What Is a Cyber Threat Intelligence Platform and How Does It Work?

Imagine if you could have a view into the mind of your hacker attacker. What if you could see the tools and techniques they are using to breach your systems? With a cyber threat intelligence platform, you can.

But what is a cyber threat intelligence platform, and how does it work? In this post, we'll take a closer look at what a cyber threat intelligence platform is and how it can help you defend your organization against hacker attacks.

What Is a Cyber Threat Intelligence Platform?

In short, a cyber Threat Intelligence Platform (TIP) is a software that's used to collect, store, and analyze data that's related to cyber threats. This data is what’s referred to as threat intelligence. 

Threat intelligence data can come from a variety of sources, including social media, blogs, forums, third-party threat feeds, research reports and even your internal network. The platform then analyzes all this information and organizes it to help organizations understand the external and internal threats they face and the latest trends. 

But what’s in intelligence data that helps security teams defend their organization better against cyber attacks?

According to NIST, “Threat Intelligence is threat information that has been aggregated, transformed, analyzed, interpreted, or enriched to provide the necessary context for decision-making processes.” In other words, threat intelligence data contains deep insights about specific threats. This includes the threat actors, their tools and expertise, the specific attack methods they use, their motivation, and indicators of compromise. This information from a TIP allows threat analysts to focus their time on taking effective action against threats rather than spending time on collecting, and managing data. 

TIPs integrate multiple threat intelligence feeds into a single platform, compares data across multiple sources, and compares the data to previous security incidents and events. TIPs also merge with your existing security tools and solutions such as SIEM to create alerts and then prioritize them based on the level of risk they pose. 

The platform also typically includes a dashboard that allows users to visualize the data and monitor the threats in real-time. This is an important tool for security teams as it helps them visualize threats in their environment, anticipate attack patterns and prioritize their efforts. Moreover, threat analysts can also share intelligence from the platform with other security teams and stakeholders.

What Are the Features of a CTI Platform?

When it comes to CTI platforms, there are a few key features you should look for.

First, the platform should be able to collect data from a variety of sources. This data can come from social media, forums, the dark web, and more. The best threat intelligence platforms must be able to gather data from a multitude of sources, support a variety of formats and standardize all that information into a common language. Additionally, the platform should be able to analyze this data to extract actionable intelligence.

Modern TIPs must be able to automate every part of the threat intelligence lifecycle - from data collection to data analysis to data sharing. It must also integrate with incident response systems and automatically launch remediation steps when a threat is detected.

Finally, a CTI platform should have collaboration tools that allow users to share information and work together on investigations. These tools can include chat rooms, forums, and more.

Who Needs a Cyber Threat Intelligence Platform?

If you’re thinking, "I'm not a government agency or a huge corporation. Why would I need a CTI platform?", that's a valid question. The truth is, any organization that relies on digital systems to do business is a potential target for cyberattacks.

Here are some of the most common types of organizations that can benefit from a CTI platform:

• Financial institutions
• Retailers
• Healthcare providers
• Technology companies
• Manufacturing companies
• Media and entertainment companies
• Educational institutions

Moreover, large security teams can benefit from a CTI platform that allows them to more easily manage their threat intelligence needs.

How Do CTI Platforms Work?

Threat Intelligence platforms carry out three critical functions - aggregation, analysis, and action. Aggregation is the process of collecting information from different threat intelligence feeds and consolidating it into a central location. Analysis is the process of identifying threat indicators from the curated threat intelligence and determining their relative significance. Finally, action is the process of sharing relevant threat intelligence data with the incident response and defense teams. 

A CTI platform gathers data from a variety of sources, both internal and external to an organization. This data is then processed and analyzed to provide actionable intelligence that can be used to improve an organization's cybersecurity posture.

The data sources used by a CTI platform can include:



• Firewalls
• Intrusion detection/prevention systems
• Web proxies
• Email gateways
• Security information and event management (SIEM) logs
• Publicly available information (PAI) such as news articles, blog posts, etc.

This information then needs to be processed from raw data to readable formats. 

The next stage is analysis, where data is transformed into real threat intelligence. The threats are prioritized based on the amount of risk they pose to the organization’s assets. In addition, the platform also identifies high-risk assets, and the threats that are most likely to occur. 

The end result is a report that provides insights into the latest cyber threats facing an organization and recommendations on how to mitigate them.

Cyber Threat Intelligence Platforms: The Bottom Line

Cyber threat intelligence platforms are a vital part of any organization's security strategy. By collecting and analyzing data from a variety of sources, they provide actionable insights that can help you stay one step ahead of the bad guys. Along with giving your firm the tools it needs to thwart cyberattacks, cyber threat intelligence can notify you if you've already suffered a security breach.

Not sure if a cyber threat intelligence platform is right for you? Here are a few things to consider:

- Do you have the resources to set up and maintain a platform?

- What are your organization's specific needs and goals?

-  Do you have the ability to integrate disparate threat data sources?

Also note that along with giving your firm the tools it needs to thwart cyberattacks, cyber threat intelligence can notify you if you've already suffered a security breach.

If you're looking for a way to supplement your organization's cyber defenses, then a cyber threat intelligence platform could be a great solution for you.

EvolveCTI lets you automatically incorporate cyber threat intelligence into your security infrastructure for a more proactive defense. Increase your organization’s intelligence, enhance breach detection, and share cyber threat intelligence publicly or privately with just a few clicks. 

Book a demo with one of our experts to know more about our solutions.