Cybersecurity investigators making use of threat actor profiling are after specific kinds of data that help them better understand their adversaries. As with any other form of data, the quality of threat actor profiling data is commensurate with its value in the cybersecurity space. Good data produces good things. Bad data does nothing but waste an investigator’s time.
Companies like DarkOwl offer tools designed specifically to gather, analyze, contextualize, and present the types of data cybersecurity experts need to protect their networks. By taking a multifaceted approach to gathering threat actor profiling data, these experts increase their understanding of who they are up against.
The big question is this: what types of data are investigators after? Check it out:
1. Threat Actor Motivations
Investigators want to know what motivates an attacker. Motivations run the gamut from financial gain to espionage to business disruption and ideological agendas. Knowing a threat actor’s motivations helps security experts prioritize threats. Motivations can also contribute to developing tailored defenses.
2. Threat Actor Capabilities
An adversary’s actual capabilities play a huge role in how a cybersecurity team will defend against him. Therefore, threat actor profiling seeks in-depth capability data. Investigators need to know everything they can about an adversary’s:
- Technical skills
- Tool sets and strategies
- Malware preferences
- Attack resources
More capabilities generally represent more sophisticated attacks. Therefore, investigators can leave nothing to chance. They need to know exactly what each adversary is capable of.
3. Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs)
Threat actor profiling data almost always includes information on specific methods of attack. An investigation might point to malware delivery and phishing. It might suggest lateral movement and other exploitation strategies an attacker might employ. Knowing how an adversary operates makes it easier to stop him.
4. Behavioral Patterns
Threat actors leave behind digital breadcrumbs that, when pieced together, provide insight into their behavior. By looking at behavioral patterns, investigators can more effectively target attacker preferences, timing, escalation methods, and communication channels. A clear and more consistent picture of a threat actor then emerges.
5. Historical Data
Investigators love historical data because it can be correlated with more current information to help forecast future attacks. Threat actors are creatures of habit as much as anyone else. So understanding their past behaviors helps investigators predict what they will do in the future.
6. Indicators of Compromise (IOCs).
IOCs are digital artifacts left behind in network or system data. They are artifacts that can be linked to known threat actors. They include things like filenames and network signatures.
7. Infrastructure and Geolocation Details
The successful investigator values infrastructure and geolocation data when building threat actor profiles. Infrastructure data includes things like IP addresses and hosting domains. Geolocation information pinpoints geographic origins and any affiliations with known groups and rogue nation-states.
8. Dark Web Data
Last but not least is dark web data. The dark web is a virtual gold mine of information to any investigator who knows how to dig it out. What investigators can learn from the dark web adds valuable context to threat actor profiling data. Dark web sources include discussion boards, hacker marketplaces, and service provider websites.
Threat actor profiling is the latest frontier in the drive to stop cyberattacks dead in their tracks. The more we learn about it, the more effective we are becoming in terms of utilizing the data we gather. But cybersecurity experts can never lose sight of the fact that the quality of their threat actor profiling data directly impacts whether or not their profiling efforts will accomplish anything meaningful.
