In today’s threat landscape, reacting to incidents after they happen is no longer enough.
Threat Intelligence (TI) gives organisations the ability to anticipate attacks before they strike.
By turning raw data about adversaries, campaigns, and TTPs into actionable insight, TI transforms security from reactive to predictive.
What Threat Intelligence Really Is
Threat Intelligence is the disciplined process of:
- collecting,
- analysing, and
- operationalising information about current and emerging threats
so that defences can be strengthened before an attack occurs.
The Three Main Levels of Threat Intelligence
| Level | Focus | Primary Audience | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategic | Long-term trends, actor motives, geopolitics | C-Level, CISO | APT group reports, nation-state risk |
| Tactical | Adversary TTPs (Tactics, Techniques, Procedures) | SOC, Blue Team | MITRE ATT&CK mappings, campaign analysis |
| Operational | Specific indicators and imminent attacks | CERT/CSIRT, IR teams | IOC feeds, C2 domains, malware hashes |
Where to Source Threat Intelligence
- External – commercial feeds (Recorded Future, Mandiant, CrowdStrike), government (CISA, CERT-PL), open-source (AlienVault OTX, Abuse.ch)
- Internal – your own SIEM, EDR/XDR, IDS/IPS, honeypots, and network telemetry
- Community / Sector – ISACs, FS-ISAC, trusted industry sharing groups
Benefits of a Mature TI Programme
- Proactive blocking of attacks before execution
- Defence tuned to the exact TTPs used against your industry
- Faster detection and containment (lower MTTD/MTTR)
- Significant reduction in breach cost and business impact
How to Build Threat Intelligence In-House
- Define requirements – what threats matter most to your business?
- Collect & aggregate – IOCs, TTPs, actor profiles, vulnerability intel
- Analyse & enrich – use platforms like MISP, OpenCTI, TheHive/Cortex
- Operationalise – push indicators directly into SIEM, SOAR, firewalls, EDR
- Measure & iterate – track hit rates, false positives, and blocked incidents
Popular Threat Intelligence Tools & Platforms
| Type | Examples |
|---|---|
| Open-Source Platforms | MISP, OpenCTI, AlienVault OTX |
| Commercial | Recorded Future, Anomali ThreatStream, ThreatConnect |
| IOC Aggregators | VirusTotal, Abuse.ch, GreyNoise, PulseDive |
| Integration & Automation | TheHive, Cortex, Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, QRadar |
The Bottom Line
Threat Intelligence is no longer a “nice-to-have” — it is the foundation of modern, proactive cybersecurity.
Organisations that treat TI as a core process consistently outperform those relying only on traditional reactive controls.
Get in Touch
I help companies design and operationalise Threat Intelligence programmes, integrate TI into SIEM/SOAR/SOC workflows, and build mature detection capabilities across IT and OT environments.
Email: biuro@wichran.pl
Phone: +48 515 601 621
Author: Piotr Wichrań – Court-appointed IT forensic expert, IT/OT cybersecurity specialist, licensed private investigator
@Informatyka.Sledcza