threat intelligence (cyber threat intelligence)

Threat intelligence, also known as cyber threat intelligence (CTI), is organized, analyzed and refined information about potential or current attacks that threaten an organization.

The primary purpose of threat intelligence is helping organizations understand the risks of the most common and severe external threats, such as zero-day threats, advanced persistent threats (APTs) and exploits. Although threat actors also include internal (or insider) and partner threats, the emphasis is on the types that are most likely to affect a particular organization's environment. Threat intelligence includes in-depth information about specific threats to help an organization protect itself from the types of attacks that could do them the most damange.

In a military, business or security context, intelligence is information that provides an organization with decision support and possibly a strategic advantage. Threat intelligence is a component of security intelligence and, like SI, includes both the information relevant to protecting an organization from external and inside threats as well as the processes, policies and tools designed to gather and analyze that information.

Threat intelligence services provide organizations with current information related to potential attack sources relevant to their businesses; some also offer consultation service.