The Importance of “Effective” Threat Intelligence

by Mark Rasch

Effective threat intelligence is a crucial aspect of cybersecurity, as it allows organizations to proactively identify and respond to potential security threats before they cause significant harm. Cybersecurity threat intelligence involves the collection, analysis, and dissemination of information about potential security threats, including malware, phishing, and other malicious activities.

In recent years, the use of chat forums such as Discord by threat actors has become a significant source of threat intelligence. These forums provide a platform for hackers to communicate and collaborate, sharing information about potential vulnerabilities, exploits, and attack techniques.

To effectively leverage threat intelligence from chat forums like Discord, organizations need to have robust tools and processes in place for data collection, analysis, and dissemination. In this article, we will explore the best sources for meaningful cybersecurity threat intelligence, including data from threat actors' Discord and other chat forums, and how best to use this data.

WHAT THREAT INTELLIGENCE ISN'T

Many entities’ approach to threat intelligence is to collect data about CVE’s, incidents, and similar data. While threat intelligence, vulnerability sharing, and incident sharing are all important aspects of cybersecurity, they differ in their focus and scope. Knowledge of vulnerabilities and exploits is important, but it is not true “threat intelligence.”

Threat intelligence focuses on the collection, analysis, and dissemination of information about potential security threats, including malware, phishing, and other malicious activities. The goal of threat intelligence is to proactively identify and respond to potential threats before they cause significant harm. It involves infiltrating hacker forums, obtaining trust in the hacker community, and learning about the goals, capabilities, and intentions of specific threat actors or threat actor groups. 

On the other hand, vulnerability sharing focuses on the disclosure of information about software or system vulnerabilities, including how they can be exploited and how they can be remediated. The goal of vulnerability sharing is to promote the patching of vulnerabilities and to help organizations improve their security posture.

Incident sharing, meanwhile, focuses on the sharing of information about actual security incidents, including how they were detected and how they were resolved. The goal of incident sharing is to help organizations learn from each other's experiences and improve their incident response capabilities.

While there is some overlap between these three areas, they each have distinct goals and require different approaches to collecting and sharing information. Organizations need to develop a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy that incorporates all three areas to effectively manage their cybersecurity risk.

SOURCES OF MEANINGFUL CYBERSECURITY THREAT INTELLIGENCE

There are several sources of meaningful cybersecurity threat intelligence that organizations can leverage, including:

Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) - OSINT refers to publicly available information that can be used to gather intelligence on potential cyber threats. This includes information from social media, blogs, forums, and other publicly accessible sources. OSINT can provide valuable insights into potential threats, including indicators of compromise (IoCs), and can help organizations stay ahead of emerging threats.

Closed-Source Intelligence (CSINT) - CSINT refers to intelligence collected from sources that are not publicly accessible. This includes information from private chat forums, dark web marketplaces, and other underground sources. CSINT can provide valuable insights into the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used by threat actors, as well as indicators of compromise (IoCs) that can help organizations detect and respond to potential threats.

Human Intelligence (HUMINT) - HUMINT refers to intelligence gathered from human sources, including insiders, customers, and partners. HUMINT can provide valuable insights into potential threats and can help organizations understand the motivations, capabilities, and objectives of threat actors. HUMINT can be collected from cooperating hackers, message boards, or increasingly through AI-powered tools.

USING THREAT INTELLIGENCE DATA EFFECTIVELY

To effectively use threat intelligence data, organizations need to have robust tools and processes in place for data collection, analysis, and dissemination. This includes:

Data Collection - To effectively collect threat intelligence data, organizations need to use a range of tools and techniques. This may include automated tools for data scraping and analysis, as well as manual processes for collecting data from open-source and closed-source intelligence sources.

Data Analysis - Once data has been collected, it needs to be analyzed to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities. This may involve using machine learning algorithms and other advanced analytics tools to identify patterns and anomalies in the data.

Dissemination - Once potential threats have been identified, organizations need to disseminate this information to relevant stakeholders, including security teams, IT teams, and senior leadership. This may involve using automated alerting systems to notify stakeholders of potential threats, as well as regular threat briefings and reports to keep stakeholders informed of the latest threats and vulnerabilities. Threat data is not effective if it is not known—or known by those who have the ability to effectively respond.

LEVERAGING DATA FROM THREAT ACTORS' DISCORD AND OTHER CHAT FORUMS

Discord and other chat forums have become a significant source of threat intelligence in recent years, as they provide a platform for hackers to communicate and collaborate. To leverage data from these sources, organizations need to effectively monitor Discord and other chat forums as well as use automated tools to collect data and identify potential threats. This may involve using tools that can automatically scrape data from these sources and identify potential threats based on keywords, indicators of compromise (IoCs), and other relevant criteria. Once data has been collected from chat forums, it needs to be analyzed to identify potential threats and vulnerabilities. This may involve using natural language processing (NLP) tools to analyze the content of messages, identify potential indicators of compromise (IoCs), and map out the relationships between different threat actors.

VERIFY AND VALIDATE THREAT INTELLIGENCE DATA

It's essential to verify and validate threat intelligence data from chat forums before taking any action based on that data. This may involve cross-checking the data with other sources of intelligence, verifying the authenticity of the data, and assessing the credibility of the source. Once potential threats have been identified from chat forums, it's crucial to disseminate relevant intelligence to relevant stakeholders, including security teams, IT teams, and senior leadership. This may involve using automated alerting systems to notify stakeholders of potential threats and regular threat briefings and reports to keep stakeholders informed of the latest threats and vulnerabilities.

CONCLUSION

Effective threat intelligence is critical for organizations to proactively identify and respond to potential security threats. Chat forums such as Discord have become a significant source of threat intelligence, providing a platform for hackers to communicate and collaborate. To effectively leverage threat intelligence data from these sources, organizations need to have robust tools and processes in place for data collection, analysis, and dissemination. This includes monitoring chat forums for potential threats, analyzing data to identify indicators of compromise, verifying and validating threat intelligence data, and disseminating relevant intelligence to relevant stakeholders. By taking a proactive approach to threat intelligence, organizations can stay ahead of potential threats and protect their assets from cyber attacks.