Actionable threat intelligence is a priority

If threat intelligence isn’t built into an organization’s comprehensive cyber resilience strategy, the organization could be vulnerable to phishing attacks, malware incidents or worse. The Cyber Resilience Think Tank recently met to discuss threat intelligence and why it’s a must-have, and obtainable, security asset for organizations of all sizes - regardless of budget.

Malcolm Harkins, Chief Security and Trust Officer at Cylance and Cyber Resilience Think Tank member, said, “As a security industry, we have to move away from being in a constant state of reaction. I want to minimize damage to my organization—I want prevention. I’ve always looked at threat intelligence broadly: What’s my open source intelligence? What’s my human intelligence? What’s my signals intelligence? I want it all, because it all matters.”

The report provides key insights from the group on how to avoid data exhaust; how businesses can use information they already have in-house, like previous data breach and vulnerability reports; and what’s absolutely critical when it comes to implementing this critical security capability. Additional themes throughout the report include:

• How threat intelligence is not just for the one-percent;
• How to use open APIs and known threat patterns;
• How to prove value with little (or no) budget; and
• Why most threat intelligence is outsourced – and why it is OK.

Maurice Stebilia, CISO at HARMAN and Cyber Resilience Think Tank member, said, “I have various cybersecurity partners collecting intelligence on my behalf. All of their tools I have protecting the cloud, the network, the endpoint—they’ve taken those feeds and built them into their products so if there’s a vulnerability, it’s going to be blocked and captured. And I’ll get an alert.”

According to Marc French, Chief Trust Officer at Mimecast and Cyber Resilience Think Tank member, true intelligence means turning information into action.