(CTI) - How to Build Cyber Threat Intelligence Division For Your Organisation

Establishing a Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) division involves a structured approach encompassing planning, designing, and optimizing processes to effectively counter cyber threats. Below is a practical guide to building a CTI division:

Phase 1: Plan for a CTI Program

1. Understand the Basics of Threat Intelligence:

   • What: Learn foundational concepts, importance, and goals of CTI for your company.
   • Result: Clear understanding of CTI’s purpose within your organization.
   • Action: Leverage free resources, white papers, beginner guides, and industry certifications to build a solid grasp of CTI fundamentals.

2. Assess Your Organization’s Current Threat Landscape:

   • What: Evaluate existing threats related to brand protection, reputation, critical assets, vulnerabilities, attack surface, external presence, VIPs, etc.
   • Result: Comprehensive view of existing gaps in threat visibility.
   • Action: Use threat assessments and gap analysis frameworks to identify vulnerabilities.

3. Map Out Your Organization’s Ideal Target State:

   • What: Define short and long-term vision and objectives for your CTI program.
   • Result: Well-defined CTI program goals with clear metrics, objectives, and KPIs.
   • Action: Align objectives with business needs and cybersecurity strategy, engaging with the executive committee for support.

4. Establish a Case to Management for CTI Program Buy-In:

   • What: Present a business case to secure leadership buy-in and necessary resources.
   • Result: Management support and resource allocation.
   • Action: Conduct a cost-benefit analysis to highlight the value of CTI.

5. Address Organizational Gaps with a Skilled CTI Team:

   • What: Identify and fill roles required for effective CTI implementation.
   • Result: Functional CTI team in place.
   • Action: Recruit skilled personnel or invest in staff training programs.

6. Strategically Outline Your CTI Process:

   • What: Create a roadmap covering collection, analysis, and dissemination of threat intelligence.
   • Result: Structured and actionable CTI workflow.
   • Action: Include measurable milestones and adapt the process as threats evolve.

Phase 2: Design an Intelligence Collection Strategy

1. Design a Collection Strategy for Threat Intelligence:

   • What: Identify intelligence requirements and sources to collect actionable information.
   • Result: Customized intelligence collection plan.
   • Action: Utilize diverse sources like OSINT, threat feeds, and dark web monitoring, including both commercial and open-source options.

2. Normalize Intelligence Using Standard Frameworks:

   • What: Adopt consistent formats, taxonomies, and protocols to ensure data interoperability.
   • Result: Streamlined and consistent data structure.
   • Action: Implement industry standards such as STIX and TAXII.

3. Assess Different Collection Solutions:

   • What: Evaluate tools and technologies to determine the best fit for your organizational needs.
   • Result: Optimal collection tools selected.
   • Action: Test tools for scalability, integration, and effectiveness.

4. Validate That Collection Methods Produce Actionable Data:

   • What: Continuously monitor and assess the quality and relevance of collected data.
   • Result: Actionable intelligence aligned with security goals.
   • Action: Regularly review data and refine collection processes.

Phase 3: Optimize the Analysis Process

1. Define Roles in the Threat Analysis Workflow:

   • What: Assign clear responsibilities for analyzing, correlating, and prioritizing intelligence data.
   • Result: Clarity in the analysis process and accountability.
   • Action: Train analysts to detect and mitigate false positives.

2. Enhance the Analysis Process for Efficiency:

   • What: Implement tools and techniques to reduce manual effort and streamline threat evaluation.
   • Result: Faster, more efficient intelligence analysis.
   • Action: Utilize automation and machine learning for data correlation.

3. Take Action on the Intelligence Findings:

   • What: Convert intelligence insights into specific, actionable responses or mitigations.
   • Result: Improved incident response and SIEM threat hunting capabilities.
   • Action: Develop playbooks for various threat scenarios to enable detection monitoring.

4. Create High-Priority Intelligence Runbooks:

   • What: Develop step-by-step guides for addressing the most critical threat scenarios.
   • Result: Standardized responses to critical threats.
   • Action: Regularly update runbooks based on emerging threats.

5. Build a Centralized Threat Knowledge Portal:

   • What: Consolidate intelligence insights, reports, and lessons learned into a single repository.
   • Result: Enhanced knowledge sharing and historical reference.
   • Action: Implement a platform accessible to relevant stakeholders for continuous learning and improvement.

By following these phases and activities, organizations can establish a robust CTI division that proactively identifies and mitigates cyber threats, aligning security efforts with business objectives.