New ISO 27001:2022 Requires Processing and Analyzing Threat Intelligence

With the recent updates to ISO 27001 in 2022, organizations face heightened expectations regarding threat intelligence. As organizations strive to maintain robust security postures, understanding and implementing these new requirements becomes crucial. In this blog, we delve into the significance of the updated threat intelligence provisions within ISO 27001:2022, offering insights and strategies to help organizations adapt and thrive in an increasingly complex digital environment.

What is ISO 27001?

ISO 27001:2022, the internationally recognized standard for information security management systems (ISMS), now places a greater emphasis on the processing and analysis of threat intelligence. This paradigm shift reflects the growing recognition that actionable intelligence is derived not just from the quantity of data collected, but from the quality of insights generated through meticulous analysis.

What is the New Threat Intelligence Requirement in ISO 27001?

ISO 27001:2022 Annex A Control 5.7: Threat Intelligence requires organizations to collect, analyze, and produce threat intelligence regarding information security threats. Annex A control 5.7 is designed to help organizations understand their threat environment. This is so they can determine the proper actions to maintain information security based on the threats they identify.

Understanding the Requirements

ISO 27001:2022 Annex A Control 5.7 focuses on equipping organizations with information about current and evolving threats to identify which ones apply to them. In this regard, they will develop appropriate defenses.

To comply with ISO 27001 Annex A control 5.7, organizations ensure the following:

• Regularly assess their threat environment by reviewing reports from government agencies and other organizations.

• Threat sources such as insiders, criminals, competitors, and terrorist groups should be identified.

• Identify potential new methods of attack and emerging trends by analyzing current events alongside past incidents.

• Most importantly, creating defenses that effectively reduce security threats to the organization.

Moreover, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) advises businesses to consider strategic, tactical, and operational intelligence levels to effectively utilize threat intelligence.

• Strategic threat intelligence focuses on exchanging high-level information regarding the evolving threat landscape, including the types of attackers and attacks.

• Tactical threat intelligence encompasses understanding the tactics, tools, and technology employed by attackers.

• Operational threat intelligence offers detailed information on particular attacks, including technical indicators.

How Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIPs) Can Help in Processing and Analyzing Threat Intelligence?

Organizations today operate within an intricate cyber landscape where threats can materialize from various sources and in diverse forms. Threat intelligence feeds serve as a vital source of information, providing organizations with insights into emerging threats, vulnerabilities, and attack patterns. However, simply amassing a vast array of threat data is akin to having a library filled with books yet lacking the ability to decipher their contents. It's the analysis and interpretation of this intelligence that truly empowers organizations to make informed decisions and proactively defend against potential cyber threats. Organizations need threat intelligence platforms (TIPs) to process and analyze threat intelligence effectively.

Here’s how organizations can prioritize the processing and analysis of threat intelligence using a TIP:

Aggregation and Correlation: TIPs play a crucial role in aggregating and correlating threat intelligence, enabling organizations to gain a holistic view of the threat landscape. By consolidating information from multiple feeds, TIPs provide a unified platform for analysis, eliminating silos and enhancing visibility.

Normalization and Enrichment: Raw threat data often comes in various formats and lacks standardized attributes, making it challenging to analyze effectively. TIPs normalize this data, ensuring consistency and compatibility across different sources. Additionally, TIPs enrich threat intelligence by supplementing it with contextual information such as threat actor profiles, indicators of compromise (IOCs), and attack tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). This enrichment enhances the relevance and actionable nature of intelligence.

Automated Analysis: The volume and velocity of incoming threat data make manual analysis impractical and time-consuming. TIPs leverage automation to expedite the analysis process, enabling organizations to detect and respond to threats in real time. By employing machine learning algorithms and advanced analytics, TIPs can identify patterns, anomalies, and trends that may evade manual scrutiny.

Customization and Tailoring: Every organization has unique security requirements and risk profiles. TIPs allow organizations to customize their threat intelligence analysis based on their specific needs. Whether it's filtering out irrelevant data, creating custom threat feeds, or configuring alerts and notifications, TIPs offer flexibility and customization options to align with organizational objectives.

Integration with Security Infrastructure: TIPs serve as a central hub for threat intelligence operations, seamlessly integrating with existing security infrastructure such as SIEMs, firewalls, and EDR solutions. By integrating threat intelligence into security workflows, TIPs enable automated response actions, threat hunting, and incident investigation, thereby strengthening overall security posture.

Collaboration and Information Sharing: Cyber threats are not limited to individual organizations; they often target entire sectors or industries. TIPs facilitate collaboration and information sharing among organizations, allowing them to collectively combat common threats. By participating in threat intelligence sharing communities and consortiums, organizations can benefit from collective insights and collective defense strategies.

Benefits of Using TIPs

Utilizing a threat intelligence platform can yield numerous benefits for organizations, including:

Enhanced Scalability: Threat intel platforms excel in swiftly processing and analyzing massive data volumes, a boon in cybersecurity where the deluge of threats and data overwhelms manual methods. Automation allows organizations to scale their threat intelligence capabilities to match the growing complexity of the threat landscape.

Heightened Efficiency: Operationalized threat intelligence serves as a force multiplier for SecOps teams, empowering them to safeguard organizations from cyber threats more effectively. It liberates analysts to concentrate on strategic initiatives like proactive threat hunting and security planning.

Improved Threat Prioritization: Automated TIPs can assess the severity and relevance of threats based on predefined criteria. This allows security teams to prioritize their response efforts, focusing on the most critical and immediate threats. This not only improves the overall security posture but also ensures that resources are allocated where they are needed most.

Proactive Response: Operationalized threat intelligence enables organizations to respond swiftly to emerging threats and incidents. Real-time information allows security teams to take immediate action to mitigate risks and minimize the impact of security breaches.

Enhanced Incident Detection and Response: Operationalizing threat intelligence improves the detection capabilities of security systems. By integrating threat intelligence feeds into security tools and platforms, organizations can identify suspicious activities and potential threats more effectively, enabling faster incident response and containment.

Improved Incident Investigation: When security incidents occur, having access to relevant threat intelligence can expedite the investigation process. Security teams can quickly ascertain the nature of the threat, its tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), and its potential impact, facilitating a more efficient response and recovery effort.

Reduced False Positives: Threat intelligence helps organizations filter out noise and false positives by providing context to security alerts. This reduces alert fatigue among security analysts and enables them to focus on genuine threats, improving overall operational efficiency.

Collaboration and Information Sharing: Operationalizing threat intelligence encourages collaboration and information sharing within the cybersecurity community. Organizations can benefit from collective insights and experiences, enabling them to stay abreast of evolving threats and tactics.

How Cyware’s TIP Solutions Will Enable You to Comply with ISO 27001 Threat Intelligence Requirements

Cyware’s TIP solutions—Intel Exchange and Collaborate—can play a crucial role in enabling compliance with ISO 27001 threat intelligence requirements. Here's how:

Aggregation, Analysis, and Correlation of Threat Data: Cyware’s TIP solutions aggregate threat data from various sources, including open-source feeds, commercial feeds, and internal sources. This data is then correlated to provide a comprehensive view of the threat landscape, which aligns with ISO 27001's requirement for organizations to systematically evaluate information security risks.

Bidirectional Threat Intelligence Sharing: ISO 27001 emphasizes the importance of information sharing for effective risk management. Cyware’s TIP solutions facilitate the automated sharing of threat intelligence with trusted partners, industry peers, and relevant stakeholders. This enables organizations to stay updated on emerging threats and vulnerabilities, enhancing their ability to comply with ISO 27001 requirements related to risk assessment and treatment.

Flexible Alerting and Threat Advisory Sharing: Cyware's TIP solutions offer real-time alerting and threat advisory sharing across any defined security ecosystem, allowing organizations to tailor their threat intelligence workflows according to their specific needs and compliance requirements. This ensures that relevant stakeholders receive timely alerts and advisories about potential security incidents, facilitating compliance with ISO 27001's incident management and reporting provisions.

Integration with Security Controls: Cyware's TIP solutions seamlessly integrate with existing security controls, such as SIEM systems, firewalls, and endpoint protection platforms. By enriching these controls with actionable threat intelligence, organizations can enhance their ability to detect, prevent, and respond to security threats, thereby meeting ISO 27001's requirements for implementing appropriate security measures.

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The updated threat intelligence requirements in ISO 27001:2022 emphasize the need for organizations to enhance their cybersecurity strategies. It outlines the key changes and additions in the latest version of ISO 27001, highlighting the significance of threat intelligence in protecting against evolving cyber threats. It also discusses the role of TIPs and automation in helping organizations stay ahead of cyber threats and comply with ISO 27001 requirements. For threat intelligence to be effective, it should also be relevant, perceptive, contextual, and actionable.

It is important to note that establishing and maintaining an ISMS is imperative in line with ISO/IEC 27000 standards. Section 5.7 in Annex A holds significant importance in this undertaking. Conducting threat analysis remains crucial even if the organization does not intend to pursue ISO 27001 certification or adhere to another standard.

Book a free demo and get in touch with Cyware to learn more about the ISO 27001 standard and how you can comply with it.