Understanding Cyber Threat Intelligence: Safeguarding Your Digital Assets

In today's digitally interconnected world, where businesses rely heavily on technology, cybersecurity has become a paramount concern. With the increasing sophistication of cyber threats, organizations must stay ahead by employing effective cyber threat intelligence (CTI) strategies. In this comprehensive guide, we delve into what CTI entails, its significance, and how it can fortify your defenses against malicious actors.

Defining Cyber Threat Intelligence

At its core, cyber threat intelligence refers to the process of gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data to identify potential cyber threats targeting an organization. It encompasses various sources, including but not limited to, dark web monitoring, incident reports, vulnerability assessments, and malware analysis. By collating and contextualizing this information, CTI provides actionable insights into potential cybersecurity risks.

The Importance of Cyber Threat Intelligence

In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity, proactive measures are crucial to mitigating risks and minimizing the impact of cyber attacks. CTI enables organizations to anticipate threats, understand their adversaries' tactics, and preemptively fortify their security posture. By staying abreast of emerging threats and vulnerabilities, businesses can proactively implement security measures to safeguard their digital assets and maintain operational continuity.

Types of Cyber Threat Intelligence

Cyber threat intelligence can be categorized into three main types:

Strategic Intelligence

Strategic intelligence focuses on providing long-term insights into the broader cyber threat landscape. It helps organizations understand the motivations, capabilities, and objectives of potential threat actors, thereby informing strategic decision-making and resource allocation.

Tactical Intelligence

Tactical intelligence offers real-time or near-real-time information on specific cyber threats and vulnerabilities. It aids in identifying and responding to immediate threats, enabling organizations to implement timely countermeasures to mitigate risks effectively.

Operational Intelligence

Operational intelligence pertains to the day-to-day activities involved in monitoring, detecting, and responding to cybersecurity incidents. It provides actionable insights for security teams to detect and neutralize threats efficiently, minimizing the impact on organizational operations.

Implementing Cyber Threat Intelligence

Effective implementation of CTI requires a holistic approach, encompassing people, processes, and technology. Key steps include:

1. Establishing Clear Objectives

Define clear objectives and goals for your CTI program, aligning them with your organization's overall risk management strategy and business objectives.

2. Identifying Relevant Data Sources

Identify and prioritize relevant data sources, including internal logs, threat feeds, open-source intelligence, and information sharing platforms.

3. Analyzing and Prioritizing Threats

Leverage threat intelligence platforms and analytics tools to analyze and prioritize threats based on their severity, relevance, and potential impact on your organization.

4. Disseminating Actionable Intelligence

Disseminate actionable intelligence to relevant stakeholders, including security teams, executive leadership, and IT personnel, to facilitate informed decision-making and timely response to threats.

5. Continuous Monitoring and Improvement

Implement continuous monitoring mechanisms to track the effectiveness of your CTI program and identify areas for improvement. Regularly review and update your threat intelligence feeds and analysis methodologies to adapt to evolving threats.

Conclusion

In conclusion, cyber threat intelligence plays a pivotal role in enhancing an organization's cybersecurity posture by providing timely and actionable insights into emerging threats and vulnerabilities. By leveraging CTI effectively, businesses can proactively identify and mitigate risks, safeguarding their digital assets and maintaining operational resilience in the face of evolving cyber threats.

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Mastering Threat Intelligence and Incident Response for Enhanced Cybersecurity

In the contemporary digital landscape, where cyber threats loom large and security breaches pose significant risks, mastering threat intelligence and incident response is paramount for organizations striving to fortify their cybersecurity posture. At the core of safeguarding sensitive data and mitigating potential risks lies a proactive approach bolstered by robust threat intelligence frameworks and swift incident response protocols.

Understanding Threat Intelligence

Threat intelligence serves as the cornerstone of a proactive cybersecurity strategy, empowering organizations to anticipate and thwart potential threats before they materialize into full-fledged attacks. It encompasses the gathering, analysis, and dissemination of information pertaining to various cyber threats, including malware, phishing attempts, vulnerabilities, and emerging attack vectors.

Types of Threat Intelligence

1. Strategic Intelligence: Provides high-level insights into the broader threat landscape, including the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) employed by threat actors, geopolitical trends, and industry-specific risks.
2. Tactical Intelligence: Delivers actionable insights into specific threats, such as indicators of compromise (IOCs), malware signatures, and suspicious IP addresses, enabling proactive threat detection and mitigation.
3. Operational Intelligence: Focuses on real-time monitoring and analysis of cyber threats, enabling organizations to adapt their defensive measures rapidly and effectively in response to evolving threats.

Implementing Effective Threat Intelligence Practices

To leverage threat intelligence effectively, organizations must adopt a comprehensive approach that encompasses the following key practices:

1. Continuous Monitoring and Analysis

Implement robust mechanisms for continuously monitoring the digital landscape, leveraging automated tools and threat intelligence platforms to gather, analyze, and prioritize threat data in real time.

2. Collaboration and Information Sharing

Foster collaboration with industry peers, government agencies, and cybersecurity communities to exchange threat intelligence, share best practices, and collectively combat emerging threats.

3. Integration with Security Infrastructure

Integrate threat intelligence feeds seamlessly into existing security infrastructure, including security information and event management (SIEM) systems, intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS), and endpoint security solutions, to enhance threat detection and response capabilities.

4. Threat Hunting

Adopt proactive threat hunting techniques to identify and neutralize potential threats that may evade traditional security controls, leveraging threat intelligence to guide investigative efforts and identify anomalous behavior indicative of malicious activity.

The Crucial Role of Incident Response

While proactive threat intelligence efforts are essential for preemptive threat mitigation, organizations must also maintain a robust incident response capability to swiftly contain and remediate security incidents when they occur. An effective incident response plan encompasses the following key elements:

1. Preparation and Planning

Develop comprehensive incident response plans detailing roles, responsibilities, and procedures for responding to security incidents, including escalation protocols, communication strategies, and post-incident analysis.

2. Rapid Detection and Response

Deploy automated detection mechanisms and real-time monitoring capabilities to swiftly identify security incidents as they occur, enabling rapid containment and mitigation to minimize the impact on business operations.

3. Forensic Analysis

Conduct thorough forensic analysis of security incidents to identify the root cause, extent of the compromise, and potential impact on critical systems and data, facilitating informed decision-making and remediation efforts.

4. Continuous Improvement

Regularly review and update incident response plans based on lessons learned from past incidents, emerging threats, and changes in the organizational environment, ensuring continuous improvement and readiness to address evolving cyber threats.

Conclusion

In an era defined by escalating cyber threats and increasingly sophisticated attack vectors, organizations must prioritize the mastery of threat intelligence and incident response to safeguard their digital assets and preserve business continuity. By adopting proactive threat intelligence practices and maintaining a robust incident response capability, organizations can effectively mitigate risks, thwart potential threats, and navigate the complex cybersecurity landscape with confidence.

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Top Threat Intelligence Tools You Need To Know About

Threat intelligence is a critical piece of any organization’s security posture. Without it, you’re flying blind when it comes to defending your systems and data. But what are the best threat intelligence tools available today? And which ones should you be using? Here we’ll look at some top threat modeling tools and discuss their importance.

What is Threat Intelligence?

Threat intelligence (TI) is evidence-based knowledge, including context, about an existing or imminent threat to assist in organizational decision-making to mitigate or manage the threat. TI and threat modeling analysis helps secaurity teams answer three critical questions:

1. What are we up against?

2. How do we prioritize our defenses?

3. How can we take action to defend ourselves?

Organizations today face a vast and ever-changing array of threats. To effectively defend themselves, they need to understand the technical details of specific attacks and the attackers’ methods, motives, and goals. This is where threat intelligence comes in.

Threat intelligence can be generated internally or externally. Internal threat intelligence sources include data from security devices and systems, such as intrusion detection and prevention systems, firewalls, and web servers. Organizations can analyze this data to identify trends and patterns indicating a potential threat. External sources of threat intelligence include public information, such as news reports and social media postings, as well as commercial databases and services (Recorded Future, 2022).

Common Cybersecurity Threats

There are many types of threats in terms of cybersecurity. Here are some of the most common:

• Malware: Malware is a type of malicious software that can cause harm to your computer or device. It can come in the form of viruses, Trojans, spyware, and more.
• Phishing: Phishing is an online scam where criminals trick you into giving them your personal information, such as your passwords or credit card numbers.
• SQL Injection: SQL injection is an attack where malicious code is injected into a website’s database.
• Denial of Service (DoS) Attack: A denial of service (DoS) attack is when a perpetrator tries to make a website or service unavailable by overwhelming traffic from multiple computers or devices.
• Man-in-the-Middle Attack: A man-in-the-middle attack occurs when a perpetrator intercepts communication between two parties and secretly eavesdrops or alters the communication. (University of North Dakota, 2020)

Top Threat Intelligence Tools

Threat intelligence and threat modeling tools have become increasingly important in recent years as the cybersecurity landscape has become more complex and sophisticated. There are several types of threat modeling tools available, each with its unique features and benefits, including:

• BitDefender is a leading provider of security solutions for businesses and individuals worldwide. The company offers various products and services, including antivirus software, internet security, malware removal, and threat modeling tools. BitDefender provides several threat intelligence services, including a real-time global threat map and an online threat scanner.
• ThreatConnect is another leading provider of threat intelligence services. The company offers many tools and services, including a threat intelligence platform, an incident response platform, and a malware analysis tool. ThreatConnect also provides several resources for security professionals, including training materials and a blog.
• Recorded Future Fusion: This tool provides users instant access to the latest threat intelligence worldwide. It helps organizations make better decisions about protecting themselves by providing real-time data on the latest threats.
• SolarWinds: This tool comprehensively views an organization’s security posture. It allows users to see all potential threats and then take steps to mitigate them.
• CrowdStrike: This tool provides organizations instant visibility into all activity on their network. It helps them identify and respond to threats quickly and effectively.

Knowing about the common threat modeling tools can go a long way in identifying your IT infrastructure’s security needs or measures and mitigating the risks. Threat Intelligence professionals need to be at the top of their game and acquire the relevant training and skillset to apply the correct security techniques.

Source: eccouncil.org

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Why Organizations Need to Deliberately Adopt Threat Intelligence

Every organization will, one way or another, land on the radar of cybercriminals or hackers who have an incentive to compromise their systems. Threat intelligence has therefore become a top priority for many organizations around the world.

Some of the top security challenges organizations have faced over the last few years include:

◉ Identifying the right frameworks to implement

◉ Choosing from varying vendor solutions to fill gaps in technology

◉ Mitigating supply chain risks

◉ Managing vulnerabilities and patches

◉ Addressing insufficient skill sets within cybersecurity teams

◉ Handling inadequate threat intelligence and visibility

◉ Securing third-party engagement and integration

◉ Promoting general awareness of cyber resilience among staff

Cybersecurity: A Growing Concern in Digital Transformations

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a number of mindset shifts. Many organizations started moving to the cloud, and others started to activate digital transformation playbooks that had been shelved for many years.

Organizations that did not think the time would ever come for remote work had to activate many work-from-home programs. Affected businesses ranged from small and medium-sized enterprises to large corporations that had to rework their entire security fabrics to stay resilient as attacks rose.

The Limitations of Existing Cybersecurity Solutions

Top-tier companies are continuously buying new solutions in hopes of solving contemporaneous security issues that arise. These include antimalware and data loss prevention software; upgrades to firewalls, routers, and switches; network access control solutions; data and network monitoring software; and many more.

However, the above solutions often do not communicate with each other after implementation, which creates challenges when it comes to decision making. This leads to an increase in risks to the organization.

An antimalware solution, for instance, might be able to detect malware, but it may not work with the organization’s network and access control solutions to isolate the infected machine or the organization’s firewall to block the IP address of the threat actor. Instead, organizations must rely on manual intervention, meaning that actualizing mitigation controls can take a great deal of time.

Take, for example, a financial institution. The sensitive data it handles might include:

◉ Client lists

◉ Customer credit card information

◉ The company’s banking details

◉ Pricing structures for various services

◉ Future product designs

◉ The organization’s expansion plans

The impacts of a security incident on that financial organization can include:

◉ Financial losses resulting from theft of banking information

◉ Financial losses resulting from business disruption

◉ High costs associated with ridding the network of threats

◉ Damage to reputation after telling customers their information was compromised

“You can get cybersecurity right 99% of the time, but adversaries only need to exploit the 1% to cause tremendous damage.”

The Evolution of Cybersecurity Models

The focus of cybersecurity when it comes to protecting business operations has shifted from the traditional risk management approach, which relies on perimeter and static assessment through grading on the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) system, to a framework of predictive threat intelligence, agile posture, and dynamic controls.

The deciding factor in whether an organization will be able to get back up and running after a security incident is its ability to recover very easily. This is directly proportional to operational readiness and time.

Historically, the definition of security has centered around the concepts of protection, detection, and response. Resilience, on the other hand, involves two other elements: identification and recovery. Being able to identify potential risks and plan out a recovery method is key to maintaining operational status as a business

Comparing Security Software Solutions

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

Every modern-day organization should have a security information and event management (SIEM) tool. SIEM software can be either proprietary or open source, depending on the company’s budget and needs.

SIEM tools have several core functionalities, in addition to many other crucial capabilities:

◉ Correlating logs

◉ Analyzing user behavior

◉ Performing forensics

◉ Monitoring file integrity

◉ Providing a dashboard for analyzing incidents

Incident responders may receive thousands of alerts each day from all devices connected to their organization’s SIEM solution. As a result, they often spend a large portion of their time engaged in detection, triage, and investigation.

A typical example could be seen in the case of a malicious IP scanning a target network. The analyst has to filter out false positives, analyze the details of the IP address (such as origin and reputation), and send the details to the firewall to block the IP based on that analysis.

The response time required to investigate alerts and filter out false positives reduces analysts’ productivity, leaving room for attackers to succeed in a potential threat scenario. Post-incident analysis of past breaches often finds that the SIEM detection time and the steps taken by analysts are predictive of the actions performed by various parties.

Security Orchestration Automation and Response (SOAR)

Security orchestration automation and response (SOAR) solutions came into play to solve the above challenge. SOAR systems detect, triage, respond and periodize throughout the full chain of threat intelligence.

Consider, for instance, a malware indicator of compromise in a network of about 200 endpoints. While a SIEM will be able to pick it up, investigating how many other machines are similarly affected and making decisions about whether to isolate them from the network usually has to be done manually.

Likewise, sending the malicious IP address that is acting as the malware’s command-and-control server to be blocked by the firewall is a further step. A SOAR solution automates all these processes by investigating and taking necessary action before sending an alert to the analyst, prompting them to examine the situation further.

Despite being misconstrued as a “plug-and-play” solution by many security personnel, SOAR platforms are still new technologies and are not yet capable of acting fully automatically. SOAR technology is not meant to replace all solutions in an organization. Instead, it enables security teams to make smart decisions in time to curb adversaries’ actions.

SOAR software works following a series of actions, known as a playbook, that is written by analysts and fine-tuned to fit the organization’s network and existing solutions. The process of writing a playbook can only be done by developing use cases as a continuous process.

Threat intelligence has various measures of success when a holistic viewpoint is taken that encompasses not only technology solutions but also the human element, especially threat intelligence analysts. An organization’s threat intelligence analysts consolidate all the architecture of collection, correlation, decision making, and post-implementation tactics to avoid future potential breaches.

How to Measure the Success of a Threat Intelligence Program

The table below provides a sample summary of key performance indicators, associated metrics, and possible success measurements.

Key Performance Indicator	Metric	Possible Measurements
Workload	Total number of devices being monitored Total number of events Number of tickets assigned	Number of devices Number of devices per analyst Number of events per analyst per day Proportion of assigned to unassigned tickets
Detection success	Number of events per device or application Mean time to detection Amount of false positives	Number of events per device per day or month Number of events per application per day or month Number of false positives per day Time to detect (in hours, days, or months) False positives as a percentage of all alerts
Analyst skill	Time to resolution Event types resolved	Average time to identify Average time to identify per technology Average time to identify per event type All event types resolved by analyst
Key risks	Number of events per application Number of events per user or account Number of events per device Vulnerabilities detected	Number of events generated by application Number of events per user or account Number of events per device Vulnerabilities detected by vulnerability management tools

Why Successful Threat Intelligence Requires Management Support

An organization’s threat intelligence program can never be a success if there is no support from senior management. The involvement of key stakeholders, especially C-suite executives and the board of directors, can lead to risk reduction or even elimination in any organization.

The catalyst for achieving management buy-in is cybersecurity leaders who can communicate key requirements, as well as potential business risks if certain actions are not taken. This responsibility is shared by the chief information security officer, chief information officer, and risk information officer. Together, these three stakeholders’ insights can help ensure a secure and resilient organization.

Source: eccouncil.org

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Why to Pursue a Career in Cyber Threat Intelligence

Cybercriminals are continually on the move, looking for ways to conduct cyberattacks and hack into networks across the globe. The annual cost associated with cybercrime damages equates to trillions of dollars each year, with experts predicting that global cybercrime damages will likely exceed USD 10.5 trillion annually by 2025 (Porteous, 2021).

With numbers like these, the need for qualified cybersecurity professionals and threat intelligence analysts is evident. Read on to learn what a career in threat intelligence entails, how to land your first threat intelligence job, and how to become a Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst (C|TIA) with EC-Council.

What Is a Threat Intelligence Analyst?

If you’ve got an analytical mind, the ability to think critically, and a strong understanding of the cybersecurity industry, becoming a threat intelligence analyst might be a great next step in your career path. But what does a threat intelligence career truly entail?

Put simply, threat intelligence professionals are trained to perceive and neutralize threats before cyberattacks can actually take place. Threat intelligence analysts serve within an organization’s cybersecurity ecosystem, where they work to combat existing and emerging threats. It’s important for threat intelligence analysts to understand the following three domains (ZeusCybersec, 2021):

Tactical: Intelligence gained through analyzing data and research that enables analysts to identify Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) within an organization.

Operational: Intelligence gained through learning how cybercriminals and groups think and operate that allows analysts to conduct threat monitoring and vulnerability management.

Strategic: Intelligence that involves taking findings and presenting them in an easily understandable form to key personnel within an organization to identify where cybersecurity weaknesses exist and determine what changes need to be made.

How to Start a Threat Intelligence Career

If threat intelligence sounds like a career path for you, consider starting with EC-Council’s C|TIA program, which offers IT and security professionals the ability to advance their threat intelligence careers through an industry-respected cybersecurity certification.

The Ins and Outs of EC-Council’s Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst Program

The C|TIA program will equip you with all the knowledge and skills you need to land your first threat intelligence job and a successful threat intelligence career. In the C|TIA program, you’ll learn about:

◉ What threat intelligence entails

◉ How to understand cyberthreats and the Cyber Kill Chain methodology

◉ Data collection and processing

◉ Data analysis

◉ Intelligence reporting and dissemination

The C|TIA program is ideal for those looking to work as:

◉ Security practitioners, engineers, analysts, specialists, architects, and managers

◉ Threat intelligence analysts, associates, researchers, and consultants

◉ Security operations center professionals

◉ Digital forensic and malware analysts

◉ Incident response team members

Average Threat Intelligence Analyst Salary

Along with acquiring superior threat intelligence skills, earning a threat intelligence analyst certification can be a great addition to your resume when seeking a job in the field. The average annual salary for a cyber intelligence analyst in the United States is USD 85,353, with those in the 90th percentile and above making upwards of USD 119,500 (ZipRecruiter, 2022).

Source: eccouncil.org

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Potential Security Threats To Your Computer Systems

A computer system threat is anything that leads to loss or corruption of data or physical damage to the hardware and/or infrastructure. Knowing how to identify computer security threats is the first step in protecting computer systems. The threats could be intentional, accidental or caused by natural disasters.

More Info: 312-50: Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)

In this article, we will introduce you to the common computer system threats and how you can protect systems against them.

What is a Security Threat?

Security Threat is defined as a risk that which can potentially harm computer systems and organization. The cause could be physical such as someone stealing a computer that contains vital data. The cause could also be non-physical such as a virus attack. In these tutorial series, we will define a threat as a potential attack from a hacker that can allow them to gain unauthorized access to a computer system.

What are Physical Threats?

A physical threat is a potential cause of an incident that may result in loss or physical damage to the computer systems.

The following list classifies the physical threats into three (3) main categories;

◉ Internal: The threats include fire, unstable power supply, humidity in the rooms housing the hardware, etc.

◉ External: These threats include Lightning, floods, earthquakes, etc.

◉ Human: These threats include theft, vandalism of the infrastructure and/or hardware, disruption, accidental or intentional errors.

To protect computer systems from the above mentioned physical threats, an organization must have physical security control measures.

The following list shows some of the possible measures that can be taken:

◉ Internal: Fire threats could be prevented by the use of automatic fire detectors and extinguishers that do not use water to put out a fire. The unstable power supply can be prevented by the use of voltage controllers. An air conditioner can be used to control the humidity in the computer room.

◉ External: Lightning protection systems can be used to protect computer systems against such attacks. Lightning protection systems are not 100% perfect, but to a certain extent, they reduce the chances of Lightning causing damage. Housing computer systems in high lands are one of the possible ways of protecting systems against floods.

◉ Humans: Threats such as theft can be prevented by use of locked doors and restricted access to computer rooms.

What are Non-physical Threats?

A non-physical threat is a potential cause of an incident that may result in;

◉ Loss or corruption of system data

◉ Disrupt business operations that rely on computer systems

◉ Loss of sensitive information

◉ Illegal monitoring of activities on computer systems

◉ Cyber Security Breaches

◉ Others

The non-physical threats are also known as logical threats. The following list is the common types of non-physical threats;

◉ Virus

◉ Trojans

◉ Worms

◉ Spyware

◉ Key loggers

◉ Adware

◉ Denial of Service Attacks

◉ Distributed Denial of Service Attacks

◉ Unauthorized access to computer systems resources such as data

◉ Phishing

◉ Other Computer Security Risks

To protect computer systems from the above-mentioned threats, an organization must have logical security measures in place. The following list shows some of the possible measures that can be taken to protect cyber security threats

To protect against viruses, Trojans, worms, etc. an organization can use anti-virus software. In additional to the anti-virus software, an organization can also have control measures on the usage of external storage devices and visiting the website that is most likely to download unauthorized programs onto the user’s computer.

Unauthorized access to computer system resources can be prevented by the use of authentication methods. The authentication methods can be, in the form of user ids and strong passwords, smart cards or biometric, etc.

Intrusion-detection/prevention systems can be used to protect against denial of service attacks.There are other measures too that can be put in place to avoid denial of service attacks.

Source: guru99.com

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What Is Cyber Threat Intelligence? All You Need to Know

In today’s digital day and age, when everything is connected, keeping company assets safe and secure is of the highest priority. With a slew of cyber threats lurking at every corner of the digital highway, being proactive rather than being reactive is the call of the hour. This is where cyber threat intelligence steps in.

What is Cyber Threat Intelligence

Cyber threat intelligence enables an organization to identify and analyze potential threats to its systems. In a nutshell, cyber threat intelligence analysis is all about going through mountains of data to pinpoint problems/vulnerabilities and deploying effective solutions to remedy these issues. The role of a Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst is to use the latest tools & techniques to analyze threats, while using historical knowledge to create appropriate countermeasures.

Types of Cyber Threats

There is no one reason for a cyberattack. The motives range from money and daring to hacktivism and state-sponsored cyberwarfare. Having said that, cyber threat intelligence analysis can be employed on most cyber threats. These include:

◉ Malware

One of the most prevalent forms of attack vectors is a malware attack. Malware is a term that is used to describe hostile software, such as viruses, ransomware, worms, spyware, etc. These malicious software are designed to infiltrate targeted networks via clicks on dubious web links or emails.

◉ Phishing

Phishing entails fraudulent emails masked as authentic ones, wherein the attacker’s goal is to glean personal information from unsuspecting users. This information includes login credentials, credit card details, etc.

◉ DOS

Also known as denial-of-service attack, the DOS method is deigned to overwhelm networks, servers, and systems with traffic. This leads to excessive use of resources and bandwidth, thereby denying access to the systems or websites to authentic users.

◉ Zero-day exploit

A zero-day exploit is a vulnerability in a network or system that though declared is yet to be patched. An attacker can leverage the zero-day exploit and infiltrate the system between the time of the announced vulnerability and the launch of a patch.

Types of Cyber Threat Intelligence

Although cyber threat intelligence encapsulates an overall understanding of potential cyber threats, the methodology differs from scenario to scenario. Let’s take a look at the types of cyber threat intelligence analysis used across domains.

◉ Strategic threat intelligence

This threat intelligence model gives an overview of the collective threat landscape to an organization. Strategic threat intelligence is aimed at high-level management and decision makers to take the necessary steps to reinforce the company’s cybersecurity planning. This model relies on easy-to-understand threat intelligence reports based on whitepapers, research reports, and policy documents issued by government organizations and think tanks.

◉ Tactical threat intelligence

Tactical threat intelligence focuses on the attacker rather than the attacks. This cyber threat intelligence model works on the principle of tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of an attacker. The goal of tactical threat intelligence is to enable a cyber threat intelligence analyst to understand how an attacker might carry out a cyberattack on the organization       and what steps to deploy to mitigate the damages. This model is inclusive of technical documentation that is used by system administrators and system architects to strengthen their cybersecurity strategies.

◉ Operational threat intelligence

This cyber threat intelligence model is all about analyzing the nature, motive, and the attack vectors used in a cyberattack. Operational threat intelligence focuses on the vulnerabilities exploited and the attacker’s command and control structure. Also referred to as technical threat intelligence, this model helps defenders learn from earlier attacks and formulate more robust cybersecurity strategies for the future.

Cyber Threat Intelligence Lifecycle

Now that we’ve covered what cyber threat intelligence is and the types of threat intelligence used in cyber defense, let’s now look at the life cycle or the phases involved in the cyber threat intelligence process. The threat intelligence life cycle involves the processes that enable cyber defense professionals to make sense of raw data and turn it into actual intelligence.

1. Planning: The first step towards gaining actionable cyber threat intelligence is to gain a clear understanding of your threat intelligence aims. These objectives are ascertained based on your target audience, i.e., whether the cumulated threat intelligence is for the resident ‘Blue Team’ or the executive management, who can take the final call on your organization’s cybersecurity protocols.

2. Gathering raw data: This step is all about data mining in the context of previously encountered cyberattacks as well as from open sources. The cyber threat intelligence analysis focuses on the internal network logs and earlier incident responses to create a clear picture of how the attack unfolded. This information gathering process also makes use of the dark web and technical resources, as well as the open/deep web.

3. Data processing: This process involves the distillation of unfiltered data into information that’s sorted and easy to understand. Filtration of the raw data is the key to finalize the previous step and acts as a stepping stone towards understanding the threats towards an organization.

4. Analysis: This step is where the distilled raw data is processed to make sense of it all. The analysis process looks for security lapses and helps the cybersecurity teams understand the data as per the planning stage.

5. Information dispersal: One of the crucial stages of the cyber threat intelligence life cycle, the information distribution step entails sending the collected intelligence to the right people at the right level of hierarchy at the right time.

6. Feedback: The final stage of the cyber intelligence lifecycle, the feedback phase is the culmination of the above 5 steps, thus complementing the first two stages with an assessment of the validity of the consolidated threat intelligence.

What Is the Role of a Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst?

As a Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst, you’ll be tasked to make the best of your technical and cybersecurity knowledge to solve your organization’s threat intelligence concerns. Besides being a pre-emptive force safeguarding the company’s assets, you’ll also handle threat assessment briefings as well as churning actionable and prompt intelligence from a pile of raw data.

Career Prospects for a Threat Intelligence Analyst

Now that you are aware of the practical details of cyber threat intelligence analysis, it’s time to take a good hard look at the career prospects offered by threat intelligence — 9,000+ and counting. Threat intelligence is best suited for:

◉ Ethical hackers

◉ Security analysts, managers, and practitioners

◉ Threat hunters

◉ Security Operations Center (SOC) professionals

◉ Digital forensic professionals and malware analysts

◉ Incident response team members

◉ Mid to high-level security experts with a minimum of two years of experience

EC-Council’s Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst program is designed by intelligence experts and cybersecurity professionals from across the globe. Learn the best techniques and tactics of cyber threat intelligence analysis and become the vanguard to your organization’s cyber defense.

Source: eccouncil.org

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Understanding Attack Trees: Everything You Need to Know

The best way to analyze the risk to a business is the application of risk management principles that involve allocation and execution of security resources to vulnerabilities that pose risks to organizations. One of the most effective ways to apply this strategy is through threat modeling. Threat modeling involves a lot of mathematical and technical concepts, thus making it quite difficult to understand or analyze. Attack trees are a diagram model to conceptualize how a target might be hit by a cyberattack, providing a guide to understanding the concepts of threat modeling and target modeling.

What Is an Attack Tree?

Attack trees are hierarchical diagrams describing the security of systems based on attack vector predictions on an asset deemed vulnerable to an attack. In cybersecurity, attack trees are used to outline threats on information systems and possible attacks. Attack trees are also used in the defense domain to conduct a threat analysis against electronics defense systems. Depending on the type of attacks you are dealing with, attack trees can be complex and vast. An attack tree may contain thousands of paths leading to the attack, resulting out of threats and vulnerabilities.

Importance of Attack Trees

Threat analysis via attack trees provides threat modeling in a graphical, easy-to-understand manner. It helps to ascertain the different ways in which an information system can be attacked and helps develop countermeasures to prevent such attacks. By understanding who the attackers are, an organization can install the proper countermeasures to deal with the real threats.

Attack trees provide a process to analyze security controls, strengthen them, and respond to changes in security. Security is an ongoing process and attack trees are the basis of understanding the security process.

Attack trees helps to define an information security strategy. It is important to consider, however, that implementing a policy to execute this strategy changes the attack tree.

Threat Modeling Using Attack Trees

Attack trees are multi-level diagrams consisting of one root, leaves, and children. From the bottom up, child nodes are conditions which must be satisfied to make the direct parent node true; when the root is satisfied, the attack is complete. Each node may be satisfied only by its direct child nodes. An attack described in a node may require one or more of many attacks described in child nodes to be satisfied. Our above condition shows only OR conditions. However, an AND condition can be created.

The first step is to define a model for attack trees to understand how and what needs to be analyzed in the attack trees.

1. Node architecture: Node architectures differentiate between certain layers of the tree where specific types of nodes are bunched together in one layer. In node architecture, the attack tree splits in layers either vertical, horizontal, or otherwise.

2. Node grouping: Node grouping is all about the nodes that are placed in a specific place with a reason behind.

3. Splits: Splitting refers to splitting the nodes at certain levels of the tree in certain sub-nodes.

4. Rate of abstraction: Rate of abstraction is the amount of detail with which the children of a node describe their actions.

5. Tree traversal: Tree traversal mainly affects the thought process when creating ideas for new nodes.

Creating an Attack Tree and Threat Analysis

The process of constructing an attack tree and analyzing threats is a step-by-step process starting with defining the goals of the attacker, decomposing the objective into subgoals, creating an attack tree by decomposition of subgoals into smaller tasks, assigning attribute values to the leaf nodes, and calculating the security of the goal. The major challenge in creating an attack tree is assigning attribute values to attack tree nodes, as there is no systematic method available to determine attribute values for each node.

Threat modeling is an important aspect of a threat intelligence program and modeling threats through attack trees makes this task simpler. Thus, creating attack trees is the practical approach to threat modeling. However, one should take care and keep in mind the limitations of attack trees.

EC-Council’s Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst (CTIA)

Every organization wants to have a skilled threat intelligence analyst in their team who can predict future threats and allow the security team to take countermeasures. The certification they hold is one of the ways to validate their skill set and ensure they have the knowledge of tools and techniques to collect, process, and analyze threat data to create actionable intelligence and disseminate it to the appropriate stakeholders.

CTIA is a method-driven threat intelligence program that uses a holistic approach, covering concepts from planning the threat intelligence project to building a report to disseminating threat intelligence. These concepts are highly essential while building effective threat intelligence and, when used properly, can secure organizations from future threats or attacks.

The CTIA program is:

◉ 40% hands-on with report writing and a library of tools, platforms, and frameworks.

◉ Compliant to CREST and NICE Framework 2.0.

◉ 21 iLabs.

◉ 4 types of threat intelligence scenarios.

◉ 29 threat data collection and acquisition techniques.

◉ 22 data analysis approaches.

◉ More than 200 tools.

Source: eccouncil.org

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What is Pasta Threat Modeling?

In the new cyber age, the need for cybersecurity is becoming increasingly apparent. The increasing complexity of attacks and the number of cybercriminals has led to more security breaches in the last couple of years. The organizations whose data centers or applications were compromised suffered staggering losses. Businesses need to become aware of security threats and how to deal with them. Threat Intelligence equips organizations with predictive capabilities to identify threats and vulnerabilities so the security team can take counter measures to mitigate threats.

PASTA THREAT MODELING METHODOLOGY

Process for Attack Simulation and Threat Analysis (PASTA) is a methodology to perform application threat modeling. This technique focuses on applying security countermeasures to potentially mitigate defined threat models, weaknesses, vulnerabilities, and attack vectors. PASTA allows organizations to understand an attacker’s perspective on applications and infrastructure, thus developing threat management processes and policies.

PASTA THREAT MODELING PROCESS

The PASTA threat modeling methodology is divided into seven stages:

Define Objectives

In the first step of PASTA, the objectives of the threat modeling process are listed down. Clear objectives make the entire process more streamlined, with a focus on only the relevant assets. Objectives are also necessary for determining security and compliance requirements relevant to the process due to business or government regulations. The tools and methods to be used for the test are also defined in this step.

Define Technical Scope

The boundaries of the application need to be defined, along with the application dependencies from the network environment. The dependencies on the server infrastructure also need to be discovered and their relevance to the software. To accomplish this, high-level design documents are used in this stage which include network diagrams and logical & physical architecture diagrams. The software and technical specifications are also used as a source of information at this stage.

Decomposition & Analysis of Application

A definition and evaluation of assets needs to be carried out, wherein data in transit and at rest are taken into consideration. A trust boundary, a boundary in which a system trusts all subsystems inclusive of data, should also be created for each computing asset. Services, hardware, and software relevant to the application should be decomposed. Data entry points and trust levels are to be determined, resulting in the mapping of use cases with assets and actors.

Threat Analysis

This step is intended to identify and extract threat information from sources of intelligence. Threat analysis enumerates threat attack scenarios that are exploited by web-focused attack agents. An analysis of incidents and security events coupled with fraud case management reports is useful information at this stage. The enumeration process results in the identification of threat agents and attacks the application is susceptible to. Threat analysis, therefore, results in attack enumeration.

Vulnerabilities & Weaknesses Analysis

This stage aims to analyze the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of web application security controls. This stage correlates vulnerabilities to the application’s assets. It maps threats to security flaws in the application and enumerates and scores vulnerabilities as per established scoring. Some of the useful data sources in this stage include a library of threat trees and vulnerability assessment reports.

Attack/Exploit Enumeration and Modeling

There is the identification of the application’s attack surface. The attack trees for the identified exploits are enumerated and determined. A map of attack vectors to attack trees’ nodes is drawn, and the identification of exploits and attack paths is carried out with the attack trees’ aid.

Analyze Modeling & Simulation

After an attack vector has been modeled, the security analysts determine the plausibility of running a successful attack. An analysis of the application’s use and abuse cases is carried out to further shine a light on the identified exploit. Use cases are mapped to abuse cases. Threat modeling is used to link an attack vector and scenario in which it would be exploited.

Risk & Impact Analysis

Once the threat model has been successfully created and analyzed, an analysis of the affected areas should be carried out, should a successful attack occur. Affected assets, systems, and networks are analyzed to determine the extent of disruption. Gaps in security controls are identified in this step. Based on identified attack vectors, mitigations are developed, and residual risk determined.

How to Acquire Skills to Carry Out PASTA Threat Modeling?

EC-Council’s Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst (CTIA) Program teach you to create a Threat Intelligence project that includes Cyber Threat Analysis and Threat Modeling as well. The program gives you sound knowledge on different threat modeling methodologies and how to carry out the process.

Source: eccouncil.org

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What Is Threat Intelligence? 8 Steps to Create a TI Program

While an adventure into the great unknown does sound extremely appealing, it does not necessarily trigger that same emotion in the cybersecurity industry, where ‘unknown’ most often equals ‘unsecured.’ This is where cyber threat intelligence comes in.

Threat intelligence is the knowledge that helps an organization prevent or mitigate future attacks by understanding who is going to attack you, their motive, capabilities, and how it could be carried out. It equips organizations with predictive capabilities to make informed decisions about their security.

If threat intelligence is new to you or if you are interested in pursuing a career in it, then here are a few things you should know.

Threat Intelligence Defined

“Threat intelligence is evidence-based knowledge, including context, mechanisms, indicators, implications and action-oriented advice about an existing or emerging menace or hazard to assets. This intelligence can be used to inform decisions regarding the subject’s response to that menace or hazard.” — Gartner

The Importance of Threat Intelligence

The objective of cyber threat intelligence is to keep organizations informed of future threats like advanced persistent threats and zero-day threats and take countermeasures against them. To do so, threat intelligence analysts gather data about emerging or existing threats from various sources. This data is then processed, analyzed, and refined to produce threat intelligence reports that can be used by security leaders to deploy security controls.

In this process, threat data is collected, processed, and analyzed to produce actionable intelligence in the form of reports and disseminated to respective stakeholders to make quick, informed, and data-backed security decisions. The defense based on actionable intelligence is proactive rather than just reactive.

4 Types of Threat intelligence

There are four types of threat intelligence and this breakdown into subcategories helps us to understand their different functions.

1. Strategic Threat intelligence

This type of threat intelligence is commonly used by board and C-level stakeholders. It consists of high-level analysis for informed decision-making. This heavily focuses on determining targets of interest, the motive behind the attacks, and end goals of the attackers. This helps organizations keep their cyber defense strategies aligned with the attackers’ end goals.

2. Tactical Threat intelligence

Intelligence related to tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of the threat actors often allows organizations to plan well or enhance their cyber defense capabilities. This is more focused on determining the attackers’ approach to cause intrusion, attack vectors used, tools and technology platforms leveraged, vulnerabilities exploited in the attack chain, obfuscation technique used, etc.

3. Technical Threat intelligence

This type is heavily based on the indicators of compromise (IOCs), which includes reported attributes such as IP addresses, phishing email’s content, malware samples, and fraudulent URLs. Technical threat intelligence is mainly used for malware research and threat detection.

4. Operational Threat intelligence

Operational intelligence gives insights to threat actors and campaign details on current attacks. The context for security events and incidents helps defenders pursue past undiscovered malicious activity for faster and thorough investigations.

8 Steps to Creating a Threat Intelligence Program

A well-defined threat intelligence program is iterative and becomes more advanced as time goes on. Here are eight steps to follow when creating an effective TI program.

Step 1: Cyber intelligence requirement and planning

The cyber intelligence program starts with understanding the requirement of cyber intelligence and who is going to consume and in what format. Identifying critical threats to the organization and assessing the current security posture gives more clarity on the requirement.

Step 2: Planning a threat intelligence program

This involves people, process, and technology to develop a plan within a defined budget and creating metrics to keep stakeholders informed. This also requires management support to create policies and charter a project plan.

Step 3: Building a threat intelligence team

Skilled threat intelligence analysts must collect and analyze threat data to generate actionable intelligence for different stakeholders. Identifying skilled professionals is a bit tricky, but the certifications they hold is one of the ways to identify and validate their skill set. Hence, it’s important to have certified analysts in a threat intelligence team.

Step 4: Data collection

This involves threat data collection through various internal and external sources like network logs, records on past incidents, data from technical sources, open and dark web. The intelligence analysts need to have clarity on the type of data they want to collect, tools and methods to deploy, and operational security for data collection. To ensure the data collected will produce actionable data, the analyst validates the quality and reliability of data sources.

Step 5: Data processing

Once the data is collected, it needs to be structured and normalized in a format for further analysis. Data processing includes decrypting, sorting, translating, sampling, and sorting collected data. Since there are millions of logs and IOCs, data collection and processing can also be automated with Machine Learning solutions.

Step 6: Threat analysis

Processed data is analyzed to determine the components of the system that needs to be protected and what are the threats they should be protected from. At this stage, insights into the trends and the patterns are identified with the help of data analysis tools and techniques. Threat modeling is also a part of this process to identify potential threats, vulnerabilities, or the absence of safeguards in the system and prioritize mitigations.

Step 7: Reporting and dissemination

The intelligence produced must be shared with appropriate stakeholders in the form of reports that are easily understandable and actionable for that audience. Additionally, it is shared in a timely manner to identify future attacks and take preventive measures. Cyber threat intelligence is actionable only if it is timely, provides context, concise, and is understandable by the audience and stakeholders in charge of making decisions.

Step 8: Feedback

Upon receiving and consuming cyber intelligence, the stakeholders or the security team should provide feedback to help fine-tune the intelligence in the next cycle. Feedback helps analysts improve the threat intelligence program in the next cycle by providing more clarity on what type of data to collect, how to enrich and process the data into information, improve the analysis of information to produce actionable intelligence and timely disseminate the intelligence to the appropriate stakeholders.

How to Become a Threat intelligence Analyst?

The Certified Threat intelligence Analyst (CTIA) Program offered by EC-Council is a method-driven course that follows a holistic approach, including concepts from planning the threat intelligence program to building reports for threat intelligence dissemination. CTIA is 40% hands-on with report writing and have library of tools, platforms & frameworks.

Source: eccouncil.org

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How to Build a Cyber Threat Intelligence Team

Nowadays, cyber threats are rapidly evolving because of the increased sophistication of attacks and motivations behind an attack. However, organizations can protect themselves from cyber threats by hiring expertise available outside of the organization. Security professionals and executives need threat intelligence to get more information about cyber threats that go beyond the physical edge of your network.

What Is Cyber Threat Intelligence?

Cyber threat intelligence is a cybersecurity branch that deals with collecting and analyzing information about potential attacks currently targeting the organization. A cyber threat intelligence analysis’s major goal is to get in-depth information on threats that can cause greater risk to an organization’s infrastructure.

What Is Cyber Threat Analysis?

Cyber threat analysis is how the knowledge of an organization’s internal and external information weakness is tested against real-world cyberattacks. The cyber intelligence analysis will provide the organization with the best practices to maximize their security tools without turning back to usability and functionality conditions. It is the method that cybersecurity threat analysts use to determine the components of a system that needs protection and the type of security threats to protect the component from. Information from threat analysis is also used to determine the strategic locations in network architecture and design to implement security effectively.

How Do You Implement Cyber Threat Intelligence?

Certain challenges are associated with implementing cyber threat intelligence data processes. However, it is possible to carry out a cyber threat analysis. Furthermore, cybersecurity threat analysts can easily accelerate the detection and response to control potential threats proactively. Some of the rules that cybersecurity threat analysts can follow are stated below.

◉ Prepare a plan

◉ Identify the assets you want to protect

◉ Build the right team

◉ Deploy the right tools and techniques

◉ Integration with existing systems

◉ Disseminate the intelligence with the appropriate stakeholders

How to Build a Threat Intelligence Team?

You can build a cyber threat intelligence team and define their roles and responsibilities according to their skillsets and core competencies. You can create a talent acquisition strategy and define the needed skill set, professional certifications, qualifications, and positioning of the threat intelligence team.

Role of a Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst

Cybersecurity threat analysts are the security professionals that help an organization analyze security incidents data to produce threat intelligence feeds and then make a report to help in decision-making regarding an organization’s security.

What Makes a Skilled Cyber Threat Intelligence Professional?

Although threat intelligence analyst plays several roles and has more responsibilities to do in an organization, some of the skills that cyber threat analyst needs to have are:

◉ Analyze the current threat landscape

◉ Understanding of threat intelligence frameworks

◉ Understands cyber threats, kill chain methodology, and Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

◉ Data collection from various sources and feeds

◉ Planning a threat intelligence program

◉ Skills to perform data collection, analysis and modeling

◉ Creating threat reports and sharing with the appropriate team

Source: eccouncil.org

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9 Rules to Help You Build Your Threat Intelligence Program

A threat intelligence program can be a great asset to a modern organization. This is because it will help you design a reliable way to implement the threat intelligence data set you to accumulate, so you can speedily recognize and efficiently respond to growing threats.

Introducing an in-house cyber threat intelligence program as part of the larger cybersecurity endeavors can lead to several useful results. Today’s cybersecurity setting is tasking and necessitates that cyber intelligence analysts respond to changes speedily and efficiently. Nevertheless, there are several roadblocks encountered during the course of building a threat intelligence program, causing several organizations to make the same handful of mistakes. This is why EC-Council offers the Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst (CTIA) program to help organizations detect and prevent business risks by translating unknown external and internal threats into known threats.

What is threat intelligence?

Threat intelligence refers to an evidence-informed knowledge, which covers mechanisms, context, inferences, pointers, and action-focused recommendation regarding an emerging or present threat to organizational assets. This intelligence has many positive outcomes and can be applied to inform decisions regarding the target’s response to the threat.

Threat intelligence provides cyber intelligence analysts with the context that helps them to make informed decisions about an organization’s security position by responding to questions such as who is the attacker, what are the indicators of a compromise in the network or system, what is the motivation of the attacker, and what are they capable of?

What is a threat intelligence program?

A well-defined threat intelligence program is iterative and becomes more advanced as time goes on. Building a successful cyber threat intelligence program would require a well-tested process, the full commitment of the threat intelligence team, effective threat modeling tools, and the obtainability of technology.

Why is cyber threat intelligence important?

Security experts have been lagging behind their opponents who continue to introduce new attacks daily using sophisticated and innovative techniques. Also, most security experts are stalled by the broken negative security model, where they concentrate on attacks they’ve never encountered, which ensures they overlook new attacks.

However, the introduction of threat intelligence program has made the difference in how companies respond to threats and focus their resources on mitigating risks. Organizations need threat intelligence for effective defense against all forms of attacks. Cyber threat intelligence is important for the following reasons:

Provides Actionable Intelligence for effective defense

Cyber intelligence analysis offers a value-added benefit to cyber threat information, by decreasing uncertainty for the user, while helping the user to detect threats and openings. Through the intelligence gathered, the cybersecurity intelligence analyst can determine if the security defense system can really mitigate potential threats and adjust them as required. Threat intelligence provides you the context you need to make informed decisions and take productive steps.

Saves organization’s time and effort to manage threats and vulnerability

When there’s a successful cybersecurity attack, the organization that falls prey to this attack will spend tons of money on everything and anything to make it all go away. However, a cyber threat intelligence program can help your organization save money by constantly being aware and prepared to tackle any form of attack. With threat intelligence, security analysts can put measures in place that identifies and lessens the impact of an attack, saving you tons of money.

Collaborative effort

Since both people and machines work better together, they work smarter, ensuring the best possible defense against attacks, a cost-effective approach, and diminishes scenarios of burnouts. Organizations can also share their knowledge on an attack, which helps other organizations tackle a similar attack.

9 Important rules for implementing a threat intelligence program

Rule 1: Identify the assets you want to protect or safeguard

The very first step in this process is defining the need for Threat Intelligence by analyzing the assets or information systems that need to be protected

Rule 2: You need a plan

Every successful venture begins with a well-crafted plan. Doing everything at the same time will only overwhelm you and generate useless data and alerts. Threat intelligence is a broad field and doing everything at the same time will leave you burnt out.

You should start by defining your problem, determine how to resolve your problem, and what resources are available to help you solve it in the most effective manner.

Rule 3: Recognize typical user behaviors

You need to understand the characteristic user behaviors and their usage in the environment. You need to understand your audience even more than the attacker, so you can identify loopholes. It would be best if you were conversant with typical user behaviors that attackers can imitate.

Most people consider the threat intelligence domain as an elite-focused analyst environment. However, it has been discovered that threat intelligence is useful for everyone and every organization because it can help you identify leaked data, prioritize vulnerability patching and remediation, enhance security operations, speedup threat detection, and inform board-level decisions.

Rule 4: Hire personnel who understand threats

The expertise of your staff will determine the effectiveness of your threat intelligence program. Usually, building and implementing requires two skill sets. Your cybersecurity intelligence analyst needs to understand what it takes to build a threat intelligence program and also the business needs of the organization. The CTIA also needs to understand all the possible shades of threat intelligence so they can help design and direct the program at all levels.

Rule 5: Identify your threat intelligence requirements and use the appropriate tools

After hiring the right people, you need to adopt the right technologies to meet your needs. You need the right tools to be able to respond to and capture the information on your own incidents. Rather than subscribing to all the vendors offering all sorts of security data, you need a threat intelligence solution that can collect huge amounts of data from the dark and open web. At the same time, the TI solution must be able to eliminate the heavy lifting linked with cross-referencing, sorting, and verifying alerts before they are accessed by the certified threat intelligence analyst.

Rule 6: Determine your data sources

You need to gather data to identify the activities of malicious actors and mitigate them. You can gather threat intelligence data majorly from command and control networks, malware indicators, compromised devices, IP reputation, and phishing messages. Not understanding the context of an attack is what makes organizations spend their resources on the wrong technologies.

Furthermore, since you’ll likely implement multiple threat intelligence sources, you may want to ensure you don’t produce replica alerts. The best way to recognize an overlap is to understand how each intelligence vendor gets its data. Ensure you don’t fall prey for marketing hype about big data analysis, proprietary algorithms, or other scams pulled out of a spy novel.

Do your diligence by yourself by placing each provider through its strides before you fully commit. Ensure you build a stage into your threat intelligence program to offer context for your threat intelligence feeds before you include them to your active controls or monitors.

Rule 7: Deploying right set tools and methodologies for Threat Data Analysis and Processing

Based on the requirement analysis of what assets need to be protected, tools and techniques are used for threat modeling and processing. Tools and methods required for generating intelligence to protect an application will be different in case of a network or other system.

Rule 8: Choose a threat intelligence program that you can be integrated

Several technical threat intelligence is useless if you can’t integrate them into your existing security technologies or automate them to replace labor-intensive tasks. Even if it is manually generating reports, swapping between windows, or including fresh rules to security technologies, your manual procedures can be time-consuming. This is why there is a need to integrate threat intelligence technologies and manual tasks.

Rule 9: Communication is everything

Communication is one of the most significant aspects of a threat intelligence program. There must be a clear communication path between the cyber threat intelligence team and their respective audiences. You need to know if your audiences are happy with your services or not, whether they no longer need what you are offering, or whether they want something new.

Although, you may not be able to meet all their demands as some may be impractical. However, you need to be aware of the needs of your audience so you can incorporate them into your threat intelligence process where necessary.

Source: eccouncil.org

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