Page 49 - Cyber Defense eMagazine September 2018

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From Theory To Practice: 5 Applications Of Threat Intelligence

by Jonathan Zhang, Founder and CEO, Threat Intelligence Platform

Threat intelligence (TI) has caught the eye of CSOs and cybersecurity teams seeking to fight cybercrime
strategically while allocating IT security budgets more efficiently. In fact, 60% of organizations already
implemented TI initiatives, and 78% of practitioners feel that their security capabilities and responsiveness to
threats have increased as a result.

While these numbers show that the popularity of TI is on the rise, some security professionals do not yet see
the full value of TI and what it can do for their organizations in concrete terms. This post aims at bridging that
knowledge gap, looking at five practical applications and how TI connects to common cybersecurity efforts you
might be currently undertaking.

1. Malware Detection
From ransomware to spyware to viruses, it’s hard to keep track of the countless forms of malware emerging
every day around the world. As part of their evidence-based data collection process, TI applications typically
conduct thorough domain malware checks and retrieve actionable information from major anti-malware
databases — e.g., detailing the nature of such attacks and their evolution and sharing best practices around
how to detect and tackle them.
Security analysts who can get access to this centralized information avoid a lot of redundant and repetitive work.
Instead of researching about each malware that may affect them, TI makes it possible to proceed directly with
the analysis of IT systems and, if necessary, the removal of known malicious software with tried-and-tested
techniques.