What is a threat intelligence platform?
Threat intelligence platforms empower effective and precise threat identification, investigation, and response by providing a security team with information about threats in an easily-digestible format.
Solutions of this class automate data collection and management so threat intelligence analysts can focus on actually analyzing and researching cybersecurity threats. Additionally, threat intelligence platforms facilitate communicating threat intelligence information for security specialists.
On average, cyber threat intelligence platforms can be implemented as on-premises or software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions. This class of software focuses on providing information about cyber threats rather than responding to them, so threat intelligence solutions have robust opportunities to integrate with other security tools, such as anti-viruses, managed detection and response systems, etc.
What does a threat intelligence platform do?
Threat intelligence platforms collect data about relevant potential threats from various sources, enabling security teams to be more proactive, predictive, and effective in their decision-making.
Data aggregation
Threat intelligence from internal and external sources is centrally stored on threat intelligence platforms. The solution gathers all the relevant data, converts it into a common format, and presents it as an easily digestible dashboard.
Integration
To make intelligence actionable, a threat intelligence platform needs to automatically output data on high-risk cyber threats to an ecosystem of cybersecurity tools: firewalls, IPS/IDS, online and email security and endpoint protection solutions, etc.). Integration with threat intelligence platforms empower these technologies to operate more effectively and efficiently and give fewer false positives.
Threat attribution
To provide context for understanding the who, what, where, when, why, and how of a cyber threat, a threat intelligence platform attributes events and indicators of compromise met in the organization’s security system with external indicators and adversaries. By understanding threat actors targeting the organization, their tactics, techniques, and tools, cybersecurity specialists can strengthen the overall security and prepare for similar threats.
Why do companies need threat intelligence platforms?
Historically, information security specialists performed a vast part of the work related to threat intelligence manually. Nowadays, security risks have increased at exponential levels. Companies gather enormous amounts of data about potential cyber threats in a variety of formats. It makes the conventional way of processing and presentation of data to stakeholders ineffective.
Security and threat intelligence teams may struggle to sort through data arrays while false positives distract them and decrease team efficiency. Threat intelligence platforms present the information in a comprehensible way, allowing to streamline data processing.
Threat intelligence platform capabilities
The functionality of various threat intelligence platforms may vary significantly. However, an effective threat intelligence solution should have a few essential capabilities, such as:
- Gathering data from different sources. Open source threat intelligence platforms may be more affordable but insufficient for a particular organization’s cybersecurity needs. The best-in-breed solutions can gather threat intelligence from numerous sources and work with different data types.
- Data management. Threat intelligence feeds may contain duplicate data points, forcing security teams to deal with data overload and lots of false positives. To streamline the work of threat intelligence analysts, the platform should automatically process the data.
- Integration with other security solutions. Prompt response to cyber threats is crucial for mitigating the consequences and reducing the damage. A threat intelligence platform needs to provide seamless integrations with other types of solutions and swift data transfer.
Threat intelligence platform best practices
Here are some excellent practices to follow while using cyber threat intelligence platforms.
Use intelligence proactively
To prevent cyber attacks, information security teams need to employ threat intelligence to identify vulnerabilities and threats. Data from threat intelligence platforms can be used to determine the security measures for addressing high-risk threats, control the potential attack vectors, and pinpoint the patches or security updates for susceptible systems.
Threat intelligence aids in ranking dangerous behaviors and events, guiding early detection of cyber threats. Integration of a threat intelligence platform with automated response systems is especially beneficial since it helps to predict the attack flow and prescript countermeasures.
Incorporate threat intelligence platform into the cybersecurity ecosystem
Threat intelligence platforms work best when combined with other security technologies. This class of software enables better detection of abnormal activity and events.
Threat intelligence platforms are often combined with security information and event management (SIEM) software to empower high-fidelity proactive alerting and prioritizing. Threat intelligence data can also be used for many other security systems, such as web application firewalls, next-generation firewalls (NGFW), and endpoint security solutions (WAF).
Streamline alerts to combat fatigue
Alert fatigue occurs when security personnel are overwhelmed by the volume of warnings, making it impossible to respond to every alarm. It frequently results in rejecting signals, which boosts cybersecurity risks.
Threat intelligence platforms help to categorize and prioritize the alerts, as well as eliminate false positives. This can prevent alert fatigue and guarantee that security teams never miss crucial notifications while ensuring that higher-priority concerns are addressed first.
Group-IB threat intelligence platform
Group-IB Threat Intelligence platform relies on patented proprietary technologies, information security experts, international partnerships, a continuous exchange of information, and experience to supercharge your cybersecurity.
Our threat intelligence analysts together with the customer determine a threat landscape: an overview of attackers targeting the company, its partners, and the industry, as well as threat actors that the company is generally interested in. Group-IB Threat Intelligence platform allows personalization of notifications and feeds according to the collection plan.