Unifying Threat Operations: An Integrated Cyber Security Strategy
In response to the advanced threat landscape present across all industries, cyber security leaders are aware of the importance of implementing additional security functions such as Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI), Digital Forensics & Incident Response (DFIR), Security Operations (SecOps), Threat Hunting, and Malware Analysis into their security strategy.
Despite this, many of these functions are still operating in silos, and often being conducted ad-hoc by multi-disciplinary individuals within a security team. This fragmented approach results in loss of potential CTI, delayed response times, and missed opportunities for proactive mitigation.
The case for an integrated Threat Operations strategy is clear; by combining these functions into a unified capability, organisations can create independently verifiable CTI, improve IR coordination, and build a more resilient cyber security posture. Here’s why unification is not just an option, but a necessity in outpacing modern adversaries.
The Costs of Operating in Isolation
When security functions such as those listed above operate in isolation, the output of each is limited to what they have access to and to whom they pass that information. For example, a CTI team might use a commercial data feed but have no visibility of the output from an internal Incident Response team; a Malware Analyst might share findings to a CTI analyst, but this might not then be passed on to detection engineers and incident responders meaning the findings are likely to be under-utilised.
This lack of coordination leads to:
- Slower Incident Response: Without appropriate playbooks and context in line with modern threats, the time taken to detect, investigate and mitigate threats is prolonged.
- Duplication of effort: Operating in isolation and the lack of shared insights and resources increases the likelihood of individual functions conducting the same work during parallel investigations.
- Loss of valuable CTI: Without access to the output of other internal cyber-security functions, CTI analysts are limited to external data only, meaning an objective view of internal trends and patterns of activity could be missed, potentially allowing a persistent attacker to evade detection.
- Reduced effectiveness of CTI: As well as the above point on losing out on potential CTI insights from internal sources, it’s also much more difficult to operationalise the internal output of CTI, reducing the effectiveness of other security functions.
The Benefits of Unified Threat Operations
- Independently verifiable CTI: Internally sourced data is likely unique to that particular organisation, and therefore increasing visibility of that data could lead to very valuable and independently verifiable CTI, increasing the effectiveness of other security functions.
- Enhanced knowledge-sharing: A unified approach to Threat Operations helps to foster communication between security functions, with a better understanding of each other’s priority requirements to ensure relevant data is shared.
- Improved Efficiency & Resource Optimisation: Rather than duplicating efforts, an integrated team maximises the value of existing resources and insights, allowing security functions to utilise each other’s outputs.
- Limiting impact: Modern adversaries are constantly evolving their tactics, techniques, and procedures. A unified approach to cyber security helps organisations to anticipate and counter observed threats before they escalate into more critical incidents.
The Future of Threat Operations
The cyber threat landscape to all sectors and industries is becoming more sophisticated. As such, it’s imperative that organisations begin to rethink traditional security models.
Recently, CYSIAM partnered with global cyber-security leader CrowdStrike to enhance cyber resilience across the UK Defence sector supply chain. By combining CYSIAM’s expertise in 24/7 managed security services with CrowdStrike’s AI-powered Falcon® platform, this collaboration delivers real-time defence capabilities to safeguard critical national infrastructure against ever evolving cyber threats.
Increasingly sophisticated adversaries in the defence and cyber security spaces make it necessary for businesses to use proactive threat intelligence and independent security functions such as CTI, DFIR, SecOps, Threat Hunting, and Malware Analysis to anticipate, identify, and neutralise risks before they materialise into real attacks.
This partnership ensured that defence organisations can detect and respond to adversaries at speed, bolstering resilience across the whole ecosystem.
A similar unified approach, breaking down barriers within your security team and embracing a unified approach to cyber security, will be essential in countering advanced threats.
This guest blog was written by Matthew Cole, Head of Threat Operations at CYSIAM.
Authors
