Threat intelligence platforms protect your physical and virtual assets. From your cloud-stored data down to the least-used computer on your network, every component is both a vulnerable asset and potential point of entry. There are non-tangible benefits to using cyber-security intelligence.

Intelligence leads to action - Reports from your threat intelligence platforms contain actionable intelligence. Suggestions for changes to make can be included right alongside information about the network events in question. Security platforms which scan for known viruses and blacklisted IP addresses are helpful but by no means comprehensive. Now that we now know data security must be tailor made to each different organization, threat intelligence is gaining ground. It’s no wonder intelligence accounts for 10% of spending on cyber-security.

Protection is always a priority - Threat intelligence platforms help to protect you when you travel. It's advisable to avoid public wifi, particularity if your mobile or laptop devices could be used as a stepping stone to crucial files. However, the advice to only use trusted networks isn't realistic for many of us who travel routinely.

Hospitality industry hacks have made the news recently among the millions of consumer accounts compromised at points of sale. In the wake of these attacks, the relationship between the hotel attacks and other point of sale breaches was discovered using intelligence. As more and more industries begin to regard themselves as desirable targets, use of threat intelligence platforms will continue to rise.

“You never know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone” – the saying is as true of your network assets as it is a romance gone wrong. Hackers may not go after what you expect them to. Looking critically at suspicious network behavior will likely illuminate possibilities you hadn’t thought of. Discovering all the angles from which your network can be abused will better inform future security efforts.

This principle underscores the need to use a honeypot network. A sandbox environment for hackers to incriminate themselves can be made convincing enough to draw the hacker into revealing what they’re looking for. Not only is it a research tool, but a honey network will also waste hackers time and discourage them.

Know thine enemies – It’s arguable to state that the most valuable thing we can yield from threat intelligence platforms is a clear picture of threats facing us. Based on time-tested theories about the timing and patterns of hacker behavior used in combination with a large databank of known threat identifiers, suspicious behavior in the network can be attributed to a few different categories of enemy:

State-sponsored hackers - spies from hostile countries are working from within organized and well-funded programs. Large-scale efforts are geared at stealing priceless info like medical advancements, technological progress, and military secrets.

For-profit hackers make a living by directly abusing financial credentials and also hiring their skills out to others. They create or use malicious viruses for ransomware, Trojans, and legions of zombie computers to perpetuate DDoS attacks.

Malicious insider threats include disgruntled employees and moles. Employees may begin work with a hidden agenda to gain and abuse their network access. Others are approached with an opportunity to make some easy money and/or take out aggression in response to perceived slights.

Unintentional insider threats – non-hostile employees who inadvertently compromise the safety of your network. They may be unaware of the consequences of a misguided click and fall for a phishing email or unwittingly download malicious software. This category includes compromised users whose passwords have been cracked.

Understanding the challenges to the sanctity of your network is invaluable when it comes to business forecasting. With intelligent network analysis, you have the reassurance that your security goes beyond a single-layer defensive bubble. Setting up an intelligent network-analyzing hub which is modeled around real life scenarios and evidence based reasoning is worth the effort.

The Anomali Match model focuses on prioritization and relevance for both security operations and threat analysts. See what this threat intelligence platform can do for you!

Download Now

Learn more about threat intelligence platforms.