AuditRubric
id-ra-2 medium Identify / Risk Assessment

Cyber threat intelligence is received from information sharing forums and sources

Staying ahead of attackers means consuming intelligence about what they are doing, not just reacting after you are hit. Threat feeds, government advisories, and industry sharing groups give you early warning about active campaigns, newly exploited vulnerabilities, and attacker tactics relevant to your sector. This intelligence feeds better patching decisions and more realistic risk assessments.

Estimated effort: 3h
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Implementation steps

  1. 1

    Subscribe to foundational threat intelligence sources

    At a minimum, subscribe to CISA alerts and advisories (free), your sector-specific ISAC (Information Sharing and Analysis Center), and the NVD (National Vulnerability Database) for CVE data. Most of these are free and low-effort to consume via email digest or RSS.

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  2. 2

    Integrate commercial or automated threat feeds if appropriate

    For teams with the resources, integrate structured threat feeds (STIX/TAXII format) into your SIEM or vulnerability management platform so indicators of compromise are automatically checked against your environment. Many EDR and cloud security tools include bundled threat intelligence.

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  3. 3

    Establish a process for acting on intelligence

    Receiving intelligence is only useful if someone reads it and acts on it. Designate a person or team responsible for reviewing incoming advisories, triaging their relevance to your environment, and creating tickets for any required action. Track which advisories triggered a response.

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Evidence required

Threat intelligence subscriptions

Proof that the organization is subscribed to at least one active threat intelligence source.

  • · CISA email subscription confirmation
  • · ISAC membership confirmation
  • · Screenshot of NVD or vendor advisory RSS feed subscription

Evidence of intelligence acted upon

Examples showing that threat intelligence was reviewed and, where relevant, resulted in action.

  • · Tickets created in response to CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) advisories
  • · Slack channel or email thread discussing a threat advisory and the resulting decision
  • · Patch prioritization records referencing a specific threat intelligence finding

Related controls