Are you familiar with Risk Intelligence and Threat Intelligence? Do you think they are similar?
I was asked the other day what the difference was between the two. So, I thought it would be a good post to discuss what each one of them is.
Risk Intelligence and Threat Intelligence are closely related concepts in cybersecurity, but they serve different purposes.
Risk Intelligence by definition is the capability to understand, analyze, and respond to risks in a strategic and contextual manner. Risk Intelligence helps identify potential risks to an organization’s objectives and make informed decisions about how to manage or mitigate those risks.
Some of the components of Risk Intelligence are:
- Risk identification – identifying, describing, and documenting the potential risks, including their causes and potential consequences.
- Risk assessment – this is a structured way to determine how likely and how severe the impact of the risk(s) could be.
- Risk context – determining what assets, processes, or objectives are at stake.
- Mitigation and response planning – focus on preventing or reducing the impact of the risk(s) and take necessary actions during and after the incident to reduce the impact.
- Continuous monitoring and adaptation – monitor, analyze, and adjust your strategies based on real-time data.
Based on your organization’s objectives, you want to make sure and understand those objectives and the organization’s tolerance. Use internal data like vulnerability scans, asset inventory, etc., in order to make sound decisions.
These are ways you can put those inputs to work:
- Assemble the data set – pull each object into a shared workspace or docket.
- Map objectives (processes and assets) – draw a simple line of sight from goals down to systems and teams that enable them.
- Filter risk brainstorming through the map – for every threat/vulnerability you list, you can determine which mapped objective or KPI could suffer, and how.
- Quantify with appetite & KPIs – use the predefined thresholds to keep scoring disciplined rather than subjective.
- Validate with stakeholders – discuss with leaders the linkage to show that identified risks truly endanger (or could enable) what they care about.
Threat Intelligence by definition is the collection and analysis of information about potential or current attacks from external sources. Threat Intelligence helps organizations understand the who, what, when, where, why, and how of cyber threats.
Some of the components of Threat Intelligence are:
- Indicators of compromise (IOCs) – objects that suggest a potential network or system breach/intrusion.
- Tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) – methods cyber attackers use to achieve their goals/objectives.
- Threat actor profiles – these profiles help organizations understand potential threats from groups or individuals that carry out malicious cyber activities, and help the organization anticipate those attacks.
- Emerging threat trends – understanding what these threats are, will better prepare the organization’s defense against them. These could be phishing attacks, social engineering, advanced ransomware, AI-Powered cybercrime, supply chain attacks, etc.
- Attack surface monitoring – continuous process of identifying, assessing, and mitigating potential vulnerabilities that can be exploited.
Organizations can use cyber threat feeds, open-source intelligence (OSINT), dark web monitoring, and internal detection tools (SIEM, IDS/IPS) amongst other things. These inputs can help the organization’s threat intelligence program.
These are ways you can put these inputs to work:
- Collection layer – OSINT and dark-web monitoring broaden your situational awareness while commercial feeds supply vetted, machine-readable IOCs.
- Correlation layer – SIEM/IDS provide external intel with inside-the-network events, proving or disproving an active threat.
- Decision layer – map each validated threat to business objectives. For example, this can help organizations determine if ransomware will affect uptime commitment based on the organization’s risk criteria.
- Action layer – SOAR or EDR isolates, blocks, or patches, while findings loop back to governance dashboards that executives use to track KPI performance.
Both Risk Intelligence and Threat Intelligence are used in cybersecurity and risk management strategies. Both involve data collection, analysis, decision-making, and both contribute to incident response planning and security posture. They often feed into GRC platforms, SIEMs, and/or risk dashboards.
In an organization, Threat Intelligence will alert them about a surge in malware within the organization’s industry, and Risk Intelligence will help the organization assess the business impact of a breach. Having Threat Intelligence and Risk Intelligence can provide a proactive response by replacing vulnerable systems, training frontline employees, and staying up to date with compliance controls.and staying up-to-date with compliance controls.
Hope you found this post helpful and informative. Thanks for stopping by!
CyberCasta 
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