Brand Threat Intelligence
Brand Threat Intelligence in cybersecurity refers to identifying and analyzing potential threats that could harm a company's brand reputation, customer trust, and financial stability. These threats often occur outside the traditional network perimeter, on the public-facing internet.
Here's a breakdown of the key aspects:
What it involves:
Monitoring: Continuously scanning the internet, including social media, websites, forums, and the dark web, for mentions of your brand, its products, executives, and related terms.
Detection: Identifying various types of brand abuse, such as:
Phishing attacks: Fake emails or websites designed to trick people into revealing sensitive information.
Brand impersonation: Unauthorized use of your logo, name, or other assets to create fake accounts or products.
Counterfeit products: Fake goods sold under your brand name.
Domain squatting: Registering domain names similar to your brand to confuse customers.
Social media impersonation: Creating fake social media profiles that mimic your brand.
Analysis: Evaluating the severity and potential impact of detected threats.
Action: Taking steps to mitigate or neutralize the threats, such as:
Takedown requests: Requesting the removal of fake websites or social media profiles.
Legal action: Pursuing legal action against infringers.
Customer communication: Informing customers about potential threats and how to protect themselves.
Why it's important:
Protecting brand reputation: Brand abuse can damage customer trust and loyalty.
Preventing financial loss: Counterfeit products and phishing attacks can lead to lost revenue.
Safeguarding customer data: Phishing attacks can compromise sensitive customer information.
Maintaining business continuity: Brand attacks can disrupt operations and damage partner relationships.
Tools and technologies:
Threat intelligence platforms: Software that automates the monitoring and analysis of brand threats.
Social media monitoring tools: Platforms that track brand mentions and sentiment on social media.
Web monitoring services: Services that scan the web for brand abuse.
Brand Threat Intelligence is a proactive approach to cybersecurity that focuses on protecting a company's brand assets and reputation from external threats. It involves continuous monitoring, detection, analysis, and action to mitigate potential risks.
ThreatNG is a comprehensive suite of capabilities designed to provide deep insights into an organization's external attack surface and digital risk posture. It offers a range of capabilities that align well with the requirements of Brand Threat Intelligence. Let's explore how ThreatNG can help with specific examples:
1. External Discovery and Assessment
Deep and Wide Asset Discovery: ThreatNG excels at discovering an organization's wide range of assets, going beyond the apparent web domains and social media accounts. It automatically identifies subdomains, IP addresses, cloud instances, code repositories, and even mobile apps related to the organization. This comprehensive view is crucial for understanding the full scope of potential brand threats.
Brand-Specific Risk Assessment: ThreatNG offers several assessment ratings that directly relate to brand protection:
BEC & Phishing Susceptibility: This rating analyzes factors like domain intelligence, dark web presence, and sentiment analysis to determine how likely your brand will be targeted by phishing attacks or Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams.
Brand Damage Susceptibility: This assesses the potential for brand damage due to negative news, lawsuits, SEC filings, and social media sentiment.
Supply Chain & Third-Party Exposure: This rating evaluates the security posture of your vendors and suppliers, identifying potential risks that could indirectly impact your brand.
Example: Imagine a scenario where attackers create a fake email address or website that resembles your brand's official communication channels. ThreatNG's Domain Intelligence module would analyze the domain and email configurations, flagging any discrepancies or suspicious elements that indicate a potential phishing attempt. The platform would then cross-reference this information with its dark web presence monitoring and sentiment analysis to assess the likelihood of a BEC attack. If a high risk is detected, ThreatNG will provide actionable insights, such as identifying the hosting provider and registrar information for the malicious domain, enabling your team to take down the phishing site and protect your brand's customers.
Real-time Threat Detection: ThreatNG continuously monitors all discovered assets for changes or suspicious activity. This includes monitoring for new subdomains, changes in DNS records, SSL certificate expirations, and the emergence of phishing sites or brand impersonations.
Alerts and Notifications: The platform provides real-time alerts and notifications whenever it detects a potential threat, enabling security teams to respond quickly and effectively.
Example: If someone registers a domain name similar to your brand's domain (typosquatting), ThreatNG will detect this and alert your team. This allows you to take swift action, such as acquiring the domain or reporting it to the registrar, before it can be used to harm your customers.
Domain Intelligence: ThreatNG provides in-depth domain analysis, including:
DNS Intelligence: Analyzing DNS records to identify potential vulnerabilities and misconfigurations that could be exploited for brand abuse.
Email Intelligence: Examining email security configurations (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) to assess the risk of email spoofing and phishing attacks.
Subdomain Intelligence: Identifying active and inactive subdomains, analyzing their content for potential risks, and checking for subdomain takeover vulnerabilities.
Sensitive Code Exposure: This module scans code repositories for exposed credentials, API keys, and other sensitive information that could be used to compromise your brand's systems or data.
Dark Web Presence: ThreatNG actively monitors the dark web for mentions of your brand, leaked credentials, or any signs of planned attacks.
Example: Let's say a disgruntled former employee leaks sensitive company data on a code-sharing platform like Pastebin. ThreatNG's Online Sharing Exposure module would detect this leak, analyze the content, and alert your team. You could then remove the leaked data and mitigate the damage to your brand's reputation.
Ransomware Events and Groups: ThreatNG maintains a repository of ransomware events and groups, allowing you to assess if your brand has been mentioned in connection with any ransomware attacks.
Compromised Credentials: The platform tracks compromised credentials from various sources, helping you identify if any of your employees' or customers' credentials have been leaked and could be used for brand impersonation or phishing attacks.
ESG Violations: ThreatNG monitors for any environmental, social, and governance (ESG) violations associated with your brand, which could potentially lead to brand damage.
5. Reporting
Customizable Reports: ThreatNG offers a variety of reports, including executive summaries, technical reports, and prioritized risk reports, that can be customized to meet the needs of different stakeholders.
Brand-Specific Reporting: You can generate reports focusing on brand-related threats, such as phishing attacks, brand impersonations, and social media risks.
6. Complementary Solutions and Collaboration
Integration with SIEM/SOAR: ThreatNG can integrate with Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) solutions to enhance threat detection and response capabilities. For example, ThreatNG can feed its threat intelligence into a SIEM to correlate with other security events and provide a more comprehensive view of the threat landscape.
Collaboration Features: ThreatNG's collaboration features, such as role-based access controls and dynamically generated questionnaires, facilitate communication and coordination among security teams, legal teams, and other stakeholders involved in brand protection.
Example: If ThreatNG detects a phishing campaign targeting your customers, it can automatically generate a ticket in your SOAR system, triggering automated response actions such as blocking the phishing URLs and sending notifications to affected customers.
ThreatNG provides powerful capabilities that can significantly enhance your Brand Threat Intelligence program. By continuously monitoring your external attack surface, proactively identifying potential threats, and providing actionable insights, ThreatNG helps you protect your brand's reputation, customer trust, and bottom line.
