Cyber Threat Intelligence Feeds

What is a cyber threat intelligence feed?

A cyber threat intelligence feed is a continuous stream of machine-readable threat information, providing security teams with real-time data about emerging threats and trends. Threat intelligence feeds are usually automated and driven by AI-powered collection and analysis. Feeds can be incorporated into a broad array of security tools to help security teams fight cybercrime, improve ransomware detection, stop phishing attacks, prevent compromised credentials and prioritize vulnerabilities for remediation.

The benefits of threat intelligence from the dark web

The dark web is the place where cyber criminals go to buy, sell and share the information and tools used in cyberattacks and exploits. That makes it a rich source of threat intelligence that security teams can use to predict, identify and neutralize cyber threats for a wide range of use cases. With insights from real-time cyber threat intelligence feeds incorporating data from the dark web, analysts can:

• Prioritize vulnerability remediation. Cybercriminals on the dark web will often discuss software vulnerabilities, sharing or selling proof of concept or exploit code. By tracking these conversations, security teams can understand which vulnerabilities have the greatest probability of being exploited in the near future.
• Identify stolen data. The dark web is where criminals go to sell or discuss data that was stolen during a successful attack.
• Learn about exposed credentials. When user credentials are exposed via data breaches, credential stuffing, or other attacks, the information is frequently offered for sale in marketplaces on the dark web.

With a threat intelligence feed that delivers this type of information including IOCs and threat actor tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPS) from the dark web, analysts can more accurately assess the impact and probability of attacks and take concrete steps to protect their organizations.

The challenge with cyber threat intelligence feeds

There is little disagreement today that cyber threat intelligence feeds are a critical tool in helping organizations improve their security posture. By providing a steady stream of data related to potential or current threats, cyber threat intelligence should help security teams prioritize efforts, implement granular policies and get a better read on the rapidly evolving threat landscape.

In practice, however, cyber threat intelligence feeds can often create more confusion for overstretched security teams dealing with limited technologies, budgets and time. Rather than helping to focus resources on the most dangerous and urgent threats, they can be yet another source of noise, contributing to alert fatigue.

Cyber threat intelligence feed: What to look for

When choosing threat intelligence feeds, there are several important capabilities that enable security teams and analysts to effectively act on the intelligence they receive.

Automation

The cyber threat landscape is simply evolving too quickly for security teams to continue to rely on vendors who use manual threat intelligence collection processes. Modern threat intelligence programs should be supported by data collection methods and integration processes that are automated. With an automated solution, security teams can focus on the most relevant threats to their organization and industry without the traditional overhead burdens.

Scope

In addition to basic indicators of compromise (IOCs), feeds should incorporate data from a broad range of sources, including social media monitoring and chatter on the deep and dark web. This information can help threat analysts better understand who is attacking the organization, what types of tools attackers are deploying and how they typically operate.

Integration

Cyber threat intelligence feeds should be seamlessly integrated into security ecosystems, including firewalls, network proxies, endpoint security, SIEM and SOAR systems. This enables threat intelligence to truly optimize the efficiency of existing security stacks and provide a more effective foundation for risk management and threat prevention.

Democratization

Rather than a siloed approach to cyber threat intelligence feeds, threat intelligence programs should be structured as a process that drives and supports the security requirements of analysts and teams throughout the organization. A common portal enables security professionals to query and analyze raw data from shared sources, increasing the cohesion and effectiveness of their security programs.

How effective is your threat intelligence feed? 

Cyber threat intelligence feeds are essential components of cybersecurity infrastructures, helping organizations to identify and prevent security breaches. The data in a threat intelligence feed can help teams implement granular security policies, understand emerging threats and profile the motives of threat actors.

Too often, however, what passes for threat intelligence is really just threat information. Rather than simply providing data without analysis or context. For it to be effective, cyber threat intelligence feeds should deliver insights that are timely, actionable, relevant, accurate and trusted. And for maximum benefit, any intelligence feed should be easily integrated into every security technology within the organization.

Bitsight's feeds feature actionable intelligence collected from the deep and dark web, providing earlier warning of emerging threats, before they have a chance to materialize.

Bitsight's dark web cyber threat intelligence feed

Bitsight captures, processes and alerts teams to emerging threats as they surface on the clear, deep and dark web. Employing advanced AI and machine learning algorithms, our technology prioritizes, enriches and scores data according to each customer’s unique attack surface and IT assets. With the ability to extract intelligence 24x faster than our competitors, we are able to swiftly publish profiles and identify behavioral patterns that give cybersecurity teams more time to apply protections for areas of risk exposure. And because we match IOCs and threat intelligence to your organization’s unique assets, we reduce the level of alert fatigue experienced by most security teams. 

Our dark web cyber threat intelligence feeds automatically extract and deliver malicious indicators of compromise in real time, providing actionable intelligence that lets our customers identify and block specific threats to their IT ecosystems. This content includes:

• Domains: Get insights on compromised sites and suspicious domains that are for sale on the dark web.
• Hashes: Learn about malware hashes, including hashes of malware that cyber criminals claim is yet to be detected.
• URLs: Get lists of links to malware files hosted on underground file-sharing sites.
• IP addresses: Get command-and-control server IP addresses for prevalent malware, as well as servers involved in botnets, DDoS attacks and proxy anonymization. 

What makes Bitsight's threat intelligence feed unique?

• Full automation: We use advanced AI and ML algorithms to index, correlate, analyze, tag and filter raw data.
• Context: Each piece of intelligence is enriched with context to deliver essential information about the nature, source and evolution of each threat.
• Volume: Our advanced collection mechanisms autonomously extract, process and index intelligence at scale, ingesting tens of millions of items per day.
• Comprehensive; We have compiled more than 7 million profiles of threat actors, detailing each individual’s history, languages, aliases, areas of activity, peer networks and other connections.
• Exclusivity: Our collection and source-infiltration capabilities enable us to scrape data that is inaccessible to other vendors, including high-value sources with complex CAPTCHA and posts that may have been deleted.

The Bitsight CTI feed produces agile, automated and contextual intelligence to protect organizations against malicious cyberattacks – no matter where they come from and before they are weaponized in an attack. We offer the most extensive, fully automated intelligence collection available from the deep and dark web.