Cybercrime is a problem for all businesses. With 2023 approaching, levels of cybercrime continue to rise, and attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and well-funded. As such, it is up to businesses and organisations to be doing everything they can to mitigate the risk of an attack and put powerful defences in place.
One of the most important ways that any company can defend itself against cybercrime is through ongoing security awareness and by sharing information. Gathering threat intelligence is an important way to understand the types of attacks that your businesses could be targeted with, and to find the most effective ways of dealing with them.
In this article, we will take a look at the strongest sources of cyber threat intelligence in 2023 to allow you to get access to the most valuable information available.
What is cyber threat intelligence?
Cyber intelligence can be defined as “information gathered from a range of sources about current or potential attacks against an organisation. The information is analysed, refined and organised and then used to minimise and mitigate cybersecurity risks.”
Having the best quality intelligence can help guide you not only in the strategic decisions that you make around cybercrime but also in how you apportion budgets and make use of the time of the IT team.
Cybersecurity testing
It should be noted that the type of threat intelligence that you need will often depend on the specifics of your business and the industry you operate in. As such, there is no more effective way of gathering intelligence than by understanding the strengths and weaknesses that exist within your IT system.
You can get to the bottom of this by investing in forms of cybersecurity testing, such as penetration testing. Penetration testing is defined as “a form of ethical cyber security assessment that seeks to identify, safely exploit and help to remediate vulnerabilities across computer systems, applications and websites. By utilising the same tools and techniques used by cyber adversaries, pen testing replicates the conditions of a genuine attack.”
Using testing like this can provide you with insight into your system and the potential weaknesses that could be exploited in a real cyberattack.
Proactive software
Another important way of gaining valuable threat intelligence is via proactive cybersecurity software. Forms of cybersecurity such as SIEM monitors the ongoing activities of a business. From the data that is uncovered, companies can get an understanding of likely forms of attack and ways that the company can be targeted.
Social media
“If your company is not utilising social media platforms for threat monitoring, chances are the security team is missing out on a huge aspect of the company’s overall threat landscape, particularly as threats are not just physical anymore,” says Kara Gronborg, Crisis 24 Analyst III supporting the National Football League (NFL).
Social media channels are a treasure trove of data about the most common current cyber threats, as well as what businesses are doing to respond to them. Staying active in cybersecurity communities on platforms such as Twitter and Reddit can be a great way to gather vital intelligence.
Open-source intelligence
It is still the case that in 2023 one of the most important places to find cyber threat intelligence comes from the Malware Information Sharing Platform (MISP). This is an open-source platform where users come together to gather, store, and analyse information on possible cyber threats that could be affecting everyone.
As cybercrime becomes more sophisticated and well-funded, these kinds of collaborative projects have never been more important. They can provide the opportunity for businesses and cybersecurity professionals to come together, share knowledge and find solutions to overcome cybersecurity issues.
Cybersecurity professionals
If your team is missing expertise in cybersecurity, it can be a great idea to outsource. Bringing in cybersecurity contractors or consultants can not only help you to face day-to-day cybersecurity problems, but it can also give your team a much-needed boost in terms of threat intelligence.
It is a great idea to bring in the kind of cybersecurity professionals you need to maximise your in-house knowledge. This will allow you to make better decisions around all issues of cybersecurity.
Google’s cybersecurity intelligence
It is also worth noting that Google is always interested in ensuring that sites are as best protected from cybercrime as possible. To that end, Google has a resource called Safe Browsing which contains a list of all of the URLs that contain either some form of malware or phishing content.
If you are concerned about a site, you can use this list to determine whether or not it contains something nefarious.
Gathering cyber threat intelligence is absolutely vital in 2023 if you want to keep your business protected against cybercriminals. Getting your information from a range of different sources gives you the best chance of being safe and mitigating risks.
