Threat Intelligence for Government Agencies

Cyber attacks on government agencies are on the upswing. According to the FBI, government agencies are the third most-targeted sector by ransomware attacks. Other data finds that cyber attacks against state and public agencies are becoming more frequent and more sophisticated. Considering that an attack on a government agency is capable of shutting down vital public services, it’s more important than ever for agencies to be aware of potential threats. 

How does Flare Provide Threat Intelligence for Government Agencies? 

How can Flare find threat intelligence for the public sector?   

Criminals rarely warn their victims before an attack. This leaves government security teams in the difficult position of constantly responding to threats. Flare’s threat intelligence platform helps government security teams become more proactive by scanning for threats and exposed information. Flare continuously monitors the clear & dark web allowing analysts to discover leaked or stolen data before an attack can take place.

Why use Flare to monitor threat intelligence for government agencies? 

With attackers scattered across the globe, it can be difficult to guess where the next attack is coming from — or what language the threat intelligence will be in. Flare’s AI-powered assistant uses generative AI to review vast amounts of information quickly, summarize and translate information in other languages, providing important contexts that allow your team to take action fast. 

What are the benefits of Flare’s threat intelligence platform? 

• Automated continuous monitoring: Using an automated solution gives you 24/7 coverage, so you will know as soon as leaked data appears. 
• Relevant alerts: Flare rises above the noise by only delivering notifications when a threat is relevant to your security.
• Filling in the gaps in your security team: Many agencies are understaffed. Flare rounds out your team by automating event summaries and other work that was being done manually.
• Translation: AI can translate and summarize threat alerts in languages your analysts don’t speak, saving your team the time and effort it would take to put every post through a translator.
• Threat profiling: Flare’s AI-powered assistant is able to analyze a threat actor’s post history, giving your team an overview of that actor’s TTPs and activity across several platforms. 
• Unmatched data collection: Flare uses billions of data points to provide your team with information about your organization’s security stance, relevant threats, and the movement of threat actors between platforms. 
• Transparency: Flare lists every source so you know exactly where your threat intelligence data is coming from. 

Threat Intelligence for Government Agencies: An Overview

What is geopolitical threat intelligence?

Geopolitical threat intelligence is information about worldwide political, social and economic trends or incidents that may affect an organization’s cybersecurity. These events might include wars, protests, terror threats, public health issues, and issues that could affect that organization’s supply chain or operations. While in the past, geopolitical intelligence was used to define location-based threats only, the global nature of the internet means that geopolitical intelligence is now tightly linked to cyberthreats. By analyzing geopolitical threat intelligence, an agency can quickly make informed decisions during a breach, or avoid breaches altogether. 

How is threat intelligence gathered?

Threat intelligence is most often gathered from open source intelligence (OSINT), such as news sources, government briefings, social media posts, websites, and other publicly available information. Analysts may also use human intelligence or talk to one another about emerging threats.  

What are the categories of geopolitical threat intelligence? 

There are four types of threat intelligence: 

• Strategic: Strategic threat intelligence provides a high-level overview of threats allowing senior leadership to make decisions based on the current threat landscape. Because it’s  aimed at business leaders, strategic threat intelligence focuses on non-technical information.
• Tactical: Tactical threat intelligence focuses on malicious actors’ tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), providing insight into potential attacks and an attack’s possible impact. 
• Technical: Technical threat intelligence is the information that security teams usually get from their open-source intelligence feeds. Security teams use technical threat intelligence to monitor new threats or investigate security incidents.
• Operational: Operational threat intelligence gives security teams actionable information relating to threat actors’ natures, motives, timing, and methods.

Why Does the Public Sector Need to Invest in Threat Intelligence? 

Why does the government need threat intelligence in today’s cybersecurity landscape? 

Government and public agencies are increasingly in the crosshairs of state-sponsored threat groups. Microsoft found that government was the second-most targeted sector by state sponsored cyber criminals, second only to education. With so many threats, government IT and security teams need to be aware of threats and leaked data as quickly as possible. Threat intelligence is able to deliver that information quickly and efficiently. 

What are some of the challenges associated with geopolitical threat intelligence? 

There’s an overwhelming amount of geopolitical data out there, and some of it is intentionally misleading —  threat actors often use sources of OSINT intelligence to spread misinformation and disinformation. Threat platforms are able to cut through this noise by serving only relevant data to government analysts, and by providing important context for those alerts.

Global Threats are Dynamic, and so is Threat Intelligence Data

Because geopolitical cyber threats are rapidly evolving, agencies’ security posture can’t simply react to incidents. It’s important to adopt a position of proactive defense, and threat intelligence data plays a pivotal role in a proactive strategy. Strong threat intelligence data gives analysts an opportunity to preemptively identify and counteract threats, empowering them  to close security gaps, mitigate vulnerabilities, and hunt threats before an attack even occurs.

Threat Intelligence for Government Agencies and Flare

The Flare Threat Exposure Management (TEM) solution empowers organizations to proactively detect, prioritize, and mitigate the types of exposures commonly exploited by threat actors. Our platform automatically scans the clear & dark web and prominent threat actor communities 24/7 to discover unknown events, prioritize risks, and deliver actionable intelligence you can use instantly to improve security.
Flare integrates into your security program in 30 minutes and often replaces several SaaS and open source tools. Learn more by signing up for our free trial.