From plain ole email phishing tactics and embedded malicious links, to using fake government websites to capture sensitive data, and jumping on the bandwagon of COVID-19 vaccine sign-up websites - cybercriminals are daring in their attacks. Most incidents use multi-pronged attack strategies, are well-coordinated, and flawlessly executed, netting millions of dollars in ransom or stolen data and IP. Unfortunately, the threat intelligence software used by many security operations centers (SOCs) is no match for the bad guys. It's time for Threat Intelligence (TI) teams to have a rethink of their own strategies!

Fringe Elements Going Mainstream

In years gone by, Cybercriminals would keep a low profile, and many in their circles spent their entire lives in the fringes. Not anymore! From Cryptojacking to domain hijacking and other forms of digital extortion, the fringe elements from the underbelly of the cyberworld have gone mainstream. Not even the most "secure" networks, supported by conventional cyber threat intelligence vendors, are safe today.

The ongoing challenges came to the fore during the COVID-19 crisis, when cyber crime skyrocketed, mainly because the fringe element saw an opportunity and took advantage of it. With most Information Security (IS) professionals preoccupied with other priorities, Cybercriminals used temporarily lax cyber protection to launch their attacks. The post-COVID cyber threat landscape even prompted Interpol to extol the virtues of good cyber hygiene in a video titled "Wash your cyber hands" - how apropos!

Bracing for a Long Fight

There's a new workforce paradigm evolving today - remote work and the Work from Home (WFH) revolution. And then, other dimensions, such as a move to embrace the Internet of Things (IoT), migration to cloud computing, and the popularity of bring your own device (BYOD) policies, have further complicated the role of Incident Response (IR) teams. These evolutions are here to stay, and expose corporations to a new set of cybercrimes that traditional threat intelligence software can't address.

According to the FBI Internet Crime Report 2021, Americans lost nearly $7-billion through approximately 850,000 cyber incidents. That's a 7% year-over-year increase in this type of crime - and the bureau (and cybersecurity analysts) warn that things could get worse over the long term - unless proper measures are put in place. Investment by organizations, in cyber threat monitoring, detection and response, is a long-term strategy, not something that is fixed by staying up-to-date with OS patches or installing archaic anti-virus and anti-spam software.

Leveraging AI to Protect Cyber Assets

With cyber criminals going mainstream, the only option is for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) to work with credible cyber threat intelligence vendors, and to invest in state-of-the-art threat detection and prevention tools. QuoLab's security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR) platform (the Platform) is the leader in providing these enhanced capabilities to businesses of all sizes.

AI-centric, machine-learning empowered, and supporting intuitive workflows through a collaborative, data-driven platform, the technology offers an information security (IS) platform that lets organizations stay way ahead of cybercriminals.

With traditional threat intelligence software, seamless and coordinated threat response is always a challenge. The Platform changes that. You will dominate your cyber threat environment with Single Source Access, making silo disconnects a thing of the past. IR teams can automate data normalization, and can quickly analyze, investigate, and respond to threats within an integrated ecosystem.

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