Understanding Threat Intelligence: Feed Evaluation

Cybersecurity threats are constantly evolving, and it can be difficult to keep up with the latest information. This is where threat intelligence feeds come in. A threat intelligence feed is a real-time stream of data that includes information about the latest threats. This information can be used to help organizations protect themselves from attacks. However, not all threat intelligence feeds are created equal. In this blog post, we will discuss how to evaluate threat intelligence feeds more effectively.

Analysing threat intelligence feeds

Source evaluation is best viewed as a comprehensive analysis of the source directly. In threat intelligence, it is critical to determine whether sources are reliable and trustworthy. You can consider the following factors while evaluating a data stream before incorporating into your system:

• The source of the data feed: When interacting with a new source, the qualities of the data must stand for themselves, regardless of source concerns. There are various outlets of intelligence data inputs. The cyber threat intelligence team will decide the sort of source required for the program.

• Data period: A reliable source of data or feed must be current. The details available must be up to date, and the source supplier must specify the timeframe for which the information included in the source is relevant. The CTI must determine if the data source can be utilized to achieve the cyber threat intelligence objectives in various terms.

• Source verification: To determine if a data source is useful and helpful to the plan, the cyber threat intelligence team must authenticate its openness, which necessitates understanding where the data was obtained. Data streams from government entities and other law enforcement groups, for example, might be regarded legitimate and genuine. Transparent feeds show the content of the data, allowing threat analysts and security experts to make intelligent judgments. You may also want to know how the information or knowledge got into the hands of the supplier.

• Proportion of original data: To reduce the likelihood of data redundancy, the CTI team should emphasize the intersection between feeds or source.

• Potential Return on Investment (ROI): The cyber threat intelligence team must study the contents of the feeds, evaluate the integration effort, underline the advantages that may be derived from the source or feed, and determine the operation’s possible ROI. The goal is to determine if the material is beneficial to the business.

Conclusion

We must analyse TI feeds before integrating them to our security systems in threat analysis. As we have learned from the blog page, we can enhance TI feed analysis by considering the source of the feed, verifying that the feed is up to date, ensuring that the feed is genuine. We should also avoid data redundancies and detect overlaps between the feeds, and study the potential return on investment effectively.

See also

Want to learn practical Threat Hunting tactics and strategies? Enrol in MTH - Certified Threat Hunter Certification