What are Cyber Threat Intelligence Feeds ?

As your business expands and grows, it becomes increasingly important to be aware of the latest cyber threats.

A threat intelligence feed is a valuable resource for staying informed about the latest threats and indicators related to them. It can help you protect your organisation from potential harm.

By subscribing to a threat intelligence feed, you can ensure that you have the most up-to-date information about potential threats to your business. This will allow you to take appropriate steps to protect yourself and your organization from harm, as well as taking an active posture.

What are threat intelligence feeds?

Threat intelligence feeds are information repositories that provide users with a stream of data related to various cyber threats. This data can include indicators of compromise (IoC), indicator of attacks (IoA), and other threat-related information such as information on threat actors, threat data, cyber attacks, malicious domains, malicious IP addresses, cyber threat indicators, malware samples, ma;war analysis, or simply malicious activity online.

Why is threat intelligence important for security professionals

In recent years, threat intelligence has become an essential part of cybersecurity. By gathering information about potential threats through continuous monitoring of various sources and sharing it with security teams.

One of the most important benefits of threat intelligence feeds is that it enables security teams to stay one step ahead of the attackers. By constantly monitoring threat feeds and analysing new data, security analysts can identify potential threats before they have a chance to materialize. In addition, threat intelligence can help to improve incident responders times and reduce the overall impact of attacks. As the threat landscape continues to evolve, threat intelligence will become even more important in helping organizations to keep their systems safe.

Furthermore, we see an increase in the types of cyber threat intelligence feeds and threat intelligence providers available on the market.

What is the purpose of threat intelligence feeds?

The purpose of threat intelligence feeds is to help organizations stay informed about the latest threats that could adversely affect their infrastructure. By subscribing to a threat intelligence feed, organizations can receive timely updates about new and emerging threats. Threat intelligence feeds are streams of data that contain threat indicators and context about potential cyber threats. This information can be used to improve an organization’s security posture by helping them to detect, investigate, and respond to threats. Threat intelligence feeds typically contain information about Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) and Indicators of Attack (IOAs).

IOCs are pieces of evidence that suggest that a system or network has been compromised, while IOAs are signals that indicate that an attack is in progress. By monitoring threat intelligence feeds, organizations can stay up-to-date on the latest cyber threats and take steps to protect their systems and data.

How do threat intelligence feeds collect data?

Threat intelligence feeds collect information from a variety of sources, including honeypots, decoys, dark web forums, social media, web crawlers, malware. These are just a few of the ways that threat intelligence feeds collect data.

Decoys and honeypots are servers that are specifically designed to be attacked, providing a way to track and monitor malicious activity they represent are fake systems that are used to lure in attackers collecting IoC and IoA; by studying how these systems are attacked, professionals can gain valuable insight into the methods and tools used by attackers.

Dark web forums provide a place for criminals to buy and sell sensitive information; The dark web is home to a variety of forums where users can buy and sell data, credentials, exploits, exploit kits, malware, and other malicious tools and services. Data leaks are a particularly popular commodity on dark web forums, as they can provide access to numerous sensitive credentials. Exploits and exploit kits are also commonly traded on dark web forums, as they allow attackers to take advantage of vulnerabilities in order to install malware or gain access to sensitive data.

DDoS as a service is another popular product on dark web forums, as it allows attackers to launch attacks against their targets without having to invest in the necessary infrastructure. All of these products and services are readily available on dark web forums, making them a valuable resource for attackers. Hence, by monitoring these forums, security professionals can stay ahead of the latest threats.

Social media is another important source of data for threat intelligence feeds; by monitoring posts and comments, security professionals can identify trending topics and target areas for further investigation.

Finally, web crawlers can be used to automatically scan websites for signs of malware or other malicious activity. By constantly collecting and analyzing all this data, threat intelligence feeds provide a critical source of information for security professionals.

The information provided by the variety of threat intelligence solutions can be;

• Community generated threat data
• Real time threat intelligence
• Open source threat intelligence
• Data obtained through a threat intelligence platform using a variety of some of, or, all the techniques described above.

Why is it important for security analysts to use threat intelligence?

As threats change constantly and become more complex, security analysts need to use the actionable intelligence in the threat intelligence feeds they receive, if they need it. Basic security measures are just not sufficient. Keeping a company informed on current cyber threats through threat intelligence helps to save time and improve data quality.

Threat intelligence feeds helps answering key questions such as;

• What are the details of this malware?
• Are we protecting ourselves from this APT?
• Do we have protection against this CVE?
• How many signatures have we deployed to find and stop this threat?
• What TTPs are associated with what threat actors?
• Have we encountered this TTP in our organisation?
• Who are the actors who matter to us, and are they after us?
• What threats are there to organisations like mine?
• Have these IOCs and TTPs ever been seen before?
• Have these IOCs been previously reported?
• What do we know about this specific threat actor?

Spend less time collecting data

Your security staff will be more efficient if threat intelligence is automatically chosen for your company and cyber intelligence is supplied. Instead, if the team must manually go through data, not only does this take up time that could be better spent making decisions or responding to dangers, but it also makes it simpler for them to overlook threats or learn about them too late.

What are the 3 types of threat intelligence data?

Threat intelligence data can be classified into three broad categories: tactical, operational, and strategic.

Tactical threat intelligence data is focused on specific threats and vulnerabilities and is typically used to support near-term decision-making.

Operational threat intelligence data is designed to help organizations assess and respond to current threats, and is typically used by security teams on a daily basis.

Strategic threat intelligence data takes a longer-term view of threats, vulnerabilities, and adversaries, and is typically used by senior executives and other decision-makers to inform long-term planning.

Each type of threat intelligence feeds have their own strengths and weaknesses, and organizations should select the type of data that best meets their needs or use a combination of the three.

How to actively reduce and deal with security threats

Cyber threat intelligence feeds are often used in isolation, without being correlated with information from other security tools. However, this is not an effective way to use threat data, as it can lead to missed intrusions and false positives. To get the most out of threat intelligence, it needs to be used in conjunction with other cyber security tools, such as intrusion detection systems (IDS), firewalls, and endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions.

Sharing cyber security indicators will help create a more complete picture of what is happening on the network and make it easier to identify genuine threats. It will also help make sense of unstructured data acquired within your SIEM, and facilitate your security team’ work. In addition, by using multiple tools, organizations can employ different detection methods, such as signature-based detection and behavioral analytics. This helps to improve the overall accuracy of the system and reduce the chance of false alarms. Ultimately, when used correctly, threat intelligence is a valuable part of a comprehensive security posture.

Should my organisation share threat intelligence ?

Sharing threat intelligence has many advantages. First, it allows organizations to pool their resources and information, making it easier to identify threats. Second, it helps to create a community of trust, as organizations are more likely to trust and work with organizations that they know are sharing information. Finally, sharing threat intelligence helps to create a collective defense, as organizations can more easily coordinate their response to threats. As a result, sharing threat intelligence is an important way for organizations to protect themselves and their data.

There are however some disadvantages; The main one being creating a cybersecurity gap. Where key information about your organisation are shared with malicious actors. It is therefore key to select the threat intelligence information to share carefully, especially as this information may include IP addresses, emerging threats against your business information about your security infrastructure and more.

Information to share can include.

• Technical indications are technical artefacts or observables that indicate an attack is about to begin, is now in progress, or that a compromise may have already taken place, such as the name of a malware vulnerability and its hash values.
• Previously used IP addresses used by malicious threats.
• Threat actors’ TTPs, or tactics, techniques, and procedures, are used to exploit systems.

The Trusted Automated eXchange of Intelligence Information (TAXII) standard outlines the services and message exchanges that can be used to communicate cyber threat intelligence. It is made expressly to support STIX data, and it accomplishes this by establishing an API that follows widespread sharing paradigms.

You may also want to share some information collected with law enforcement agencies.

Lupovis can help you

Lupovis Snare and Lupovis Prowl can help your organizations stay up-to-date with the security threats and cyber attacks your company is facing.

Lupovis Snare is the next generation of proactive security, designed to deploy deception assets inside and outside your network. By leading to a strengthened security posture, advanced threat intelligence, and high-fidelity alerts before being breached, the Snare platform provides you with the peace of mind that your business is protected.

Lupovis Prowl is the perfect solution for those who want to obtain information on an IP address. It’s a free service that provides users with valuable data, including IoC and IoA. Simply enter an IP address and our system will provide you with the requested data. Lupovis Prowl is the perfect solution for anyone who needs quick and easy access to IoC and IoA data. Try it today!