Make a Threat Intelligence Program as Unique as Your Business

What Makes the Difference Between Critical Threat Intelligence and Meaningless Noise?

Staying ahead of today’s threats is challenging enough, let alone preparing for tomorrow’s evolving attack techniques. Running a threat intelligence program (TIP) within the MSP space is a tough discipline to master.

Veterans of the industry know all too well the pitfalls of poorly designed TIPs: delayed response times, limited context, and siloed data can each create operational nightmares. But how can you craft a program that delivers results? What makes threat intelligence truly meaningful to an MSP?

Let’s begin with foundational questions before exploring what separates an ineffective program from an exceptional one.

What Are Your Organization’s Threat Intelligence Needs?

The first step in solving any problem is identifying it. Carefully consider how your MSP intends to integrate threat intelligence into day-to-day operations. Are you trying to fill gaps in operational efficiency, deliver better value to clients, embed threat intelligence into tooling, or simply keep your business secure? Below are some key questions to guide your process:

• What’s your budget for a new TIP?
• Do you need global or region-specific intelligence?
• Do you already have a form of threat intelligence in place? If so, how will these systems work together?
• Are your security teams sufficiently trained to operationalize the data you’re seeking?
• Do you aim to focus on a specific industry or address multiple verticals?
• How do you plan to integrate threat intelligence within your technology stack?
• Have you explored free sources like Open Source Threat Intelligence (OSINT), Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs), or online forums such as PhishTank and Spamhaus?

While this list is not exhaustive, it provides a solid starting point. Always consider your organization’s unique constraints as you strategize how a TIP will function within your business model. Be prepared to iterate and evolve your program as you grow.

Establishing a TIP within Your MSP

Once you’ve defined your requirements and identified the tools needed to make your program successful, it’s time to put it into action. Operationalizing the data you acquire is just as important as acquiring it in the first place. While your specific needs will vary, the following steps provide a general framework for building an effective TIP:

1. Select a Framework: Frameworks provide standardized methodologies for collecting, analyzing, and applying threat intelligence. They ensure consistency and alignment with industry best practices.
2. Define Your Use Cases: Determine where, how, and when to apply threat intelligence within your operations. Focus on real problems and scenarios to maximize the value of your TIP. Review these use cases frequently, as they will evolve. Some examples include detecting advanced persistent threats (APTs), mitigating phishing or malware campaigns, or addressing vertical-specific threats.
3. Develop Policies and Procedures: Establish clear guidelines to ensure consistency and accountability. Key elements include defining roles and responsibilities, data handling protocols, escalation paths, and metrics for measuring success.

Gauging Threat Intelligence Programs

How do you know if your program is delivering results? Evaluating a TIP’s effectiveness involves assessing both outcomes and the ongoing initiatives designed to ensure its success.

Done Right: Building a Proactive Defense

An effective TIP is a critical tool in an MSP’s arsenal, particularly in an environment where threats are unpredictable. A successful program combines real-time data analytics, continuous monitoring, and industry collaboration to stay ahead of attackers. Here’s what this looks like in practice:

• Leverage AI and Machine Learning for Analysis: Real-time data analytics powered by AI ensures timely and precise threat detection. These tools sift through vast amounts of data to identify patterns, anomalies, and emerging threats, providing actionable insights to proactively protect clients.
• Maintain Continuous Monitoring: An “always-on” approach eliminates blind spots. Threat actors often operate during “off-hours,” targeting vulnerabilities when defenses are perceived as weaker. Continuous monitoring helps detect and mitigate threats at any time, reducing the risk window.
• Collaborate with Industry Peers: Participation in threat intelligence-sharing communities, such as ISACs, allows MSPs to stay informed about the latest attack vectors and trends (as I mentioned earlier). Collaboration ensures that intelligence is contextual and actionable rather than static data points.

When done right, a threat intelligence program becomes a competitive differentiator within an MSP’s security offering—enabling the anticipation and neutralization of threats before they impact clients.

Done Wrong: Opening the Door to Avoidable Risks

An ineffective TIP often does more harm than good, creating a false sense of security while leaving gaps that attackers can exploit. Common pitfalls include:

• Siloed Data: Without centralizing and correlating threat data, MSPs lose the ability to see the bigger picture. Disconnected tools or data sources result in fragmented intelligence, making it harder to identify coordinated or sophisticated threats.
• Lack of Context: Raw data without context is not intelligence—it’s noise. Failing to enrich data with actionable insights forces MSPs to guess what’s important and what isn’t, leading to missed opportunities to stop an attack early.
• Delayed Responses: Inefficient processes or reliance on manual workflows slow response times, allowing threats to escalate. Attackers thrive on such delays, exploiting vulnerabilities before countermeasures can be deployed.

These missteps can lead to severe consequences: security breaches, financial losses, and reputational damage that compromise an MSP’s credibility and client trust.

The IRONSCALES Approach to Threat Intelligence

Our Adaptive AI approach integrates AI-driven analysis with human insights, enabling rapid detection and remediation of email threats lurking within your client’s inboxes. By collaborating with a global community of over 15,000 organizations, we ensure our threat intelligence remains current and comprehensive, empowering MSPs to protect their clients.

This approach ensures threats identified by one organization are rapidly shared across the platform, enabling others to proactively defend against evolving attacks. For industry-specific MSPs, our crowdsourced intelligence enhances their offerings by detecting the latest phishing tactics targeting their niche and preparing similar businesses.

Unlike other crowd-based threat intelligence solutions, which often focus on sharing indicators of compromise (IOCs) post-incident, IRONSCALES fosters active community engagement. Feedback loops between users and the platform tune detection mechanisms, creating a dynamic, real-time collaboration that enhances security and distinguishes IRONSCALES as a proactive solution in the crowded threat intelligence market.

Conclusion

If you haven’t prioritized threat intelligence or operationalized a program for your business, now is the time. Threat intelligence communities, platforms, and resources are invaluable for keeping your clients’ businesses—and your own—secure.

By embracing advanced, crowdsourced solutions like those offered by IRONSCALES, MSPs can stay ahead of emerging threats, ensuring security and trust for the businesses they serve. At the end of the day, TIPs that prioritize automation, context, and proactive response don’t just defend against threats—they deliver peace of mind to your clients.

Learn more about IRONSCALES Crowdsourced Threat Intelligence and Hunting here!