Page 86 - FCW, November, December 2018

CYBERSECURITY & MODERNIZATION
Modernizing security
with cyberthreat intelligence
Tom Topping
Senior Director of Strategic Programs, FireEye
No organization can protect against every attack, but the more an agency can focus, the more efficient it can become at every level. From an operational point of view, if an agency understands who’s going to come after its assets and how they’re going to do it, the IT team can make decisions about how to align its defensive cyber operations, tools and people against those risks.
At the tactical level, if cyberthreat intelligence is deep and current, an agency can plug the relevant indicators and TTPs into its sensors and identify the components of its systems that bad actors will likely target. It can give employees on the front lines the data and direction they need to find and block the threat actors that are the most concerning for that agency.
Understanding what adversaries want and how they go after it is vital to protecting today’s IT environments
THE PUSH TO modernize IT systems presents agencies with a unique opportunity to transform how they defend those systems. The key is making the most of accurate, relevant and timely cybersecurity-related information.
In-depth analysis can convert such information into actionable cyberthreat intelligence that gives agencies valuable insights into who their adversaries are and how they attack organizations. Agencies
can use those insights to deploy resources in the most effective way possible, which saves money and increases the chances for success.
Knowing what’s at stake
Regardless of the security framework an agency is using, managing risk begins
by understanding what’s at stake. What does the agency have that someone else might want? What are the consequences
if that data is breached or destroyed? Understanding what a particular agency is protecting and what will happen if it fails is essential to defining that agency’s risk.
Cyberthreat intelligence can help the security team identify threat actors that
are targeting the kinds of information the agency has and the tactics, techniques
and procedures (TTPs) those adversaries are using to breach systems, access information, and steal or destroy it. Cyberthreat intelligence also reveals how threat actors have operated in the past, how they are operating now and how they will likely operate in the future.
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