Before we dive into the secrets of Cyber Threat Intelligence, let’s try to look at different threats that might affect our personal and business life. We are talking about many different attacks, such as ransomware, phishing, and denial-of-service attacks. Whether they are internal or external, we always have to treat them with the utmost importance, because they can not just impact our personal and business life, but even cause substantial financial losses, trust issues, and data leaks. Let’s try to have a look at some of the already mentioned cyber threats and how Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) is supposed to mitigate their effects on us.
Ransom, blackmailing, never-ending external attacks, and internal threats
So what are we talking about when we mention Cyber Threat Intelligence?
It is the process of collecting, analyzing, and disseminating information about potential or actual cyber threats that could pose a risk to an organization’s information technology infrastructure, networks, systems, or data.
Its primary purpose is to analyze the current ‘trends’, techniques, and patterns in cyber security. By analyzing what is happening we can use a proactive approach to be one step ahead of all the factors that might cause us huge headaches in the long run. Cyber Threat Intelligence also helps organizations to develop effective security strategies and measures to prevent, detect, and respond to cyber-attacks.
We’ve mentioned some rather well-known expressions and types of usual attacks, so let’s try to delve into them. First, the most common suspects and then some more specific, rather niche ones too. Malware is a computer program created to damage, interfere with, or allow unauthorized entry into a computer network or computer system.. Examples of malware include viruses, worms, Trojans, and ransomware. Phishing is a form of social engineering assault that entails sending emails or messages that seem to be from a trustworthy source but are actually intended to fool the receiver into giving sensitive information or clicking on a dangerous link. Nowadays we tend to hear a lot more about distributed denial of service (DDoS). These kinds of attacks aim to overload a network or website with traffic, making it unavailable to users.
Internal risks and the Man-in-the-Middle
When we think about Cyber Threat Intelligence and being protected in online and cyberspace, we usually imagine hardcore hackers targeting our companies, but usually, the reality is a lot less exciting. One of the biggest threats to a company is still its employees. Insider threats are threats posed by employees or contractors who have authorized access to an organization’s systems or data but misuse that access for malicious purposes. People tend to forget passwords, write them down, then lose the little sticky notes… ‘Man-in-the-middle’ attacks involve intercepting and manipulating communications between two parties to steal information or gain access to a network. Sometimes attacks are deliberately targeted during a longer period of time, pretty much like trying all the windows and doors on a building in order to gain entry. These are called Advanced Persistent Threats (ATPs) are targeted attacks that are designed to gain access to a specific organization’s network or data over an extended period of time. Cyber Threat Intelligence is supposed to rule these out, by analyzing the above-mentioned patterns and techniques and preparing us for being protected all the time.
