Threat Intelligence — A crucial assistant for cyber security experts
What is Threat Intelligence
Threat intelligence is insight collected from data that gives context and evaluates adverse mechanisms and indicators while providing implications and advice in order to prevent or mitigate cyber attacks.
Traffic pouring into your website can come from anywhere at any time, and you may not know whether it is good or bad traffic. The threat intelligence mission is to collect and analyze more information about all your web traffic which can then help the platform identify dangerous threats and propose solutions in order to protect your website further.
The Polaris platform using threat intelligence to protect your website is just like a bodyguard using information from the command center to protect their client. Threat intelligence is like the nerd in the command center that analyzes the information and surrounding context, and then continuously communicates with the bodyguards (Polaris) on the street, giving them information so they can decide on the most appropriate solutions in protecting their client from unseen threats.
According to Anomali, there are 3 primary types of threat intelligence:
- Tactical threat intelligence:
The easiest type of intelligence to generate. It is almost always automated by machine and usually has a short lifespan because it is focused on the immediate future. It identifies simple indicators of compromise (IOCs) such as malware samples, threat actors, malicious IPs or domain names which can become obsolete in days or hours.
2. Operational threat intelligence:
This type engages in campaign tracking and actor profiling to gain a better view of the “who”, “why”, and “how” behind every attack. Machines alone cannot create operational threat intelligence as it also needs human analysis to make the data readable for customers. Hence, it provides more meaningful insight and exposes potential risks as well as having a longer lifespan than tactical threat intelligence.
3. Strategic threat intelligence
This third level of threat intelligence shows global events, illustrates a bigger picture to investigate, and predicts how threats and attacks change in the future. It not only requires data collection and analysis but also a deep understanding of cybersecurity which makes it the hardest form to generate. It is the most important type of threat intelligence when it comes to deciding the most effective strategy of protection right from the beginning.
Threat intelligence is critical for business
It is often stated that information is power, and threat intelligence is no different. Threat intelligence is an often overlooked aspect of protecting any business. It provides early warning and aids in preventing threats to maintain website operations. Instead of passively protecting a system against attacks, threat intelligence proactively provides you with more information about what is going on in your domain environment through a series of collections, tracking, and analysis methods. Threat data relayed to customers via reports allow businesses to take physical measures in increasing security by patching dangerous vulnerabilities, adjusting hardware and software configurations, and educating employees of potential threats that may appear.
Peace of mind with Polaris threat intelligence
Polaris threat intelligence provides several features for you -
- Helps detect suspicious IP addresses accessing your domain
- Searches for your compromised data on the web
- Reports domains that may be spoofing yours
- Scans for vulnerabilities on your web server
- Provides real-time threat mapping of attacks with detailed information about the attacks
If you’re already using Polaris, click on the link below to learn how to configure threat intelligence in just a few minutes:
https://support.polarisec.com/portal/en/kb/articles/threat-intelligence
