97 Things Every Information Security Professional Should Know

Chapter 96. Threat Intelligence in Two Steps

Xena Olsen

Simply put, threat intelligence involves understanding threats and helping leadership make informed security decisions. Threat intelligence isn’t just about novel threats or state-nexus threat actors. It is also about understanding simple attacks specific to your organization’s infrastructure, controls, and detection and getting good at defending against those.

Threat intelligence doesn’t have to be hard. Many organizations set unrealistic expectations for their threat intelligence teams, and I am here to tell you one thing: keep it simple. Step one: understand the people, process, and technology of your threat intelligence role. Step two: solve other people’s problems. Champion a project that can build political capital and address the pain points of the security department.

Threat intelligence isn’t just for large enterprise companies. Threat intelligence is for small businesses, solopreneurs, medium-sized businesses, and individuals too. All that is necessary is to broaden your perspective of what threat intelligence means to you. In a small business and solopreneur context, it can mean understanding your business’s threat landscape so you can make informed decisions on how to run your business.

Step One: Understand Your Role

The people

Threat intelligence is about people. When you strip away the expensive security tools ...