The Role of Threat Intelligence in Continuous Threat Exposure Management

August 8, 2024

In today’s digital landscape, cyber attacks aren’t just increasing in number—they’re also becoming more advanced. As organizations expand across platforms and technologies, they inevitably expand their attack surface and increase their exposure to these increasingly sophisticated threats. For large corporations and enterprises, it can seem nearly impossible to find and protect every vulnerability or point of potential attack.

That’s where Continuous Threat Exposure Management, or CTEM, comes into play. CTEM takes a more proactive approach to finding and mitigating security risks across an organization’s digital infrastructure. Unlike traditional security measures that tend to focus on reacting to known threats, CTEM emphasizes ongoing risk assessment and mitigation, enabling organizations to identify and address vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by malicious actors. This approach is complemented by the development and integration of threat intelligence, which provides actionable insights into potential threats and helps organizations stay ahead of even the most advanced and innovative cybersecurity attacks

According to Gartner’s recent report on exposure management, Through 2026, more than 60% of threat detection, investigation and response (TDIR) capabilities will leverage exposure management data to validate and prioritize detected threats, up from less than 5% today. Organizations can no longer rely on traditional vulnerability management—it’s time for a more holistic approach that lets security teams get ahead of the threats they face.

The Evolving Role of Threat Intelligence

Let’s take a look at a few of the ways that threat intelligence contributes to effective CTEM:

Threat intelligence is a key element of CTEM’s proactive approach to cybersecurity. By continuously collecting and analyzing information on evolving threats and attacks, security teams can move from a reactive approach to making more informed decisions about how to address security risks.

Enhanced Visibility

Threat intelligence helps organizations gain a comprehensive view of their attack surface by offering data that is collected, processed, and analyzed to understand a threat actor’s motives, targets, and attack behaviors. This enhanced visibility is crucial in today’s complex IT environments, where assets are distributed across on-premises, cloud, and hybrid infrastructures.

Contextual Prioritization

With the sheer volume of potential vulnerabilities and exposures, organizations often struggle to determine where to focus their limited resources. Threat intelligence provides context to prioritize risks based on the likelihood of exploitation, the potential impact on the business, and the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of known threat actors targeting your industry. By leveraging this intelligence, security teams can make data-driven decisions about which exposures to address first, ensuring that their efforts have the greatest impact on the organization’s overall security posture.

Proactive Defense

One of the key advantages to incorporating threat intelligence into CTEM is the ability to shift from a reactive to a proactive security stance. By analyzing trends, patterns, and indicators of compromise (IoCs), organizations can anticipate potential attacks before they occur, implement preemptive measures to thwart emerging threats, and continuously adapt their security controls to address evolving tactics. This proactive approach is essential in an environment where, as Gartner predicts, the likelihood of breaches will increase threefold for organizations that fail to continuously manage their remote access architecture and processes by 2027.

Improved Incident Response

In the event of a security incident, threat intelligence plays a crucial role in quickly identifying the scope and nature of the attack, understanding the attacker’s motivations and potential next moves, and guiding the response and recovery process to minimize damage. By integrating threat intelligence into their incident response plans, organizations can significantly reduce the time it takes to detect, contain, and mitigate security breaches.

Implementing Threat Intelligence in Your CTEM Program

To effectively leverage threat intelligence within a CTEM framework, organizations should consider the following best practices:

Integrate Multiple Sources of Threat Intelligence

No single source can provide a complete picture of the threat landscape. Organizations should gather intelligence from a variety of sources, including:

Commercial threat feeds
Open-source intelligence (OSINT)
Industry-specific information sharing and analysis centers (ISACs)
Internal threat hunting and security operations center (SOC) findings

Additionally, organizations should consider external attack surface management (ASM) and vulnerability management solutions that integrate threat intelligence data. By correlating data from multiple sources into their CTEM program, organizations can build a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of their threat exposure.

Automate Threat Intelligence Processing and Analysis

The volume and velocity of threat intelligence data can quickly overwhelm human analysts. Implementing automated tools for processing, analyzing, and correlating threat intelligence can help organizations quickly identify relevant threats and indicators, reduce false positives and alert fatigue, and free up human analysts to focus on high-value tasks and strategic decision-making.

Gartner predicts that by 2026, more than 60% of threat detection, investigation, and response capabilities will leverage exposure management data to validate and prioritize detected threats, up from less than 5% today. This underscores the growing importance of integrating threat intelligence and exposure management data in automated security workflows.

Align Threat Intelligence with Business Objectives

To maximize the value of threat intelligence as part of a CTEM program, it’s crucial to align intelligence gathering and analysis with the organization’s specific business objectives and risk profile. This involves:

Identifying critical assets and processes
Understanding the unique threats facing your industry and organization
Tailoring intelligence feeds and analysis to focus on the most relevant risks

By aligning threat intelligence efforts with business priorities, organizations can ensure that their CTEM program delivers tangible value and addresses the most pressing security concerns.

Foster Cross-Team Collaboration

Effective CTEM requires collaboration across multiple teams within an organization. Threat intelligence can serve as a common language and shared resource to facilitate this collaboration. Encourage regular communication and information sharing between:

Security operations teams
Vulnerability management teams
Risk management and compliance teams
IT operations and infrastructure teams
Executive leadership

According to Gartner, security leaders who implement cross-team mobilization as part of their exposure management program will gain 50% more security optimization than those only prioritizing automated remediation.

Continuously Evaluate and Refine

As the threat landscape continues to evolve, so should each organization’s approach to threat intelligence and CTEM. Regularly assess the effectiveness of your intelligence sources, analysis processes, and remediation efforts. Look for opportunities to incorporate new intelligence sources and technologies, refine your prioritization and decision-making processes, and measure and communicate the impact of your CTEM program on overall security posture.

Embracing the Future of Cybersecurity with CTEM and Threat Intelligence

As organizations grapple with an increasingly complex and dynamic threat landscape, the role of threat intelligence in Continuous Threat Exposure Management becomes ever more critical. By leveraging comprehensive, contextual intelligence, businesses can gain the visibility and insights needed to proactively manage their exposure to cyber risks.

Implementing a robust CTEM program powered by threat intelligence is not just about staying ahead of the latest threats—it’s about fundamentally transforming how organizations approach cybersecurity. By shifting from a reactive, patchwork approach to a proactive, holistic strategy, businesses can build resilience, protect critical assets, and navigate the digital landscape with confidence.

As we look to the future, it’s clear that those organizations that embrace CTEM and harness the power of threat intelligence will be best positioned to thrive in an increasingly interconnected and threat-prone world. Ready to upgrade your security protocols? Schedule a demo today.