITY STRATEGIES

(Microsoft Designer)

Daily, global news about cyber security violations and their effects laces the headlines. According to a Webroot survey in 2019, a staggering 40% of companies experienced a material security breach within just 24 months. Shockingly, 80% of these organizations believed they could have prevented or mitigated the attack’s consequences with access to timely threat intelligence. (SIRP, 2019). “With threat intelligence, you gain knowledge, which empowers you to prevent or mitigate attacks on your network.” (Fortinet). As we explore CTI and its facets, we will outline its importance, components, and practical implementation.

A Proactive Defense Strategy

“Threat intelligence [TI] is data that is collected, processed, and analyzed to understand a threat actor’s motives, targets, and attack behaviours.” (CrowdStrike, 2023).

Imagine the CIA tasked with protecting the United States. They gather intelligence to predict and neutralize threats to national security. Similarly, TI empowers organizations to anticipate cyber threats and take preemptive actions.

Defence With Offensive Traits

Rather than simply reacting to attacks and responding to incidents, CTI encourages a proactive defence strategy — involving actively hunting for threats, analyzing adversary tactics - understanding the threat landscape and turning the tables on attackers by using their tactics against them. Understanding threat actors’ methods and motivations can empower organizations to anticipate and prepare for potential attacks, essentially going on the ~offensive~ against cyber threats.

The offensive traits in defence that CTI provides include the following:

· Threat Hunting: This is proactively searching for indicators of compromise (IoCs) within a network to identify potential threats before they escalate using elements of known or documented intelligence from trusted cyber intelligence sources.

· Adversary Simulation: Red team exercises to simulate real-world attacks, identify vulnerabilities to understand weaknesses and refine defensive capabilities.

· Predictive Analysis: Using TI data to forecast potential threats and mitigate them proactively allows organizations to stay ahead of attackers and transform their defence posture from reactive to proactive.

Elements of CTI

1. Strategic: Provides a high-level overview of threats and their potential impact. Analogous to the national security briefings of the CIA that provide high-level insights on geopolitical threats and are used to formulate strategies of national interests from a well-informed position. Executives, senior management. The target audience includes executives and senior management
2. Tactical: Offers actionable information about specific threats and TTPs. For example, the CIA might detail specific espionage tactics in covert operations, such as gathering information about particular terrorist communication methods, safe houses, and operational plans and using these details to disrupt the activities of the terrorist group. Tactical intelligence helps organizations defend against the methods used by attackers. The target audience includes security analysts, incident response teams
3. Operational: Delivers real-time insights into ongoing cyberattacks and can be likened to typical real-time monitoring and response to active threats by the CIA when they receive a credible tip about an imminent terrorist attack. The information and urgency required to repel such attacks make the CIA shift into operational mode. The focus will be gathering details about the plot, identifying the instigators or perpetrators, and coordinating with local authorities to prevent the attack. The target audience includes security operations centers (SOCs), and threat hunters.
4. Technical: Focuses on technical details of threats, such as IoCs and malware analysis, and is comparable to technical surveillance by the CIA, involving a detailed analysis of foreign weapons systems — in its unit components — to develop defence strategies and countermeasures. The target audience includes Malware analysts, security engineers

(Note: An alternative 3-type categorization exists where the 3-type variant combines Tactical and Technical as one).

Why Organizations Need CTI and How to Operationalize It

Organizations need CTI to enhance security posture by understanding the threat landscape and strengthening defences. CTI provides actionable insights that facilitate informed decision-making, enabling better risk management and resource allocation and accelerating incident response through timely threat intelligence.

Successfully implementing CTI requires a strategic approach, including:

• Establishing a dedicated CTI team.
• Integrating CTI into existing security operations.
• Leveraging CTI analytics platforms.
• Building a culture of threat intelligence awareness.

To Conclude, CTI is essential for modern cybersecurity and can significantly enhance enterprises’ ability to defend against cyber threats by adopting a proactive approach.

Why not begin (or review) your CTI journey today by assessing your current threat intelligence capabilities?

Thank you for reading!

Reference: Samuel Fabeyo | LinkedIn | © 2024