Threat intelligence is the most common form of threat analytics, and is a crucial element of any cyber defense strategy, but it's not enough to simply have threat intel. To be most effective, your organization needs threat intel that is informed by security indicators derived from your own security tools. Vulnerability scan data and EDR information are two of the most valuable sources of information to contextualize your threat analytics. With the rise in cybercrime, companies are facing more threats than ever before from criminals who are constantly finding new vulnerabilities and methods for attack. With so much potential danger out there, it’s essential to take every precaution you can against malicious actors. That starts with having effective tools to identify risks and keep your company safe from cyberattacks.
What is threat intelligence?
While the answer to this question can vary depending on who you ask, one thing is certain: there is no single, universally accepted definition of threat intelligence. On the most basic level, threat intelligence can be defined as the process of collecting, assessing, and analyzing information related to cyber threats. This information could include:
- malicious IP addresses
- known malicious domains
- hashes of malicious code
- details on the tools and tactics that hackers use in their attacks.
Threat intel is vitally important for cyber defense because it provides organizations with the information they need to understand the threats they face. This can help companies find and fix vulnerabilities and guard against malicious actors.
Why are security indicators important to threat intelligence?
The more threat intel you have, the better equipped you are to defend against cyberattacks. But each source of indicator by itself doesn’t offer a holistic view into your security posture. Reviewing each source separately is time consuming, and you’re less likely to miss threats that could put your company at risk.
How can you get more value from your threat intel by incorporating security indicators?
Each data source you use in your threat intel provides different information. This means that you’re not getting a holistic view of the cybersecurity landscape when you’re only using one or two sources. To get a more complete picture of your company’s cybersecurity, you need to incorporate security indicators with your threat intel. Adding the unique context of your own indicators to threat analytics gives you better focus and prioritization than any of these things by themselves.
How do you incorporate security indicators into threat intelligence?
Security Indicators can be used in a variety of ways to enhance your threat intelligence. The most common ways vulnerability data is used in threat intelligence are as follows:
Vulnerability mapping: This is the process of mapping vulnerabilities and incidents to the assets they affect. Vulnerability mapping can be helpful when you’re prioritizing your workflows and determining how to address vulnerabilities or respond to incidents in a way that minimizes risk to the organization.
Vulnerability prioritization: This is the process of prioritizing vulnerabilities based on their severity and likelihood of exploitation. - Threat modeling: This is the process of identifying and mapping the various paths and points of entry that a malicious actor could use to gain access to your network. Threat modeling can be helpful when you’re looking for ways to strengthen your cybersecurity.
Correlation to endpoint security data: Mapping EDR data to look for any instances of malicious indicators, such as malware, that were logged in an EDR system and correlate them with threat indicators. To do this, you set up rules that compare each log entry with a list of threat indicators. If a rule finds a match, it sends an alert to the security team.
How Fletch Can Help
A full-blown threat intelligence program takes time, resources, and skill to implement, and not every company is able to run such a program. That's where Fletch can help. Fletch reads through 50,000 security articles every day to find which threats are rising, extracts the salient indicators from each article, groups them for you, and delivers a Trending Threat report to your inbox every day.
For quick customized threat analytics, Fletch automatically compares its generated threat analytics against your organization’s security indicators against get actionable reports and views, customized to your environment. All with just a few minutes of setup. The threat analytics views Fletch generates correspond to concepts like vulnerability mapping, vulnerability prioritization, and security threat indicator correlation – without the need for an expert in search or correlation.
You can start your own threat-based security analytics today. For free!
