Cyber threat intelligence is a subcategory of information security intelligence. This information has been chosen to assist you in making better decisions about how to protect yourself and your business against cyber-based risks. Threat intelligence can provide answers to the following questions:

  • Who are my opponents, and how might they attack me?
  • How can attack vectors impact my company’s security?
  • What should my security operations teams be on the lookout for?
  • How can I lessen the likelihood of a cyber assault on my company?

About Threat Intelligence Platform

Threat Intelligence Platform is a new technology discipline that assists businesses in real-time gathering, correlating, and analysing threat data from diverse sources to support defensive measures. 

What is the purpose of a Threat Intelligence Platform?

Massive volumes of data, a scarcity of analysts, and increasingly complex adversarial threats characterise today’s cybersecurity environment. Current security infrastructures provide a plethora of tools for managing this data, but there is little connection between them. This results in a tedious amount of engineering effort to manage systems, as well as an unavoidable waste of already scarce resources and time.

To address these concerns, several businesses are implementing a Threat Intelligence Platform (TIP). Threat Intelligence Platforms can be used as a SaaS or on-premise solution to handle cyber threat intelligence and related entities such as actors, campaigns, incidents, signatures, bulletins, and TTPs. Its capability to fulfill four fundamental functions defines it:

  • Intelligence gathered from many sources
  • Data curation, normalisation, enrichment, and risk scoring
  • Connections to existing security systems
  • Threat intelligence analysis and dissemination

Why Do Businesses Require a Threat Intelligence Platform?

Previously, security and threat intelligence professionals manually gathered and reviewed threat intelligence data from a number of sources identified and responded to potential security threats, and shared threat intelligence with other stakeholders (usually through email, spreadsheets or an online portal).

This method is increasingly failing because:

  • Companies today collect large amounts of data in various formats such as STIX/TAXII, JSON, XML, PDF, CSV, email, and so on.
  • With each passing year, the extent and sophistication of security threats (from malicious actors, malware, phishing, botnets, denial-of-service (DDoS) assaults, ransomware, and so on) grow.
  • Every day, millions of potential threat indicators are generated.
  • Companies must respond to possible security concerns considerably faster than in the past in order to avoid widespread destruction.

These factors can swamp security and threat intelligence teams in noise and false positives, making it difficult to know and sort out: 

1) which data is the most relevant and valuable to their firm so that they may evaluate it and discover potential security issues, and 

2) which data is the least relevant and useful to their company.

They need to know which threats are real and which aren’t so they can allocate their time accordingly.

In addition, security and threat intelligence teams must:

  • Other critical security-related operations to oversee include security planning, monitoring, feedback, reaction, and remediation.
  • Provide the most recent threat intelligence data to other stakeholders and security systems on an ongoing basis.

What sources of intelligence should a TIP keep an eye on?

A TIP’s threat intelligence sources should include the following throughout the clear web, deep web, and black web:

  • Open Source Intelligence: OSINT is an abbreviation for Open Source Intelligence. This is threat intelligence data obtained from publicly accessible open sources.
  • Signals Intelligence: Derived through monitoring the flow of information from computers and mobile devices. This type of data is commonly referred to as machine intelligence (not to be confused with machine learning or AI) and is abbreviated as SIGINT in security circles.
  • Social Media Intelligence: Conversations on social media are a valuable source of threat intelligence. SOCINT is a subset of OSINT, however, it is currently considered a top-tier information source.
  • Human Intelligence: commonly known as HUMINT, is intelligence gained through the establishment of human-to-human links in strategic areas. It entails connecting with people rather than gathering information from equipment and doing so without arousing suspicion or frightening away vital sources of threat intelligence.
  • Dark Web Intelligence: Obtained from dark web sites where cybercriminals congregate to communicate and trade. Black markets, private chat rooms, dark web forums, and other anonymous locations are among the sources.

The Benefits and Drawbacks of Using a Threat Intelligence Platform

TIPs are not without flaws. Standalone TIPs do not integrate with other security technologies and do not often automate contact with team members outside of the threat intelligence organisation who may need to take reaction measures. As a result, having a segregated TIP decreases both the contextualization of threat data and the capacity to act on the insights. The majority of TIPS are:

  • Most of the Threat Intelligence Platforms are really good at static IOC scoring, Intel collection, and Manual policing. 
  • But drawbacks are it has more noise due to score matching, Increasing intelligence may lead to less confidence in acting, and time is lost due to automated enforcement.

Top Threat Intelligence Platforms

  • IBM X-Force Exchange
  • Anomali ThreatStream
  • SolarWinds Security Event Manager
  • Palo Alto Networks Cortex XSOAR TIM
  • Manage Engine Log360

Open Source Threat Intelligence Platform

With a plethora of threat intelligence subtypes available, Open Source Threat Intelligence (OSINT) is the most renowned. OSINT works as follows:

There is public information -> data is collected -> data is analysed for intelligence

Open source threat intelligence is derived from publicly available data, which is then collected, evaluated, and rapidly delivered to a suitable audience.

There is a wealth of free material available online, which may be found via search engines. Open source threat intelligence platforms & programmes such as Shodan and Censys, for example, could be used to locate IP addresses, networks, open ports, webcams, printers, and pretty much anything else linked to the internet.

How Securaa Can Assist You?

Securaa is also one of the top open-source threat intelligence platforms that is open and expandable, allowing you to automate the intelligence lifecycle, quickly comprehend risks, make better decisions, and expedite detection and response. 

Securaa TIP is an industry-leading Threat Intelligence Platform solution. It provides in-depth security analysis at the fingertips of your users. It offers a completely automated cyber threat intelligence service that includes data collecting, processing, threat analysis, and enrichment, as well as threat information dissemination and mitigation actions. It delivers identified threats to stakeholders in an easy-to-triage format, employing a visual network graph view that anybody can use to categorise threats by risk factor and activate actions to minimise risks.

Features And Capabilities Of Securaa TIP

The main features of Securaa TIP are;

  • Aggregation
  • Normalization and Enrichment
  • Integrations
  • Analysis and Response

Capabilities of Securaa;

  • Playbook automation
  • Prioritized Vulnerability Remediation
  • Cyber Exposure
  • Threat Intelligence Aggregation
  • MSSP
  • Unified Response
  • Enterprise
  • SaaS and OnPrem

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