Cybersecurity threats are evolving. CISOs and CIOs must face new threats that require an adapted strategy, providing defenders with the means to build resilience.

This is how the services of CTI (or Cyber Threat Intelligence) emerged and began to play their role in organizations, with the goal of "collecting and organizing all information related to threats in cyberspace"[1]

However, the vision of CTI remains somewhat nebulous for some organizations. CTI addresses challenges and a vision that are not always accurate. We previously dedicated an article to why teaming up leads to better security , so let's now look at the 4 major challenges of CTI.

• CTI: an asset
• CTI: a team effort
• Intelligence is meant to be collective
• Good CTI requires a diverse team

CTI: an asset

A study by Forrester Consulting[2] highlighted "a significant gap between how quickly organizations detect ransomware and the speed of an attack." The impact of such attacks on a business (loss of revenue, data loss, reputational damage, etc.) is well-established. This study clearly demonstrates the importance of the intelligence field within a cybersecurity team.

By providing organizations with actionable threat intelligence alerts in real time, CTI teams help protect their assets. The algorithms of our AI: CYBERIA monitor and identify threats, such as threat actors, and allow teams to quickly identify cyberattacks targeted at their organizations.

TEHTRIS CYBERIA is a global and collective Artificial Intelligence. It is the result of a combination of cutting-edge techniques in Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Active Learning, and Reinforcement Learning.

Thanks to its monitoring, which extends to all components of the TEHTRIS XDR Platform, it becomes an ally for continuously watching over your systems, connected to TEHTRIS Cyber Threat Intelligence.

CTI is a strategic decision-making support tool.

It adds a new layer to your existing security arsenal, providing:

• time savings (by optimizing relevant information for the analyst.)
• decision support (faster and more informed decision-making)
• assistance with client communication
• support for risk assessment
• a contribution to crisis management
• help in reducing the average cost of a breach.

Threat intelligence provides valuable information that helps prevent or mitigate risks. Contextualized information becomes intelligence.

Without context, information loses its utility and wastes the time of analysts overwhelmed by the volume of data. CTI teams, assisted by artificial intelligence , can aggregate various information feeds and make sense of them. TEHTRIS automates both data collection and processing, linking information to provide structured data.

SOC teams will thus be able to understand who their enemies are: what motivates a cybercriminal and what are their attack techniques? Integrating proactive threat intelligence increases incident response capabilities. Once equipped with this information, technical teams will know which indicators of compromise to look for and will make the right decisions, avoiding wasted time.

The intelligence obtained must therefore be accessible, adapted to the operational environment (it will be necessary to constantly adapt to changing environments), and, of course, actionable. Thus, the SIEM must be integrated with CTI.

The SOC can then retrieve information regarding:

• phishing URL catalogs
• attack scenarios that will allow for the remediation of vulnerabilities
• domains and IP addresses with a poor reputation. 
• information on malware
• information on command and control (C&C) domains

Threat intelligence enables you to:

• develop new detection rules and correlations.
• discover data leaks.

The SOC (Security Operations Center) benefits from this... and it is not the only one!

CTI: a team effort

The initial vision of CTI (Cyber Threat Intelligence) is often limited to working solely with SOC (Security Operations Center) teams, acting as a support function for security operations and incident response. However, effective CTI today must interact with multiple departments across the company and engage with its entire cyber ecosystem and the organization as a whole, from SOC threat analysts to the executive committee.

The entire corporate ecosystem must be connected to intelligence teams. Collaboration between different teams allows for a unified approach to handling and responding to incidents, and threat information must be combined with monitoring infrastructure.

The CTI team must therefore be connected to and share information with other stakeholders, such as:

• VOC teams (Vulnerability Operations Center) for partners

CTI enables the tracking, qualification, and prioritization of vulnerabilities within their proper context. Without risk assessment, defenders cannot make the right decisions.

• technical teams, from architects to incident response managers.

These teams are thus better equipped to neutralize attacks. Contextualization allows for better analysis and the anticipation of threats based on industry sectors, current events, or new technologies...

Contextualized information increases the effectiveness of new technologies such as anti-spam, anti-malware, EPP, EDR, and more. Analysts need real-time intelligence delivered in a hyper-automated way. This is what the TEHTRIS XDR Platform offers. CTI is an asset for your foresight.

•  management: CISO, CIO, CFO, Board of Directors

The intelligence provided will help answer strategic and operational questions.

Strategic intelligence has a long-term objective. This data allows management to model the threats likely to target their organization. Companies or government agencies can map and evaluate trends through analyses of campaigns, threat groups, and vulnerabilities. These results help develop a solid protection plan, envision scenarios, and prepare for them.

Executive teams will thus be able to reduce long-term risks.

Intelligence is a collective effort

Acting as a "community" for collaborative cybersecurity is one of the major challenges of Cyber Threat Intelligence: sharing knowledge allows everyone to grow, learn about attacks, and better protect themselves.

Such communities already exist, such as the Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA), of which TEHTRIS is a member, or INTERCERT.

https://tehtris.com/en/blog/cyber-threat-intelligence-teaming-up-for-better-cybersecurity

The goal of this Cyber Threat Alliance is to give each member access to high-quality cyber intelligence via a shared platform maintained by the consortium. This initiative helps to qualitatively harmonize usable cyber intelligence, extend its usage practices to as many people as possible, and therefore strengthen the capabilities to fight cybercrime.

This sharing should not remain internal to the company. It is important to share this same information (anonymized and respecting client interests) with the cyber intelligence community.

This information must be shared to make the entire security ecosystem better informed (governments and administrations, private sector organizations, and their suppliers). Companies can thus become aware of imminent dangers and prepare accordingly.

The next step to follow: XTI (Extended Threat Intelligence), which allows for an inventory of the external attack surface and shares contextual data. This new approach offers visibility with no blind spots.

It is through this coordination that we are stronger.

Good CTI requires a diverse team

To effectively protect against cyberattacks, you must know the techniques and methods used by cybercriminals. Technical teams are necessary for this analysis, but they are not enough on their own.

The political, economic, and cultural landscape will require a wide variety of profiles that were previously unimagined in cybersecurity teams. For instance, linguists, economists, political scientists, psychologists, and more now have a vital role to play!

This perspective, when viewed alongside other disciplines, is essential for understanding the stakes and motivations behind certain threats. This complementarity of profiles is becoming vital. The concept of multidisciplinarity must be integrated into your cyber strategy. Sharing the complementary knowledge of analysts, combined with the expertise of every member of the organization, will allow for the development of the best security solutions, viewed from multiple angles.

The TEHTRIS XDR toolkit, which includes EDR, SIEM, NTD, and SOAR, natively benefits from integrated threat intelligence. This combination of technologies helps strengthen your security and improve your defense.

[1] Wikipedia

[2] Forrester. Automation and Unification Enable a Cohesive Attack Surface Defense.2022