Increase your threat intelligence
Cybercriminals are constantly developing new tools, methods and exploits to take advantage of vulnerabilities. Keeping up to date with recent threat intelligence can help your organization discover, analyze and effectively respond to attacks.
Failing to stay current with threat intelligence can leave your organization open to attacks and compromise, since the attacks may use methods you’re not currently aware of. This can lead to massive sensitive data loss, disruption of services, destruction of critical infrastructure and — arguably most importantly — the theft or loss of large sums of money.
Active threats are routinely identified and reported by various government agencies, including US-CERT and the FBI, as well as numerous private companies, and will typically include guidance and instructions to protect against and mitigate attacks.
Next steps
- Find respected organizations to provide you with reliable information on threats: Some may require fee-based membership for full access, and some may come as a part of a service. InfraGard, a partnership between the FBI and the private sector, has industry-specific chapters you can join. Other valuable threat intelligence sources include SANS Institute, Internet Storm Center/DShield and US-CERT.
- Leverage an ISAC as one of your sources: The National Council of ISACs comprises 25 Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs) spread across different industries. Their purpose is to maximize information flow around cyberthreat prevention, protection, response and recovery. Examples of ISACs include the MS-ISAC (MS-ISAC) for state, local, tribal and territorial governments; Health-ISAC for the healthcare industry; and FS-ISAC for financial institutions and other financial services firms.
Use the information provided: Apply information obtained from (but not limited to) these sources to continuously evolve your cyber security program and stay ahead of new threats.