Threat Intelligence

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NIKESH ARORA, CEO OF PALO ALTO NETWORKS

Cybersecurity has become an ongoing war

In our business, assessing risk is crucial. There is a constantly evolving threat landscape, and cybercriminals are constantly introducing new techniques and developing existing ones. And as online connectivity grows, so does every organization's overall attack surface. Unit 42 are constantly conducting research examining the full scope of the ever expanding attack surface and constantly testing existing defenses. They play the role of cybercriminals, acting as white-hat hackers, if you like, in order to detect potential weaknesses. This research is conducted across the board and also directed at each client specific attacks surface. And when there is a breach, Unit 42 is there to detect and control it. They effectively act as wartime consiglieres – remember that the ongoing Russia/Ukraine conflict started in cyberspace. They must also act immediately to mitigate any breach that does occur. Constant research and testing of defenses are vital. We have to be right every time, but the cybercriminal gangs only have to be right once to effect a breach and perform a successful attack.

Insider Threat

Enterprises face a steep rise in insider threats

As we predicted earlier this year, harsh economic conditions across Western democracies are acting as a catalyst for cybercrime - particularly those cyber-attacks that target staff inside the organization. As cybersecurity becomes more effective, cybercriminals are finding ways to bypass digital security barriers by victimizing and sometimes terrorizing key personnel within the target organization.

Companies slow to take the fight to cybercriminals

According to a study conducted in June, “Threat intelligence: Eyes on the enemy,” by threat intelligence firm Cyber Risk Analytics (CRA), vulnerability priority is the chief use of threat intelligence for 70 percent of the study’s respondents; 65 percent of those respondents also stated that they are starting to use threat intelligence to aid them with reactive incident response. By contrast, proactive measures still rank low on the list of primary uses for threat intelligence where most organizations are concerned, with 50 percent of respondents using threat intelligence for threat hunting and 46 percent, fewer than half, using actionable threat intelligence providing advanced warning against future attacks.

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