Valvoline

Kennedi Gross,Manager, Cyber Security,Valvoline

Individuals and organizations alike are continually connected to the internet in today's technologically advanced and evolved world to conduct various personal and financial operations.

It's been many years since the WannaCry ransomware attack paralyzed 150 countries. Over months and years, the perpetrators of this global cyberattack caused havoc on the healthcare and manufacturing industries, costing businesses and governments an estimated $4 billion in recovery costs. WannaCry is only one of the numerous cyber-attacks plaguing IT professionals across all verticals, including healthcare, finance, retail, and government agencies—including military activities. This development necessitates more warning for cyber operators, highlighting the importance of efficient cyber intelligence.

Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) is critical for businesses seeking to secure their networks against sophisticated cyberattacks. At the forefront, critical infrastructure organizations that rely on operational technology (OT) and are confronted with an increasing number of high-profile attacks require this type of information to build their defenses and identify hostile actors.

However, properly utilizing CTI is challenging due to poor data quality (e.g., high volume and low relevance) and actionability (such as matching technical indicators with network traffic). These obstacles mean that many organizations are ineffective in their use of CTI. Because they frequently invest considerably in this resource, they are not getting a complete return on investment.

CTI originated in military intelligence and encompassed the entire intelligence cycle, which the US Marine Corps divides into planning and direction, collecting, processing, and exploitation, as well as production, dissemination, and usage. Other groups, whether military or not, follow a similar cycle.

The primary objective of this type of security is to keep businesses informed about the advanced attacks, exploits, and zero-day threats to which they are most vulnerable and how to defend against them. CTI collects raw data about new and established threat actors from various sources. After collecting data, CTI teams evaluate it to create relevant threat intelligence management and feeds reports that contain just the most critical information that can be used by automated security control solutions and management to make security decisions for the firm.

Cybercriminals with the goal or capability of causing harm to persons or companies are constantly looking for new ways to access enterprise networks.

CTI can help businesses save money and capital by enhancing their defenses and mitigating the organization's risk. Not only does the company suffer data loss in the aftermath of a data breach, but it also bears several expenditures such as post-incident remediation and restoration, fines, lawsuit fees, investigative charges, and damage to their brand and market position, to name a few. CTI gives necessary visibility into emerging security risks to mitigate the risk of data loss, limit or eliminate disruptions to corporate operations, and maximize regulatory compliance.

When suspect IP addresses or domains attempt to communicate with the network to obtain critical information, a CTI system functions as a watchdog. A CTI system can prevent or block such addresses from accessing the network and obtaining sensitive data in this situation. If these breaches are not addressed promptly, they might escalate into a distributed denial-of-service assault, wreaking havoc on a system.

A threat intelligence system increases an organization's security team's productivity by correlating threat intelligence with abnormalities identified by network tools. A threat intelligence team can incorporate threat intelligence into an organization's foundation, reducing the time required for security responses and freeing up staff time for other critical activities. CTI is extremely beneficial in assisting a company in analyzing the various strategies used by a cybercriminal. By assessing such cyber dangers, a business can ascertain whether its security defense systems can defend against them. Sharing critical cybersecurity knowledge, such as how hackers plot a security breach, could assist others in preventing similar assaults. The more effectively an institution defends against these attacks, the less likely hackers will carry out such destructive attack plans.