3 Important Threat Intelligence Categories

Threats to your data security come from many different angles. The secret to being able to defend your organization is knowledge. That’s why threat intelligence is becoming an important part of data security. But what types of threat intelligence are there? We’re going to identify three.

1) Preemptive Threat Intelligence:

This type of intelligence involves gathering data on things that could potentially happen in the future. Your IT department or agency should look at trends in cybercrime to determine threat that will exist in the next 1–2 years. This will give your organization time to plan ahead to rebuff such attacks by updating hardware and software as needed. It also gives you the chance to train your staff to avoid risky behavior that could invite an attack.

2) Active Threat Intelligence:

Looking at the data collected by your network logs and other security features will help you determine current behavior that needs to be adjusted. It also allows you to see indicators of attacks that have already occurred so as to adjust your future defenses. Basically, you are auditing your current security to find the gaps that future hackers will use as an in to your system so you can proactively plug those holes accordingly. It can be something as simple as updating software or training a particular team member who needs to be more careful online.

3) Tactical Threat Intelligence:

Know your enemy in order to defend yourself from future threats. This means thinking like a hacker. What does your organization have that is worth stealing? How would you try to get into the system? Is your weak link the lack of a firewall? Perhaps the biggest threat is an unhappy employee who is willing to sell his login credentials to the highest bidder. Once you know which tactics hackers are most likely to employ to steal from you, this provides a starting point for developing a plan of preventative action.

If your organization is employing these three types of threat intelligence, you are not only making it tougher for hackers to attack your company, but you are also setting yourselves up to be able to say “We did everything we could,” if a data breach should occur, and that is important for PR.