Episode 43 Understanding Cyber Threat Intelligence: Staying Ahead of Cyber Attacks

In this episode, I dive into the critical importance of Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) and how it helps organisations stay ahead of attackers. Learn about the practice of gathering, analyzing, and applying information to understand potential or existing threats.

I break down the three levels of CTI: strategic, tactical, and operational intelligence, explaining their roles in enhancing security posture. Discover how CTI provides insights into who is attacking, their methods, and their objectives.

Explore the process of data collection from various sources, analysis to identify patterns, and dissemination of actionable intelligence within the organization. I also discuss the challenges of implementing CTI, including handling large volumes of data and ensuring effective collaboration.

Lastly, I look at the future of CTI, highlighting automation, AI, and predictive intelligence as key trends. Learn about essential tools and platforms like ThreatConnect, Splunk, and Darktrace that support CTI efforts.

 

Join me for an insightful discussion on protecting your organiastion from sophisticated cyber threats.

 

Enjoy!

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Music.

(00:14):
Absolutely critical for defending against evolving threat landscape.
I'm going to be talking about the cyber threat intelligence.
Now, what is cyber threat intelligence? It is a practice of gathering information,
analysing and applying that information about potential or existing threats.

(00:36):
And what we're saying here is, is that we know that threats are ongoing.
So what are the ways we can stay ahead of attackers.
And the way we can stay ahead of the attackers are by understanding the techniques
they use, the procedures and the tactics.

(00:57):
So why is CTI so important and how can organisations definitely leverage to
enhance their security to posture?
Okay, let's find out. So firstly, let's clarify what is meant by cyber threat intelligence.

(01:18):
So cyber threat intelligence is an actionable information that will help on
that organization understanding the threats that they face.
And then once they understand what these threats are, then decisions need to
be made to protect the assets.
And when I talk about protecting the assets, I mean, not just in context, but the raw data.

(01:47):
Now, how can cyber threat intelligence help?
Well, it provides insights into who is attacking and what methods they're using.
And also, you also find out what is their aims and objectives.
There are three levels of cyber threat intelligence.

(02:10):
Often starting from the top, there is a strategic intelligence,
there is tactical intelligence and operational intelligence.
Intelligence so with the
strategic intelligence this looks
at the high level of insights used by decision
makers so we're talking about people at the top the board the

(02:31):
senior managers etc and they use this information to make long-term decisions
and and to understand the long-term trends as well so if they really understand
what these long-term trends are then they can make these long-term strategic decisions.
The second layer is the tactical intelligence.

(02:54):
Well, this is about information about the tactics, the procedures I mentioned
before, and the techniques used by attackers, which is also good for those who
are defending the systems.
And if they have this information, the tactical level and tactical intelligence
can be used, what to provide defensive measures.

(03:16):
And the third level, which is the final level, is operational intelligence,
where real-time information is provided and will help to deal with incident
response or sometimes immediate threat mitigation.
Something has happened and that threat needs to be mitigated immediately.
So the importance of cyber threat intelligence, Why is this important?

(03:42):
Well, in today's environment, we know that we have been battling this war and
these attacks have become, well, sophisticated.
And sometimes traditional security measures such as antivirus and firewalls,

(04:02):
well, some of them may not be fit for purpose or by their own, on their own.
So what cyber threat intelligence does is to help organizations to be more proactive
than reactive. If you don't want something to happen, then you react.
It's stepping ahead of the game to protect your infrastructure generally.

(04:25):
For instance, if you know the playbook of your opponent before the game starts,
then that is one of the advantages of cyber threat intelligence.
It will help you in advance identify potential threats before they materialize
into a full-blown attack.
So it's a sort of a preemptive measure, preemptive strike.

(04:48):
And being ahead of the game will help organisations from financial losses,
reputational damage and any devastating breaches.
Threat intelligence gathered and used. So one, data collection,
you have to collect the data from various sources.

(05:09):
And these sources could be open source, open source intelligence.
It could be the organisation's internal logs. There could be threat data feeds
and dark web monitoring.
So once the data has been collected, then it has to be analyzed by the team.
So the data is analyzed, why to identify patterns.

(05:30):
They can identify potential threats, attackers timelines.
So this really helps to transform that raw data that's been gathered from various
sources into some kind of actionable intelligence.
Thirdly, dissemination of that data. So when the data is gathered,
it was analysed the data, then it needs to be shared with the right teams within the organisation.

(05:54):
So if you have a security operations team, you have an incident response team,
and of course the leadership is shared with people at the top.
And then once all that has been analysed by the various teams,
then action must be taken.
If you can't analyse and you or sit down and sit on our morals or sit down and
fit our hands, then the intelligence that is used to be gathered will provide

(06:18):
top management with strategic.
Solutions, the current or existing defenders in place can be updated and threats
can be responded in a timely manner.
But I can't say it's all so easy to implement CTI. There are also challenges.

(06:39):
And one of the biggest hurdles is the sheer amount of volume of data.
Because remember, it's gathering data from various sources. So,
organisations need to have the right tools and the expertise to filter out the
noise and focus on the intelligence.
And also, there should be collaboration between, let's say, those working internal

(07:04):
within the organisation or external as well, sharing that intelligence among industry peers.
We really want to all learn from this data that's been gathered,
not just to support, not just to protect one organization, but to protect us all.
So sharing information with peers and other participating information sharing

(07:25):
communities can enhance the value of the cyber threat intelligence.
Other challenges is ensuring that the intelligence that's been gathered can
be actionable. Now, it's one thing to know that a threat exists,
like we know it's there, but another thing to know what to do about it.

(07:47):
And this requires skilled analysts who can not only interpret the data,
but communicate that information effectively to decision makers,
which is a strategic team.
Oh, we know what to do, but you need to communicate. Why?
Because they're funded. They're going to pay for the changes that are required,

(08:08):
the manpower, the financial resources.
They have to pay for it. They have to prove it and pay for it.
So, what does the future hold for cyber threat intelligence?
Well, as cyber threat continues to evolve, we know they will not stop,
so will the methods and tools used for cyber threat intelligence.

(08:29):
So, things we're seeing today are automation, not AI.
AI can help process these large volumes of data more quickly,
obviously, than a human. There's also a growing emphasis on predictive intelligence.
So what do you mean by that? Just not just using data to understand the current

(08:51):
threat, but to anticipate and what the future threats as well.
Now, with organization, if organizations are implementing and recognizing the
value of cyber threat intelligence, then you're going to see more collaboration.
Sometimes information is kept to one organization.

(09:14):
And one of the reasons why it's kept to one organization, due to embarrassment
and possibly reputational damage.
So if one can be open and have this collaboration and share information across
industries, then this would be a way to stay ahead of any sophisticated attacks.

(09:36):
Well, let me conclude here. So cyber threat intelligence, again,
is a critical component of modern cyber security.
It allows organizations to understand the threat landscape.
Most important, they can anticipate threats and response. So they anticipate
proactive rather than reactive.
They can respond more effectively.

(09:58):
And with any sort of tool, it's only as good as it is used.
So, what I've talked about today, I've talked about the key to cyber threat intelligence.
It is not just about gathering data, but telling that data has been gathered
from various sources into actionable insights.

(10:22):
So, this obviously is an internal decision. So, if your organization has embraced
cyber threat intelligence, now it's time to take a look.
So what you can do is by start by assessing your current capabilities,
invest in the right tools,
change your or re-examine your existing culture for collaboration within your

(10:44):
organisation and external partners.
Have a conversation again with your external partners if you do.
And yes, and we'll see what the results are. Now, there are various key tools
and platforms used for cyber threat intelligence.
I'm going to mention Fluid. There's no affiliation here.
So we have the threat intelligent platforms.

(11:08):
We have ThreatConnect. ThreatConnect provides a comprehensive tip that integrates
threats from multiple sources, automates workflows and provide collaborative intelligence sharing.
And then we have the Malware Information Sharing Platform, which is an open
source platform that allows organizations to share threat intelligence with trusted partners.

(11:35):
Now, what tools are used? I mean, some are familiar.
Splunk. What is Splunk? So Splunk will help, well, it's a sim that collects
and analyzes machine-generated data.
And then with this, it provides real insights into threats.
There is ArcSight, again, a sim by Microfocus that provides advanced analytics

(11:59):
and threat detection capabilities.
Then you have other network traffic analysis tools, Darktrace,
everybody here has heard of Darktrace.
If you haven't, well, now uses AI to analyze network traffic and detects anything
that's abnormal and anything that might indicate a cyber threat. Then we have Zeek.

(12:24):
Again, this is an open source tool for network security monitoring that provides
detailed visibility into your network and integrate that into,
well, threat intelligence feeds.
Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Cybersecurity Podcast.
If you found today's discussion on cyber threat intelligence valuable,

(12:48):
please subscribe, rate, and leave a review.
And don't forget to follow us on social media, on our website.
I appreciate you listening and have a lovely day.
Until next time, let's continue learning, growing and taking active steps in cybersecurity.

(13:12):
Music.