4 Types of Cyber Threat Intelligence and Using Them Effectively

What Is Cyber Threat Intelligence? 

Cyber threat intelligence (CTI) is the collection, analysis, and dissemination of information about potential or current attacks that pose a threat to an organization’s digital assets. The aim of CTI is to provide decision-makers within an organization with the tools and information needed to prevent, detect, and respond to cyber threats. It involves understanding the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of cyber adversaries to mitigate risks.

CTI aids in identifying and responding to threats as they emerge, allowing organizations to take proactive measures. By leveraging data from various sources, CTI can help in anticipating an attack, understanding its origins and motives, and planning for defenses. Organizations can tailor their security posture and incident response strategies using insights from CTI.

This is part of a series of articles about information security

The Evolution of Cyber Threats 

In the early days of cybersecurity, threats were primarily accidental or exploratory rather than financially or politically motivated. The 1967 Ware Report identified vulnerabilities in computer systems related to users, hardware, and software, classifying threats into accidental disclosure, deliberate penetration, and active infiltration. The 1970s saw the emergence of the first cybercrimes, including insider fraud, computer viruses like Creeper, and data theft for extortion. 

As the internet expanded, cyber threats became more sophisticated and targeted. Criminal groups began to leverage malicious software for financial gain, leading to the rise of ransomware, phishing schemes, and banking trojans. The growth of eCommerce and online banking created new opportunities for attackers to exploit user credentials and financial data. The focus shifted from individual systems to large-scale, financially motivated campaigns. 

In recent years, cyber threats have taken on a geopolitical dimension. Nation-state actors and advanced persistent threats (APTs) now use cyberattacks as tools for espionage, sabotage, and political influence. These campaigns often exploit zero-day vulnerabilities and advanced malware to infiltrate high-value targets such as government agencies, critical infrastructure, and multinational corporations. 

Hacktivist groups and insider threats have also emerged, adding complexity to the threat landscape. The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and cloud computing has introduced new vulnerabilities, enabling large-scale attacks such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) campaigns and supply chain compromises. 

Types of Cyber Threat Intelligence 

1. Strategic Intelligence

Strategic intelligence offers insights into the broader security landscape and helps senior management understand long-term adversarial motives and potential future threats. It involves analyzing geopolitical, economic, and social factors that influence cyber threats. Organizations use strategic intelligence to align their cybersecurity strategies with their business objectives.

Strategic intelligence is crucial for preparing for future threats, enabling organizations to make informed decisions. By understanding long-term patterns and actors’ motives, organizations can anticipate potential attacks and adjust their security priorities accordingly. This intelligence informs risk management, investment in security infrastructure, and development of policies.

2. Tactical Intelligence

Tactical intelligence focuses on the immediate actions and indicators of compromise (IOCs) associated with threats. It is used by security operations teams to recognize and respond to active threats quickly. It includes data such as IP addresses, domain names, hashes, and file paths known to be indicators of malicious activity.

This type of intelligence is essential for detection and response. It allows security teams to identify threat patterns and take swift actions to block malicious activities. Timely tactical intelligence helps organizations mitigate damage and reduce the time attackers dwell within systems. 

3. Technical Intelligence

Technical intelligence involves detailed information on the mechanisms cyber actors use to infiltrate and manipulate systems. It includes analysis of malware, exploits, and vulnerabilities within software and hardware environments. Understanding these technical details equips organizations to detect, prevent, and neutralize cyber threats.

In-depth technical intelligence is useful for developing defense mechanisms and improving an organization’s security posture. It helps security professionals recognize malware signatures and understand how they operate, allowing for malware defenses. Technical intelligence also aids in patch management and vulnerability mitigation strategies.

4. Operational Intelligence

Operational intelligence concentrates on the short-term tactics and campaigns of adversaries. It provides contextual information about threat actors’ objectives, campaigns, and procedures. This intelligence supports immediate decision-making and improves incident response capabilities by providing actionable insights into active threats.

For organizations, operational intelligence is crucial in understanding how and why a threat is occurring. By having insights into current adversary campaigns, organizations can prioritize resources and operations to neutralize threats. This intelligence feeds into refining security measures and developing rapid response plans, improving overall cybersecurity resilience.

Related content: Read our guide to threat hunting vs threat intelligence

Tips from the expert

Steve Moore is Vice President and Chief Security Strategist at Exabeam, helping drive solutions for threat detection and advising customers on security programs and breach response. He is the host of the “The New CISO Podcast,” a Forbes Tech Council member, and Co-founder of TEN18 at Exabeam.

In my experience, here are tips that can help you better implement and enhance your Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) program:

1. Leverage industry-specific threat intelligence: Use threat intelligence sources tailored to the industry (e.g., FS-ISAC for finance, H-ISAC for healthcare). Industry-specific intelligence provides insights into sector-relevant threat actors, vulnerabilities, and attack methods.
2. Combine CTI with deception technology: Enhance threat hunting and detection by integrating CTI insights into deception tools (e.g., honeypots or decoy systems). Use threat actor tactics derived from CTI to simulate real-world environments that lure attackers, enabling advanced detection.
3. Operationalize MITRE ATT&CK mappings in workflows: Move beyond static mapping of IOCs and adversary TTPs to MITRE ATT&CK. Use this framework in security playbooks to simulate adversary behaviors and test defenses, enabling stronger proactive threat response.
4. Build an adversary profile database: Create a centralized database of threat actor profiles, detailing their motivations, tactics, and historical campaigns. Continuously update this database with CTI findings to anticipate their moves and refine the defenses.
5. Integrate CTI with third-party risk management: Use CTI to monitor risks posed by third-party vendors or supply chains. Collect intelligence on vulnerabilities, breaches, or compromises within the vendors’ ecosystems to proactively address potential indirect threats.

The Threat Intelligence Lifecycle 

Here’s an overview of the CTI process.

1. Planning and Direction

Planning and direction focus on defining goals and establishing the intelligence needs of an organization. This stage involves setting clear objectives for threat intelligence activities based on organizational priorities and risk appetite. Successful planning ensures that intelligence efforts align with business goals and security needs.

Effective planning involves input from multiple stakeholders to ensure coverage of potential threats. It also includes risk assessment to determine which assets require the most protection.

2. Collection Methods

The collection methods phase involves gathering data from various sources to address identified intelligence needs. Sources may include internal logs, external databases, open-source intelligence (OSINT), human intelligence (HUMINT), and dark web monitoring. The objective is to collect relevant, actionable data to inform threat analysis and decision-making.

Diverse collection methods are crucial for developing a comprehensive threat picture. They enable organizations to gather varied intelligence inputs, ensuring coverage of a wide range of potential threats. Thorough collection strategies improve an organization’s ability to detect and respond to emerging threats.

3. Processing and Analysis

Processing and analysis involve converting raw data into actionable intelligence. This stage includes filtering, categorizing, and contextualizing data so it can be effectively analyzed. Advanced analytics tools and techniques, including machine learning, may be used to identify patterns and generate insights into potential threats and vulnerabilities.

The analysis phase is critical in determining the significance of intelligence data, prioritizing threats according to potential impact. By transforming collected data into actionable insights, organizations can improve their threat detection and mitigation strategies. Proper analysis supports better understanding of threat landscapes and helps in anticipating adversary actions.

4. Dissemination and Feedback

Dissemination and feedback ensure that analyzed intelligence reaches the right stakeholders. This stage involves distributing intelligence reports and insights to decision-makers and security teams, enabling informed actions. Ongoing feedback mechanisms ensure the intelligence process is continually refined and adapted to emerging threats and organizational changes.

Effective dissemination is vital for timely defensive actions against identified threats. By sharing insights across the organizational structure, different teams can align their operations to improve overall security posture. Feedback from stakeholders helps refine future intelligence activities, ensuring relevance.

5 Best Practices to Make Effective Use of Cyber Threat Intelligence 

Organizations can improve their security by implementing cyber threat intelligence best practices.

1. Select Relevant Threat Data Sources

Choosing the right data sources is critical to generating actionable intelligence. Organizations should leverage a mix of internal sources (e.g., logs, security events) and external sources such as threat intelligence feeds, industry-specific ISACs, and dark web monitoring. By selecting sources that align with their risk profile, organizations can focus on intelligence that is most relevant to their threats.

It’s also important to evaluate the credibility and timeliness of data sources. Automated tools can help filter out noise and false positives, ensuring that intelligence teams work with high-quality, high-confidence threat data. A well-curated set of sources improves the accuracy of threat detection and response.

2. Structure Data for Analysis

Raw threat data is often unstructured and overwhelming. Standardizing data formats, such as using STIX/TAXII for sharing structured intelligence, helps security teams efficiently analyze and correlate information. Organizing threat intelligence into categories like tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) makes it easier to derive meaningful insights.

Automation plays a key role in structuring data. Security information and event management (SIEM) systems and threat intelligence platforms (TIPs) can aggregate and normalize data, allowing analysts to focus on identifying trends rather than manually sorting through large datasets.

3. Utilize Analytical Tools

Modern CTI programs rely on advanced analytical tools to extract insights from vast amounts of data. Machine learning and artificial intelligence can improve detection by identifying patterns, anomalies, and previously unknown threats. These tools enable predictive analysis, helping organizations anticipate and mitigate risks before they materialize.

Correlation engines and threat intelligence platforms (TIPs) help map intelligence to existing security controls. By integrating with frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK, organizations can understand adversary behaviors and simulate real-world attack scenarios to improve defenses.

4. Integrate Intelligence into Security Operations

Threat intelligence should not remain isolated—it must be integrated into security workflows. Security teams should feed CTI insights into firewalls, endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools, and security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) platforms to automate threat detection and blocking.

Regular threat briefings and intelligence sharing across teams (SOC, incident response, and risk management) ensure that intelligence is actionable. Embedding CTI into security playbooks also improves response efficiency by aligning defensive measures with real-world threats.

5. Continuously Update and Refine

Threat intelligence is dynamic, and an outdated intelligence program loses effectiveness. Organizations should continuously refine their intelligence processes by reviewing past incidents, updating adversary profiles, and incorporating feedback from security operations. Regularly revisiting intelligence requirements ensures alignment with evolving threats.

Subscribing to new intelligence feeds, participating in threat-sharing communities, and leveraging automation for real-time updates help maintain relevance. By fostering a culture of continuous improvement, organizations can stay ahead of adversaries and increase their cyber resilience.

Exabeam Platform Capabilities: SIEM, UEBA, SOAR, Insider Threats, Compliance, TDIR

The Exabeam Security Operations Platform applies AI and automation to security operations workflows for a holistic approach to combating cyberthreats, delivering the most effective threat detection, investigation, and response (TDIR): 

• AI-driven detections pinpoint high-risk threats by learning normal behavior of users and entities, and prioritizing threats with context-aware risk scoring. 
• Automated investigations simplify security operations, correlating disparate data to create threat timelines. 
• Playbooks document workflows and standardize activity to speed investigation and response. 
• Visualizations map coverage against the most strategic outcomes and frameworks to close data and detection gaps. 
• STIX/TAXII integration for threat hunting enables security teams to seamlessly ingest and correlate structured threat intelligence from external sources, enhancing threat hunting capabilities by providing richer context and actionable insights for detecting advanced threats.

With these capabilities, Exabeam empowers security operations teams to achieve faster, more accurate, and consistent TDIR.

Learn more about Exabeam SIEM