Fundamental to every cyber threat intelligence program is the creation of a cyber threat intelligence process. This system offers practical guidance on setting up a structure for establishing a strong cyber threat intelligence process.

1. Key elements to a successful process

1.1. Objectives

When defining your process document, start by making it extremely clear what the objectives are.

In pursuit of our objectives, we outlined a comprehensive process aimed at enhancing our understanding of the threat landscape and fortifying defenses.

The process encompasses both overarching goals and specific objectives tailored to support our operational security requirements.

At its core, our process aims to achieve the following overarching objectives:

• Providing strategic insights into the threat landscape to facilitate informed decision-making.
• Identifying and comprehensively documenting the tactics, techniques, and procedures employed by threat actors, enabling contextual awareness and actionable response.
• Meeting operational security needs by furnishing technical details about specific attacks and campaigns.

To operationalize these objectives effectively, we have delineated specific steps and goals, including:

• Establishing robust processes and procedures to promptly alert and respond to relevant threats in alignment with their determined severity.
• Identifying potential mitigation options for severe threats and disseminating them to pertinent teams for action.
• Providing input for adjusting our alert levels in response to imminent threats that could impact our reputation, products, services, staff, or assets.
• Enhancing our detection, prevention, and recovery processes through the timely sharing of relevant threat information with stakeholders in the cyber threat intelligence domain.
• Continuously improving our skills, tools, controls, and proactive learning processes to better safeguard our assets against future threats.

Through the diligent execution of this process, we aim to strengthen our security posture and ensure the protection of our organization's assets against evolving cyber threats.

1.2. Scope

Scoping your cyber threat intelligence process is critical for defining the integration between other functions.