Cyber threat intelligence helps you understand the world around you and the dangers that it represents to your digital assets.  How exactly your organization can utilize cyber threat intelligence depends upon your overall security maturity.  Before any real value can be realized by cyber threat intelligence or other advanced defensive strategies, you must first ensure that your general IT security hygiene, including asset management and vulnerability management, are properly addressed. Once your network assets are documented and secured, cyber threat intelligence can help you target further refinement of your security posture based on the tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) utilized by adversaries that may target your organization.

In the initial stages, most organizations will consume cyber threat intelligence that is produced by others.  Threat intelligence feeds can provide actionable information regarding threat actors who may target your region, sector, or organization specifically and the TTP’s that they commonly deploy.  This can range from intelligence reports outlining threat groups’ motivations, previous targets, and attack methodologies to specific indicators of compromise such as IP addresses, malware, and domains used by the threat group.  Forward Defense works with a variety of threat intelligence providers to allow you to find feeds that provide the most value to your organization.

More mature organizations generate their own internal threat intelligence based on adversary activity that they observe within their networks.  This type of intelligence has the highest value since it relates directly to adversary behavior directed against your organization.  Generation of internal threat intelligence requires not only adequate telemetry to identify adversary behavior but also analytic skills to process that information into actionable intelligence.  Forward Defense can help you stand up and maintain an effective cyber threat intelligence capability, providing detailed information to network defenders to refine and improve the defensive posture of your organization.