Cybersecurity teams need every advantage if they hope to keep attacks at bay. Traditional threat intelligence is one advantage teams are now using as a matter of course. But as cybersecurity evolves, threat intelligence alone isn’t good enough. So more teams are looking to enhance what they do with threat actor profiling.
Threat actor profiling goes above and beyond traditional threat intelligence by providing security experts with deeper, systematic insights into threat actors and what they do. Threat actor profiles often include:
- Identities
- Motives
- Tactics
- Behaviors
Each of the metrics can be correlated with specific adversaries already known to security investigators. Identifying unknown adversaries is made easier through the use of metrics, which is a more crucial factor.
Predictive Security Strategies
DarkOwl, a leading threat intelligence and SOAR provider, explains that the value in threat actor profiling lies in being able to develop predictive security strategies. Think of it in terms of military operations. The best military minds know how important it is to know and understand one’s enemy.
The better you know your enemy, the better able you are to predict his movements and behaviors. You can then develop security strategies accordingly. Cybersecurity works the same way.
By combining traditional threat intelligence with deep-dive threat actor profiles, security teams can get a thorough understanding of who they are up against. They can devise the best strategies for thwarting future attacks.
Threat Actor Profiling Key Enhancements
DarkOwl further explains that threat actor profiling is not designed to be a standalone security tool. It is used alongside traditional threat intelligence and other tools. Integrating it into a comprehensive security strategy offers six key enhancements:
- Predictive Security – As previously mentioned, threat actor profiling encourages predictive security. In-depth profiles make it possible to anticipate attacks and prepare with targeted defenses.
- Resource Optimization – In-depth profiles clearly reveal how organizations can optimize resources to protect the assets and systems most likely to be targeted.
- Better Incident Response – The context threat actor profiling offers makes it easier for security investigators to identify attack patterns. They can deploy countermeasures more quickly as a result.
- Improved TTP Insights – Profiling offers clearer visibility into tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), facilitating more proactive defenses.
- Integration and Automation – Threat actor profiling generates value-added information that can be integrated into other security systems. Furthermore, the information can be refined and contextualized through automation.
- Holistic Understanding – Introducing threat actor profiling creates some more holistic understanding of the data generated by traditional threat intelligence.
Each of these six enhancements contributes to transforming standard threat intelligence from a reactive exercise to a proactive defensive strategy. In light of the fact that threat actor profiling takes a granular approach to understanding those who would seek to do harm in the cybersecurity space, creating in-depth profiles of known threats creates the foundation on which proactive defense is built.
Data Sources Make a Difference
As effective as threat actor profiling is, its effectiveness is highly dependent on the data sources profilers rely on. Data can come from:
- Open source intelligence (OSINT) investigations
- Security information and event management (SIEM) systems
- Threat intelligence platforms (TIPs)
- MITRE ATT&CK frameworks
- Malware analysis reports
- Network traffic logs
- Dark web and other collaborative intelligence-sharing communities
- Geolocation data
- Threat intelligence playbooks, security advisories, etc.
A smart investigator will look at every potential data source for valuable information. Data is what powers threat actor profiling. In addition, utilizing multiple sources allows investigators to verify data by comparing one source against another. In so doing, they are taking standard threat intelligence and improving it with valuable information about known threat actors.