In The 5 Barriers to Threat Intelligence Success – PART 1 we outlined specific challenges every organisation faces:
Gathering intelligence
Curating your feeds
Actioning intelligence
Proving value
Preparing for the future
In this second article, we explain how to overcome them all.
1. Effective intelligence gathering
Sourcing threat intelligence is incredibly easy. There are thousands of feeds providing constant updates. But the sheer volume of information is too great – and a lot will not be relevant to your organisation.
The solution? Prioritise feeds that address your critical systems. Focus on identifying your most pressing risks first, then expand your strategy to consider other assets.
2. Smarter feed curation
Risk intelligence can be like a firehose, an endless stream of information that needs to be parsed, processed and actioned. Processing that data can be time and resource-intensive, reducing the speed at which your team can take action.
Choosing intelligence sources that offer curation services will be essential. Outsourcing curation means that any incoming data has been pre-filtered and that you only receive relevant information that can be actioned immediately. You should also investigate the use of machine learning and automation to further reduce the workload on your in-house security team.
3. Work with analysts to action intelligence
Your response to identified threats is a question of resources – if you cannot react immediately, you have a resource issue. Either the quality of your intelligence data needs to be improved, or you need more in-house resources.
Being able to connect with the security researchers generating intelligence reports is a great way to overcome both these shortages. Outsourcing partners can ensure data is properly presented to meet the specific needs of your business. They can also provide practical guidance in terms of addressing the threat.
4. Prove value through external validation
The board will always want evidence that their investments are generating a return. A count of how many threats is of little value – so you will need to provide more effective KPIs instead. Actions taken will be of far greater use.
In the event of an attack, your C-suite will want to know who, what, why and how. Having intelligence reports backed by access to expert security analysts will answer these questions and provide external validation that your team is responding correctly and maximising return on investment.
5. Collaborate for the future
Reinventing the wheel is a guaranteed way to waste money. So why collect and hoard security intelligence?
Collaborating with other organisations – including your competitors – offers a way to uncover security threats faster. Building a centralised network of reliable, relevant threat intelligence allows you to respond to issues more quickly and effectively than ever before.
The future of business is collaborative – so why not security too?
Get started today
To learn more about how to deliver threat intelligence success – and how to get the expert assistance your security team needs, please give the WTL team a call.