How do you compare and evaluate different threat intelligence and analysis vendors and platforms?

TI is a critical component of any cybersecurity program. However, there is no single TI source that has visibility into everything. This means that organizations need to carefully consider the scope of their TI requirements before onboarding a solution. The TI market is divided into three categories: Feeds, DRPS, and EASM. Some vendors offer overlapping capabilities, but it is important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each vendor before making a decision. When onboarding a TI solution, it is important to consider the scope of TI requirements, the quality of data, and the collection, analysis, and dissemination capabilities. By carefully considering these factors, org. can select a TI solution that meets their specific needs.

Tools and features are great, but it's also important to consider your intelligence requirements and how they can fit into the threat intelligence platform. Starting a discussion with a CTI platform about tools and features may be the wrong approach. Instead, starting from your own requirements and mapping these out to the collections and sources you need to satisfy those requirements makes more sense. Then, follow the intelligence lifecycle to determine how the platform will help you process, analyze, and eventually disseminate that data.

Threat intelligence(TI) is only as good as its context; it's just noise without understanding the "why, who, how, when, and where" of a threat. By contextualizing threat intelligence, organizations can turn it into actionable insights that will help them protect themselves from attack. Here are some questions to ask when contextualizing threat intelligence: - Why is the threat actor targeting my organization? - Who are they? - How do they operate? - When are they most likely to attack? - Where are they located? By answering these questions, organizations can gain a deeper understanding of the threat and develop more effective security measures.

Integration and automation are pivotal factors in machine-readable threat intelligence(TI). While many feeds and TIP vendors claim compatibility with downstream product stacks like SOAR, SIEM, EDR, MDR, FW, etc., only a handful offer comprehensive integration that delivers contextual intelligence to targeted systems. Threat Intelligence analysts and engineers must ensure bidirectional integration with these downstream devices, going beyond mere connectivity. Threat Intelligence analysts and engineers must ensure that they establish bidirectional integration with these downstream devices. This integration should not only facilitate IOCs/IOAs but also provide actionable and contextual information that enhances the overall security posture.

Develop and drive threat intelligence program, create proper threat intelligence strategy for it. Consider following points: 1. Know your Company's Risk Profile: Identify high value assets that need protection, identify threats to them, and understand the risks associated with those threats. 2. Define your Intelligence Requirements: Determine what kind of intelligence your organization needs at different levels. 3. Choose the Right TI Sources: Use a mix of open source, commercial, industry, and government TI sources. 4. Implement TI Tools: Use TI platforms (TIPs) to collect, analyze, and disseminate TI. 5. Integrate TI into SecOps: Use TI to enhance your SOC operations. 6. Measure the Effectiveness of TI Program using appropriate metrics.

A true modern threat intelligence platform in today's multi/ hybrid cloud environments needs to be integrated holistically. This means the tool needs to collect signal data. This signal data has to be diverse and of high quality and quantity. The specialist who give context to this data need to be the best and brightest in cyber threat analysis.