It takes most companies more than six months to detect data breaches, including big names like Facebook, Capital One, and Equifax. However, more than 77% of organizations do not have any form of threat intelligence or cybersecurity incident response plan in action, even though more than 54% of companies have experienced an attack in the past year.
So why is threat intelligence so important for your business in 2020? Let’s try and break it down for you as simply as possible.
What is Threat Intelligence?
Threat intelligence is a term used to describe the practice of collecting data to keep an organization aware of possible security threats.
You can use threat intelligence to gather information on any online attacks that may have previously occurred, are happening now, or those that can affect the company in the future.
Using threat intelligence, it is possible to understand potential vulnerabilities better and therefore prioritize security practices to avoid and mitigate threats. Threat intelligence can be categorized into two groups, internal and external.
Internal threat intelligence looks at the analysis of data of a company’s own network. This includes aspects such as event and application logs, DNS logs, as well as other sources.
External threat intelligence focuses on sourcing threat intelligence from different outside sources. They can be found in news reports, blogs, public blocklists, or even private and commercial sources.
Why Is It So Important?
When it comes to digital security, threat intelligence is one of the most critical elements. This is because it feeds the necessary information needed to uphold the security of a company’s IT infrastructure.
According to Fundera, these are the sobering cyber threat statistics we’re dealing with on a daily basis in 2020:
- “43% of cyber attacks target small businesses.
- 60% of small businesses that are victims of a cyber attack go out of business within six months.
- Cybercrime costs small and medium businesses more than $2.2 million a year.
- There was a 424% increase in new small business cyber breaches last year.
- Healthcare is the industry that’s most at-risk for cyber attacks.
- 66% of small businesses are concerned or extremely concerned about cybersecurity risk.
- 14% of small businesses rate their ability to mitigate cyber risks and attacks as highly effective.
- 47% of small businesses they have no understanding of how to protect themselves against cyber attacks.
- 66% of small businesses are most concerned about compromising customer data.
- 3 out of 4 small businesses say they don’t have the personnel to address IT security.
- 22% of small businesses encrypt their databases.
- Human error and system failure account for 52% of data security breaches.”
Even if there are basic measures in place, it isn’t likely to be enough to ensure your security team is well-versed in terms of the latest cybersecurity threats. As the nature of online threats is in a state of constant change, threat intelligence monitoring is critical for any business.
A primary reason for threat intelligence is that it allows security experts to understand the thought process of an attacker better. The data collected indicates as to the techniques, tactics, and procedures used to carry out an attack.
Essentially, it leads to improved security efforts, including monitoring, identification, as well as response times.
Types of Threat Intelligence
There are numerous types of threat intelligence. We have broken them down into three categories.
Tactical
This type of threat intelligence focuses on what might happen in the immediate future. It aids security teams in determining whether or not the existing programs will successfully detect and avoid threats.
When it comes to threat intelligence, tactical threat intelligence is the most basic form as it is automatic and the simplest of all to generate. It allows companies to discover how likely it will be attacked based on the methods used by hackers.
Strategic
Strategic threat intelligence uses data from open sources, which means that it can be easily accessed by the public. This includes national and local media, reports, security ratings, online activity, online articles, and white papers.
It usually is reserved for non-technical audiences, including board members or stakeholders, and informs them regarding elements such as security scores or even possible impacts of business decisions.
Operational
Operational threat intelligence looks at past attacks and answers all the essential questions like who, how, what, when. By exploring past attacks, it is easier to gain insight as to how possible future attacks could occur.
Can You Benefit from Threat Intelligence?
In short – yes. Threat intelligence adds great value for the security of companies and organizations, large and small. Risk analysis, fraud prevention, and other high-level security practices are enriched by threat intelligence.
What are your thoughts on this subject? If you have ideas or anything to add to the conversation let us know. Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter, or Facebook. You can also comment on our MeWe page by joining the MeWe social network.
Last Updated on February 3, 2021.
