Today, digital technologies are the heart of almost every business. The greater connectedness and automation they offer have revolutionized cultural institutions and economies around the globe—but they’ve also come with a barrage of cyber threats. 

Threat intelligence (sometimes called open-source intelligence) is knowledge that helps you prevent or mitigate threats. When grounded in data, threat intelligence offers context—including who is attacking your systems, their capabilities and motives, and compromise indicators to watch out for. Ultimately, this helps you make educated decisions about your cybersecurity. 

Demystifying Threat Intelligence

Threat intelligence entails collecting information about potential and existing cybersecurity threats, examining the data, and applying insights to forecast, detect, and neutralize cyber threats before they compromise a network. It involves more than installing antivirus software or firewalls; it’s about understanding the environment of cybersecurity threats, methods employed by hackers, their sources, and potential targets.

Today, there are many types of cyber attacks, including malware, zero-day exploits, man-in-the-middle attacks, phishing, and denial-of-service attacks. Different ways of attacking and compromising networks and computer systems often evolve as cybercriminals find new weaknesses to exploit. 

Fortunately, threat intelligence helps businesses stay informed about new cybersecurity threats so that they can safeguard themselves. Cybersecurity professionals can organize, examine, and refine the data they collect about cybersecurity attacks to learn from and leverage it to better protect businesses. Being prepared reduces the possibility of cyber attacks and the severity and cost of data breaches if they occur.

Threat intelligence allows you to enhance your cybersecurity defenses by offering in-depth knowledge about potential and existing threats. In-depth knowledge about potential attacks and their tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) allows for improved cybersecurity planning and targeted resource allocation. That ultimately helps you defend your business against specific attacks most relevant to your industry.

Instead of reacting to cybersecurity threats as they happen, threat intelligence allows for a proactive approach. It helps you identify potential threats and weaknesses, allowing you to mitigate threats before damage occurs.

Threat intelligence can improve incident response times and effectiveness. By understanding potential attackers' tactics and techniques, you can proactively prepare and adapt your cybersecurity defenses. Threat intelligence can facilitate swift detection and targeted responses when an attack occurs, reducing damage. 

Also, by leveraging insights from similar past incidents, threat intelligence can offer you a road map for recovery. Post-incident, it aids learning and refining preparations for future cybersecurity attacks. 

Threat intelligence is classified into four types depending on the nature and scope of data provided. These classes represent an elaborate approach, addressing immediate cybersecurity threats (tactical and technical) and broader trend analysis (strategic and operational).

The four types of threat intelligence include:

1. Tactical 

This form of threat intelligence deals with the specific tools and methods cybercriminals use. It offers insights into a business's immediate threats, including phishing techniques and new malware.

2. Operational

This type of threat intelligence deals with information cybersecurity professionals can use as part of active threat management to prevent a specific threat. It includes information about an attack's motive and the nature and timing of the cybersecurity threat. Ideally, this information must be collected from attackers, making it difficult to obtain.

3. Technical

This type of threat intelligence deals with indicators of compromise, such as domains, IP addresses, and malware hashes associated with cybercriminals. 

4. Strategic Intelligence

This threat intelligence assesses the bigger picture. It offers insights into emerging risks and long-term trends in the cybersecurity arena. It enables organizations to understand how higher-level factors like law, technology, and geopolitics affect cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Strategic threat intelligence helps organizations plan their long-term security strategies, understand where to invest their resources and efforts, and adapt as the threat intelligence landscape evolves.

Human vs. Machine: The Role of Automation in Threat Intelligence

The volume of cyber threats is increasing, with over 30% more threats reported in 2022 vs. 2018. Data breaches are also increasing, with cybersecurity vulnerabilities costing $4.45 million in 2023 vs. $3.62 million in 2017. 

Thus, the importance of automated threat intelligence is quite obvious to those working in the cybersecurity industry today. The increasing numbers mentioned above and the lack of cybersecurity experts imply that automation is a valuable solution. 

If threat intelligence operations are automated, you can identify and respond to cybersecurity threats swiftly, right?

However, a common mistake among many businesses is assuming that humans have no role to play once they’ve automated their threat intelligence operations. They view automation as completely humanless, hands-off threat intelligence. 

But in reality, humans play critical roles, even in highly automated workflows. That’s because robust threat intelligence is highly dependent on human beings for many reasons. 

First, humans must create the programs and software that drive automated threat intelligence. Humans must configure those tools, add new features to overcome new obstacles and improve and optimize their performance. They must also tell automated tools where to collect data, where to look, where to store it, etc.

Further, human beings must design and train the algorithms that examine collected data. Threat intelligence automations should identify all relevant vulnerabilities, but without searching extensively, they come up with irrelevant data and produce false positive alerts.

Essentially, threat intelligence tools don’t design or configure themselves. Skilled humans are needed to do that work.

Additionally, cybersecurity threats constantly evolve, and humans must ensure that threat intelligence evolves with them. They must also conduct the research needed to identify the digital locations of new threat actors and novel attack techniques and iterate upon threat intelligence collection tools to keep up with the constantly evolving threat environment. 

As we’ve discussed the indispensable role of humans in threat intelligence, it’s clear that the synergy between machine and human intelligence is the path to robust defense. The interdependence of human creativity, intuition, and adaptive capabilities and the prowess of machine intelligence define the future of cybersecurity resilience.

Dark Web Threats: Unveiling the Hidden Dangers

The internet has brought in a world of unprecedented knowledge sharing, connectivity, and convenience. But, besides the visible web surface lies a covert network known as the dark web. This is a shadowy surface where anonymity rules and illegal operations thrive.

The dark web houses thriving actors that create, distribute, and monetize complex malware and exploits. Once detected, zero-day weaknesses are sold to the highest bidder, exposing organizations to data breaches, ransomware attacks, and system hijacking.

This dangerous online spot is a bustling market for hackers to exchange stolen information, services, and hacking tools, promoting financial fraud, network breaches, and identity theft. Everything is up for grabs, from personal to confidential corporate data, posing a grave danger to businesses and individuals.

Thus, as the danger of credential compromise on the dark web grows, organizations must take proactive measures to protect their confidential data. Working with a skilled dark web monitoring consultant can help businesses identify and mitigate these cybersecurity threats. 

Further, regularly backing up sensitive data to cloud storage and offline solutions can help you protect your digital assets. This practice ensures that even though your systems are compromised, your essential files and data aren’t irretrievably lost. Execute robust data encryption measures to protect confidential data, making it useless to hackers.

Threat Intelligence Sharing: Building a Collaborative Defense

To thwart advanced and relentless cybersecurity threats effectively, you must embrace a collaborative approach beyond individual cybersecurity strategies. Recently, threat intelligence sharing has emerged as a vital tool to enhance security defenses by leveraging the collective insights and knowledge of the cybersecurity community.

By trading information about emerging cybersecurity risks, indicators of compromise (IOCs), and attack techniques, businesses can gain a broader perspective and be on top of evolving cybersecurity risks. 

Companies face a common enemy in the ever-changing landscape of cybersecurity risks: cybercriminals. To effectively curb these risks, businesses need to appreciate the power of collaboration and leverage the collective insights and knowledge of the cybersecurity community. Threat intelligence sharing helps organizations to pool their experiences, insights, and resources to develop a robust defense mechanism against cybersecurity threats. By working with trusted industry partners, peers, and information-sharing communities, you can enhance your threat intelligence capabilities and be ahead of the cybercriminals.

Collaboration in threat intelligence sharing fosters the exchange of timely and actionable insights. When companies share threat intelligence, they can get real-time updates on emerging risks, malicious activities, and IOCs. The shared threat intelligence allows participating businesses to proactively identify and respond to cybersecurity threats within their own digital environments. By accessing timely alerts and insights from credible sources, you can take swift action to safeguard your systems, strengthen your cybersecurity defenses, and block malicious activities.

Further, collaboration on shared threat intelligence enhances the effectiveness and speed of threat detection and response. When threat intelligence is shared with trusted sources, the collective insights and knowledge can be leveraged to identify trends, patterns, and IOCs across different systems and networks. 

That collaborative approach ensures faster detection of potential risks and the sharing of best practices and incident response strategies. By learning from other’s experiences and leveraging shared threat intelligence, you can respond swiftly to attacks, reduce the impact, and recover quickly. 

However, to establish trusted relationships and build effective intelligence sharing networks, you must:

  • Establish clear guidelines and objectives
  • Foster mutual confidentiality and trust
  • Facilitate active participation and collaboration
  • Standardize sharing protocols and data formats

Remember that your organization’s strength lies in unity and collaboration with trusted peers. Sharing threat intelligence can transform how you defend your company against cyber threats, paving the way for a secure digital future. 

The Art of Cyber Threat Hunting: Proactive Defense Strategies

Cybersecurity threat hunting has emerged as a powerful defense strategy in the ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape. Cybersecurity threat hunting is a proactive approach in cybersecurity, where cybersecurity experts actively search for vulnerabilities and threats that might have bypassed traditional cybersecurity measures. Unlike a reactive approach, which responds to threats after a breach has occurred, cyber threat hunting aims to detect and counter threats before they can cause substantial damage. This approach calls for a deep understanding of cybersecurity and the various TTPs cybercriminals use.

Cyber threat hunting assumes that cybercriminals are already in the system, and it initiates an investigation to detect unusual behavior that indicates the presence of malicious activity. In proactive cyber threat hunting, the initiation of investigation often falls into three primary categories:

1. Hypothesis-Driven Investigation

These investigations are triggered by a new cyber threat detected through crowdsourced attack data, offering insights into cybercriminals’ latest TTPs. Once a new TTP has been detected, threat hunters look to discover if the cybercriminal’s specific behavior is found in their own digital environment.

2. Investigation Based on Known IOCs and Indicators of Attack (IOAs)

This approach to cyber threat hunting entails leveraging tactical threat intelligence to record known IOAs and IOCs linked to the new cyber threats. These now become triggers that threat hunters employ to detect ongoing malicious activity or potential hidden attacks.

3. Machine Learning Investigations and Advanced Analytics

The third technique combines machine learning and robust data analysis to sieve through massive amounts of data to uncover vulnerabilities that might indicate potential malicious activity. These vulnerabilities become hunting leads that skilled cybersecurity analysts investigate to uncover stealthy cybersecurity threats.

All three approaches of cyber threat hunting are human-powered efforts that combine sophisticated cybersecurity technology with threat intelligence resources to safeguard a business’s data and systems proactively.

Threat Intelligence for Small Businesses: A Practical Guide

Stories of cybersecurity breaches at high-profile organizations have certainly raised awareness of the value of robust threat intelligence strategies for businesses. However, such stories might have resulted in a false sense of security among some small businesses that feel they aren’t significant or large enough to attract the attention of cybercriminals.

But the size of a company doesn’t matter. If your organization works with any kind of digital data, it can be targeted by malicious actors. Although a small business might not be able to employ a full-time cybersecurity team, there are affordable measures it can leverage to enhance its security posture. These include:

  • Scan the dark web: Enlighted organizations often partner with threat intelligence agencies to perform targeted dark web scans for organization-specific keywords. This enables organizations to understand their vulnerabilities. These scans provide a “cybercriminal” view of the organization, offering an in-depth understanding of threat actors, campaigns, and motives. You can use that data to enhance your organization’s risk profile. 
  • Implement two-factor authentication: The best way to implement threat intelligence and boost your organization’s cybersecurity is to implement two-factor authentication to grant access to all servers, computers, business applications, and infrastructure services. Implementing two-factor authentication protects against cybercriminals trying to access your organization's sensitive data and services. 
  • Set up SSO: Set up a single sign-on (SSO) solution. SSO offers computer users a single set of credentials that they can use to access all the devices and applications they need. This makes auditing, granting, and revoking user access to organizational resources easier and curbs the risk of password reuse and other common cybersecurity vulnerabilities. 
  • Leverage the MITRE ATT&CK framework: Leveraging the MITRE ATT&CK technology can help you better understand hackers' tactics. This free, globally available guide is based on real-world threat intelligence data. It can help your cybersecurity team better understand the threat your organization is facing and how cybercriminals are likely to carry out specific cybersecurity attacks. 
  • Implement a CASB: The prevalence of bring-your-own-device policies and the constant shift to remote work environments means that many companies need help implementing cybersecurity settings that limit access to critical data and services in the cloud. Thankfully, using a cloud access security broker (CASB) and similar access-control platforms is an essential step a small business can take to enhance its cybersecurity posture.

Successful threat intelligence practices are vital in protecting your company from cybersecurity threats. Adopting the five steps mentioned above can help you implement robust threat intelligence measures relevant to your company’s needs. Take action today and implement robust threat intelligence to ensure maximum protection of your organization’s digital assets. 

Recently, the number of cybersecurity attacks targeting small businesses has increased exponentially. Sadly, many small business owners remain unaware and unprepared for cybersecurity attacks—which can have adverse financial implications for their businesses. 

Fortunately, you can use RiskRecon Threat Protection to protect your digital assets against malicious actors. This vulnerability scanner can help you pinpoint, prioritize, and act on cyber threats on your applications or websites. With this powerful vulnerability scanner, you can minimize the possibility of financial losses from cybersecurity attacks by conducting proactive, advanced cybersecurity risk assessments. 

Threat Intelligence Ethics: Navigating the Moral Landscape

Threat intelligence is a powerful tool for detecting cybersecurity adversaries and facilitating proactive defenses against emerging threats. Analysts can avoid evolving risks by gathering and assessing digital clues left behind by cybercriminals. 

However, tracking and sharing sensitive data to achieve security unavoidably involves complicated issues like transparency, privacy, and personal civil liberties. As threat intelligence practices advance through new technologies like artificial intelligence, the ethical implications of threat intelligence call for continued scrutiny and discussion.

Since threat intelligence heavily relies on collecting and sharing personal and sensitive data, it undoubtedly raises privacy concerns that warrant thoughtful considerations. Consumers might not consent to how their personal information is being collected or used. Also, there are risks of mission creep, where information gathered to curb cybersecurity attacks is instead used for other purposes.

Maintaining transparency during data collection and use is vital if you want to earn and keep customers’ trust. Thus, you must establish proper safeguards to reduce potential data exposures or breaches. As the threat environment evolves constantly, so should your privacy safeguards to ensure civil liberties aren’t infringed as part of enhancing cybersecurity.

Further, as the threat intelligence landscape evolves, cybersecurity professionals must thoughtfully handle objections and navigate dilemmas concerning ethics, privacy, civil liberties, and transparency. Transparency in data collection and use policies is crucial in maintaining consumer trust. Robust compliance and oversight measures can help verify that intake and assessment are conducted judiciously. 

In addition, it’s crucial to define the distinction between preventing recurring threats and gathering general intelligence. Through open discussions among privacy advocates, policymakers, and practitioners, a consensus might emerge on the best practices that can help mitigate cybersecurity threats while respecting customer rights. 

How RiskRecon Threat Protection Can Help

Finally, as the threat intelligence field evolves, so should your approach to ethics and privacy in threat intelligence. By encouraging open dialogue between stakeholders, implementing reasonable safeguards, and strengthening oversight and transparency, you can ensure this crucial capability aligns with democratic principles. 

While challenges and obstacles will always exist, constant improvement is possible. If you make progress via consensus and cooperation with other stakeholders, threat intelligence might meet its objective of defending your digital assets against malicious cybersecurity actors while also safeguarding civil liberties.

RiskRecon’s Threat Protection was designed with your safety in mind. Our constant monitoring categorizes threats automatically, identifying their risk factors so you can take quick action. It also helps you promptly mitigate DDoS attacks and protect web applications. Check in today and see how we can enhance your defense framework.