Cyber Risk Intelligence (CRI)

Cyber risk intelligence (CRI) is the process of gathering, analyzing, and distributing information about existing or potential cyber threats that could impact an organization.1 It involves understanding the threat landscape, identifying vulnerabilities, and assessing the likelihood and impact of cyberattacks.2

CRI goes beyond just identifying threats.3 It aims to provide actionable insights that organizations can use to make informed decisions about their cybersecurity posture and risk mitigation strategies.4 This includes:

• Identifying and profiling threat actors: Understanding who might target the organization, their motivations, capabilities, and tactics.5

• Analyzing attack vectors: Determining how attackers might try to exploit vulnerabilities in the organization's systems and data.6

• Predicting future threats: Anticipating emerging threats and vulnerabilities based on trends and patterns.7

• Prioritizing vulnerabilities: Focusing on the most critical vulnerabilities that pose the most significant risk to the organization.8

• Developing mitigation strategies: Implementing security controls and measures to reduce the likelihood and impact of cyberattacks.9

By leveraging CRI, organizations can move from a reactive to a proactive security approach, strengthening their defenses and minimizing the potential damage from cyber threats.10

ThreatNG appears to be a comprehensive platform that can significantly contribute to cyber risk intelligence (CRI) by offering a wide range of capabilities that align with the core principles of CRI:

1. Threat Identification and Profiling:

• Intelligence Repositories: ThreatNG's access to dark web data, compromised credentials, and ransomware event information directly supports the identification and profiling of threat actors. By analyzing this data, organizations can understand the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) employed by attackers, their motivations, and potential targets.

• Domain Intelligence: The platform's domain intelligence module helps identify potential threats like phishing, web application hijacking, and subdomain takeover. Organizations can proactively identify and mitigate risks by analyzing DNS records, certificates, and exposed APIs.

• Sensitive Code Exposure: Identifying exposed code repositories and credentials allows organizations to understand potential attack vectors and vulnerabilities that threat actors could exploit.

2. Vulnerability Analysis:

• Attack Surface Management: ThreatNG's external attack surface management capabilities comprehensively view an organization's digital footprint, including unknown or forgotten assets. This helps identify vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit.

• Social Media Monitoring: Analyzing social media posts can reveal potential vulnerabilities related to information leakage, brand impersonation, or phishing campaigns targeting employees or customers.

• Search Engine Exploitation: This module helps identify vulnerabilities exposed through search engines, such as sensitive information leaks, misconfigured servers, and publicly accessible passwords.

• Cloud and SaaS Exposure: Identifying unsanctioned cloud services, cloud service impersonations, and open cloud buckets helps organizations address potential vulnerabilities in their cloud infrastructure.

3. Threat Prediction and Prioritization:

• Continuous Monitoring: ThreatNG's constant monitoring capabilities enable organizations to stay abreast of changes in their attack surface and emerging threats. This allows for proactively identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.

• Reporting and Prioritization: The platform's reporting features provide insights into an organization's overall security posture, highlighting critical vulnerabilities and areas that require immediate attention. This allows security teams to prioritize their efforts and focus on the most significant risks.

• Ransomware Susceptibility Reporting: This specialized report helps organizations assess their susceptibility to ransomware attacks, enabling them to mitigate their risk proactively.

4. Mitigation Strategies:

• Collaboration and Management: ThreatNG's collaboration features, including role-based access controls and dynamic correlation evidence questionnaires, facilitate efficient communication and cooperation among security teams and other stakeholders. This helps develop and implement effective mitigation strategies.

• Policy Management: Customizable risk configuration and scoring allow organizations to align their security policies with risk tolerance and prioritize vulnerabilities accordingly.

Complementary Solutions and Examples:

While ThreatNG offers a comprehensive suite of tools, it can be further enhanced by integrating with complementary solutions such as:

• Security Information and Event Management (SIEM): Integrating ThreatNG with a SIEM solution can provide a centralized platform for collecting and analyzing security logs, correlating events from different sources, and identifying potential threats in real-time.

• Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIPs): Integrating with TIPs can provide additional context and insights into threat actors, their TTPs, and emerging threats, further enhancing ThreatNG's threat intelligence capabilities.

• Vulnerability Scanners: Combining ThreatNG with vulnerability scanners can help identify and prioritize vulnerabilities in internal systems and applications, complementing the platform's focus on external attack surface management.

Example Scenario:

Imagine a company using ThreatNG discovers an exposed AWS S3 bucket containing sensitive customer data through the Cloud and SaaS Exposure module. Using the platform's collaboration features, the security team can quickly notify the relevant stakeholders and initiate remediation efforts. By leveraging the intelligence repositories and domain intelligence module, they can investigate if the exposed data has been accessed or shared on the dark web. The reporting features can then document the incident, track remediation progress, and provide management insights.

In conclusion, ThreatNG provides a robust framework for implementing CRI. Its comprehensive capabilities, combined with integration with complementary solutions, enable organizations to proactively identify, analyze, and mitigate cyber threats, strengthening their overall security posture.