External Threat Intelligence Services

What are External Threat Intelligence Services?

External Threat Intelligence Services enable organizations to anticipate threats originating outside their networks.

These services monitor and analyze digital spaces where cybercriminals operate.

The goal is to enable organizations to proactively detect and respond to threats.

Key Benefits of Threat Intelligence

Actionable threat intelligence provides several important benefits to organizations:

1. Early Threat Detection: Identify and address threats before they escalate.
2. Improved Defense: Understanding cybercriminals’ tactics (TTPs) helps businesses improve their cyber defenses.
3. Quick Incident Response: Faster response times minimize damage and downtime.
4. Informed Decision-Making: Make data-driven decisions to optimize your security investments.

Why Use External Threat Intelligence Services?

Continuously monitoring hacker forums, the dark web, ransomware gangs, paste sites, and darknet marketplaces can be resource intensive.

For most businesses, using external threat intelligence services is more cost effective and reliable than creating an internal solution.

External services save time by letting you focus on responding to threats instead of gathering data.

Essential Capabilities for External Threat Intelligence Services

There is a wide range of features external threat intelligence services provide. Here’s a list of the most important features to look for:

• Threat Monitoring & Detection: Real-time tracking across the dark web and hacker forums.
• Data Aggregation & Analysis: Ability to aggregate and analyze data from open and dark web sources.
• Threat Prioritization: Contextual insights to help prioritize threats by risk level.
• Actionable Reporting: Clear, actionable reports to guide response.
• Incident Response Support: Assistance in taking down phishing sites and addressing compromised credentials.
• Integration: Easy integration with existing security solutions.
• Expert Analysis: Access to insights and strategic advice from cybersecurity analysts.
• Compliance Support: Documentation and assistance with regulatory requirements.

Cyber Threat Intelligence

External Threat Intelligence is just one part of a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy. There are six main types of cyber threat intelligence:

1. Strategic Threat Intelligence: High-level insights for executives about threat trends and patterns.
2. Tactical Threat Intelligence: Detailed analysis of attack techniques for operational teams.
3. Operational Threat Intelligence: Real-time data on active threats for SOC and incident responders.
4. Technical Threat Intelligence: Data like IP addresses and malware hashes used to stop attacks.
5. Internal Threat Intelligence: Analyzes internal data to detect insider threats and vulnerabilities.
6. External Threat Intelligence: Tracks external data sources for emerging threats outside the organization.