Webinar Takeaways: Automate the Threat Intelligence Lifecycle to Strengthen Defenses

Threat analysts are being bombarded with hundreds, if not thousands, of threat intel data points including new indicators of compromise (IoCs), evolving threat actor groups, shifts in regions and industries being targeted and new tools, techniques and procedures (TTPs). Security operations must be data driven so you can understand threats and efficiently allocate resources to address your most important requirements. Being able to seamlessly move through the five stages of the threat intelligence life cycle allows for timely decisions and a proactive defense. 

In this brief webinar, ThreatQuotient’s Ed Young, Senior Product Manager, and Sean Drowsky, Threat Intelligence Engineer, explore key considerations and capabilities at each stage of the threat intel lifecycle and show you how the ThreatQ Platform fuses together data sources, tools and teams to accelerate threat detection and response. 

Here we share some of the key takeaways from the webinar. For the complete discussion and to see the demo, we encourage you to watch the replay.

An Engine Fueled by Data

Before digging into the five stages of the threat intel lifecycle and demo, it’s important to understand some of the key capabilities of the ThreatQ Platform and how it is uniquely suited for threat intelligence management.

As discussed in the webinar, the Cyber Threat Intelligence Lifecycle begins with data. The ThreatQ Platform provides an organized and structured way to move through each stage of the lifecycle with workflows that can be manual or automated. 

At the heart of the ThreatQ Platform is the DataLinq Engine and a flexible data model that ingests structured and unstructured data from internal and external data sources. Data is normalized and stored within the Threat Library and is correlated with additional sources, attributes and indicators to create a single record containing all the important context associated with the finding. Users can prioritize the information by filtering and scoring the items that pose the most risk in their environment, resulting in a smaller, actionable set of data that can be used in several different ways. 

Detection and response workflows can include sending indicators to a downstream system or tool in your security stack, creating a ticket for remediation or generating a report. Relevant, actionable intel can be shared with a number of internal or external teams, and a continuous feedback loop helps to improve the workflow and data.

5 Stages of the Cyber Threat Intel Lifecycle – at a Glance

The threat intelligence lifecycle is a structured process for collecting, analyzing, distributing and honing threat intel to improve defenses.

So, how does ThreatQ help analysts address each stage of the lifecycle?

1. The Intelligence Requirements phase drives all subsequent stages of the lifecycle. The goal is to define a set of intelligence objectives to ensure efforts are focused and relevant. In this stage, analysts: 

• Engage with stakeholders to gather concerns and identify priorities. 
• Identify specific questions that need to be addressed and prioritized threats based on business impact, likelihood and exposure. 

The demo explores the ThreatQ Platform dashboard view where you can track and manage requirements within the Threat Library alongside the data you are collecting. 

2. Data Collection involves gathering raw data from multiple sources that holds clues to what’s happening in your environment or any malicious activities. External sources include OSINT, commercial threat feeds, web forums and vendor reports. Internal sources include firewall logs, endpoint detections, and SIEMs. Human insights complete the picture with security analysts providing necessary context and any additional information.

The demo shows the ThreatQ Marketplace where you can select sources and tools that meet your requirements and integrate with the platform. 

3. Data Enrichment is where raw data becomes meaningful, contextualized intelligence. The ThreatQ DataLinq Engine deduplicates and correlates structured and unstructured data from a variety of sources to show relationships that link data to known threat actors, malware, or TTPs. At this point analysts understand the who, what, when, where, why, and how of a threat and can score the threat based on risk and impact to the organization.

In the demo, you see how to enrich the data using a campaign you’ve been tracking as an example and linking relevant file hashes. You can leverage status and scoring to tailor information based on your priorities and requirements. You also see how to perform additional enrichments on the data, either manually or with automated actions. 

4. Dissemination is where curated threat intelligence drives better detection and response. Delivering the right intel to the right people at the right time will ensure actionable intelligence reaches relevant stakeholders so they can act on it. Delivery might mean an executive summary in a report, issuing a ticket for remediation, or sending a ticket to a downstream system for blocking or monitoring. 

The demo walks you through the many forms disseminated intelligence can take, including taxi feeds, orchestrated workflows, finished intelligence reports and even dashboards. The goal is seamless delivery to stakeholders allowing for timely decisions and a proactive defense. 

5. Feedback is essential for continuous improvement and aligning CTI with the evolving needs of the organization. This includes gathering input from threat intel consumers to validate the relevance, accuracy and usefulness of the intel provided in order to refine requirements and update process. 

The demo circles back to the intel lifecycle dashboard where you can incorporate feedback from stakeholders to update requirements, the collection process, enrichment, and dissemination. 

See for Yourself
Staying ahead of cyber threats starts with good cyber threat intelligence which relies on timely, relevant data and teamwork. The lifecycle helps turn threat data into real, usable insights that stakeholders can use to make smarter decisions that strengthen cybersecurity and help organizations respond to threats more effectively. 

Interested in learning more? A picture is worth a thousand words, so watch the replay now and see the process in action.

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