Scalable Enforcement With Threat Intelligence
The ability to take action remains a key challenge when it comes to threat intelligence. A specific challenge here is the ability to do scalable enforcement. In simpler terms, the ability to proactively block known threats at scale. This challenge was highlighted in a webinar hosted by the Cortex XSOAR team at Palo Alto Networks. A few of the interesting points from the presentation included:
- Lack of action remains a key reason why threat intelligence programs struggle.
- Putting threat intel into action is manual, repetitive, and cumbersome.
- Scalable enforcement is one of the missing pieces of an incomplete threat intel management puzzle.
At the root of the scalable enforcement problem are two challenges: (1) an inability to integrate third-party threat indicators into existing security controls; and (2) time consuming, manual operational processes.
In this blog, we will take a closer look at these challenges and how organizations are using the Threater platform to overcome them and achieve scalable enforcement with threat intelligence.
Existing Security Controls Have Limited Ability to Integrate Third-Party Threat Intelligence
In an ideal world, it would be great for organizations to easily integrate third-party threat intelligence into existing security controls. This would make existing controls smarter and improve their ability to detect and block threats. However, unfortunately this is not the reality.
Existing security controls have significant limitations integrating and taking action with third-party threat intelligence data. Limitations include the volume of indicators they can integrate and the ways you can integrate. In short, the volume of indicators you can integrate is low and integrating them isn’t easy. At Threater, we see this first hand with next-generation firewalls and discuss this in depth in our whitepaper: The Threat Intelligence Challenges with Next-Generation Firewalls.
Operational Processes for Enforcement are Manual, Cumbersome, & Time Consuming
Another challenge for many organizations is that operational processes used for enforcement remain manual, cumbersome, and time consuming. For example, once it is determined that a threat indicator needs to be blocked, it can be a long and windy road to get from identification to blocking. The journey can span multiple groups (i.e. threat intel, SOC, network security), require multiple steps (open ticket, submit firewall change request, wait for change request, make firewall change request), and often includes multiple manual processes. All of this equates to time, effort, and risk as you wait for security controls to be updated with the intelligence they need to protect you.
The threat intelligence limitations of existing security controls further adds to these operational process challenges. External blocklists need to be constantly managed within the constraints of the firewall. Given the dynamic nature of threat indicators this leads to time and effort spent continually updating and managing external blocklists. This also leads to suboptimal use of threat intelligence data as you can only deploy what your firewall will let you.
How Threater Helps Organizations Overcome These Challenges To Enable Scalable Enforcement
Scalable enforcement with threat intelligence is one of the key use cases of the Threater platform. Organizations use Threater to do threat intelligence enforcement in a significantly more scalable and automated way then they can with next-generation firewalls.
With Threater organizations can:
- Block up to 150 Million third-party IP and domain indicators in real time with no latency. The volume of third-party indicators the Threater platform can handle is 100x what a firewall can handle. Additionally, our platform has no limits on the number or size of blocklists.
- Easily integrate and take automated action with threat intelligence from any source in real-time. Our platform currently has over 50 point-and-click integrations with ISACs/ISAOs, Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIPs), SIEMs, SOARs, and other systems.
- Eliminate manual, cumbersome, and time consuming processes associated with managing external blocklists in firewalls. Threat intelligence in the Threater platform is automatically updated in real time reducing manual work. The scalability of our platform also eliminates the need to constantly manage blocklists within the constraints of your firewall. The result is faster time from threat identification to action and less work for network security teams.
- Maximize ROI on threat intelligence investments by making all of your threat intelligence actionable, not just the intelligence your firewall lets you.
- Reduce firewall noise and Improve the efficiency of firewalls by offloading known threat blocking to Threater.
Conclusion
The ability to take action with threat intelligence is critical. The inability of existing security controls like next-gen firewalls to integrate and take action with third-party threat intelligence and manual, cumbersome, and time consuming processes are at the root of the problem. The Threater platform eliminates these challenges enabling organizations to do scalable and automated enforcement with threat intelligence. The result is improved security, increased operational efficiency, and increased ROI on threat intelligence and firewall investments.
For real world examples of how Threater is helping customers conduct scalable enforcement with threat intelligence check out our blog: Real World Customer Examples Illustrate The Threat Intelligence Challenges with Firewalls
If you’d like to learn more about Threater’s platform, check out our Data Sheet and Platform page on www.threater.com
To see our platform in action sign up for one of our Weekly Demos.
If you’d like to get started with Threater’s platform today, contact sales@threater.com