In the dynamic and ever-changing landscape of cybersecurity attacks, organisations need to stay informed and proactive in protecting themselves from threats. Data from the evidence of cyber breaches, such as Indicators of Compromise (IOCs), controls, emerging contexts and security protection mechanisms, is called Threat Intelligence.

By incorporating this knowledge into their security systems, organisations can mitigate against current and future threats before breaches impact them. In addition, threat intelligence has decision-making benefits that go beyond advice merely aimed at cybersecurity teams. A threat intelligence platform provides critical data about threat actors to all levels of the organisation.

From a tactical perspective, technical data such as the latest malware signatures, network exploits and new vulnerabilities are available to security teams. This is invaluable for network defences, such as in further securing zero-trust networks and assisting with root cause analysis in incident response.

On the operational level, incident response teams, patching teams and product and security teams can ingest data based on the severity of the threat and specific risks from certain threat actors in the journey towards building cyber resilience.

Threat intelligence is also vital to strategic decision-making at the executive level. Some businesses are more susceptible to certain threat actors, such as Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs). Senior management can assess high-level threats at a glance and prioritise security strategies based on this data.

Even if the organisation uses Managed Security solutions to monitor and respond to cyber incidents, it is worth remembering that cyber risk ultimately lies with the organisation itself. Having a Threat Intelligence platform provides a proactive way to address cyber risk before the worst happens.

What is Threat Monitoring?

The continuous process of hunting threats, processing, analysing, and incorporating threat intelligence into security systems such as SIEMs, Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), and other network monitoring tools, in a way that threats can be addressed in real-time is called Threat Monitoring. This process primarily falls within the tactical and operational phases of building a resilient organisation. Several platforms offer threat monitoring and include threat intelligence in end-to-end service.