How can our threat intelligence platform deliver more?

This is a question many business professionals employing threat intelligence practices are asking themselves as their companies continue to fall short against the machinations of modern-day cybercriminals.

The truth is that while threat intelligence is certainly not a silver bullet, organizations often make a mistake when they opt for a platform without considering several important factors that can help them evaluate the market better and deploy the practice more effectively.

In this post, we’ll talk about these criteria and teach you what you should pay attention to in order to make threat intelligence work.

What Important Parameters Should Threat Intelligence Cover?

First things first, to meet today’s cybersecurity demands, your threat intelligence platform should be able to return data on certain parameters. These include:

• IPs and domain names
• Website analysis
• SSL certificates
• Malware detection
• WHOIS records
• Mail servers
• Name servers

Why? Well, having details on each of these points can help professionals see the bigger picture when they evaluate their own vulnerabilities, examine a suspect, or conduct an investigation after an incident. And if you’re interested to learn more on what each of these values entails and what data can be retrieved, you can read all about it in our blog post What to Look for in a Threat Intelligence Platform.

Factors to Consider Before Moving Forward

Getting valuable data is only half the job done as there are other important aspects to bear in mind while choosing a threat intelligence platform.

Information vs. intelligence

You see, there’s quite a distinction between the two, and you need to know if the threat intelligence platform you’re considering focuses on supplying the former or the latter.

Information, which is the output acquired from organized data, is useful in providing answers to certain questions in cybersecurity. On the contrary, intelligence implies information rendering and is applied in more complex situations—ultimately providing a clearer picture of a given situation host.

Quality or quantity

One of the most common concerns when gathering information is having too much of it. Expert analysts can still be overwhelmed with the number of security alerts they go through each day, and this can lower their effectiveness in the long run. On the other hand, a lack of quality data sources can also be a problem for those seeking specific details.

Depending on your current objective, you may want to choose a threat intelligence platform that either specializes in providing processed data along with warnings, recommendations, and reports or the one that enables access to multiple data feeds.

Adaptability

Another thing to keep in mind is that threat intelligence is an ongoing process. The cybersecurity landscape is always evolving with many new threats springing up over time. You may also find that the figures you gathered weeks ago are no longer relevant today.

In order to keep an ear on the ground, it is important to employ a threat intelligence platform that can adjust based on changing data and can be combined with the latest tools and software your company is currently using.

Things to Expect from a Threat Intelligence Platform

Lastly, a suitable threat intelligence platform has many use cases under its belt and offers several possibilities among which:

Easy integration with current systems – merging with existing solutions to expand and accomplish more across workflows.

Immediate incident alerts and reports – compatible with other programs to receive instant notifications in case of a security breach.

Improved trustworthiness – capable of protecting sensitive client information to showcase your cybersecurity potential and reliability as a provider.

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Threat intelligence is one of the pillars to a successful cybersecurity defense. That is why acquiring it while understanding what the market is offering and keeping in mind your objectives will ensure that the solution you’ve selected will keep your company safe.