The presence of large volumes of data at the organization’s Security Operation Centre (SOC) that are awaiting analysis, combined with a shortage of competent analysts, indicates that security concerns are not being addressed effectively at an organization. As a result, security operations have begun to rely on Threat Intelligence Programs in addition to the standard security framework. Threat intelligence allows security analysts to anticipate the motive, target, and strategy of a cybercriminal, disrupt them quickly, and identify and assess an effective countermeasure strategy.
Threat Intelligence is the database of knowledge and indicators of compromise that can mitigate zero-day malware attacks, ransomware attacks, phishing attacks, data breaches, and insider attacks. All technologies, including firewalls, SIEM systems, Web gateways, and Email gateways, can benefit from this intelligent approach. It is offered as an open-source and commercial solution, with most suppliers charging a monthly subscription fee. The Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) deployed here can help identify patterns of behaviour that can be leveraged to address specific strategies used by malicious actors and investigate them. Macro-trends that would impact the organization can be identified as well.
Moving beyond the standard security framework
Threat Intelligence is more than just threat information, where the latter only provides data on industry threats, which are not actionable. The growing volume and sophistication of cyber threats are driving the high growth of the global threat intelligent security solution market. According to Research and Markets, “the global threat Intelligence market size is projected to grow from US$10.9 billion in 2020 to US$16.1 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 8.2% during the forecast period.” However, being still in its nascent stage, the market has certain challenges to overcome, such as its high costs of implementation and the lack of skilled professionals in the sector.
To help the organization and its stakeholders, a good Threat Intelligence Program must follow a few critical steps.
Establish an Automated Robust Threat Intelligence Framework
Being a continuous process, Threat Intelligence involves phases such as direction, collection, correlation, analysis, and dissemination. Once the requirements are defined, the information required to address them is collected from all internal and external sources by leveraging relevant tools.
