Book Image

Operationalizing Threat Intelligence

By : Kyle Wilhoit, Joseph Opacki
Book Image

Operationalizing Threat Intelligence

By: Kyle Wilhoit, Joseph Opacki

Overview of this book

We’re living in an era where cyber threat intelligence is becoming more important. Cyber threat intelligence routinely informs tactical and strategic decision-making throughout organizational operations. However, finding the right resources on the fundamentals of operationalizing a threat intelligence function can be challenging, and that’s where this book helps. In Operationalizing Threat Intelligence, you’ll explore cyber threat intelligence in five fundamental areas: defining threat intelligence, developing threat intelligence, collecting threat intelligence, enrichment and analysis, and finally production of threat intelligence. You’ll start by finding out what threat intelligence is and where it can be applied. Next, you’ll discover techniques for performing cyber threat intelligence collection and analysis using open source tools. The book also examines commonly used frameworks and policies as well as fundamental operational security concepts. Later, you’ll focus on enriching and analyzing threat intelligence through pivoting and threat hunting. Finally, you’ll examine detailed mechanisms for the production of intelligence. By the end of this book, you’ll be equipped with the right tools and understand what it takes to operationalize your own threat intelligence function, from collection to production.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
1
Section 1: What Is Threat Intelligence?
6
Section 2: How to Collect Threat Intelligence
12
Section 3: What to Do with Threat Intelligence

Actor engagement

When you're conducting an investigation using a litany of intelligence sources, the concept of threat actor engagement often arises. Why? Human intelligence (HUMINT) lead operations, which target specific actors, allow the investigator or researcher to collect tactical information and intelligence on actors, in addition to sourcing large amounts of data, all of which map to the intelligence collection requirements that are used by the organization.

So, what is actor engagement? Actor engagement is the act of interacting with actors in a variety of ways. This could include negotiating a ransomware incident with an affiliate, interfacing with an actor on an underground forum, and anything in between.

At the end of the day, threat actors are humans on the other end of a connection with a keyboard at hand. However, if you're thinking about engaging with a threat actor, there are several things you should consider.

First and foremost, the most important...