All businesses need a solid security plan and process for accumulating security intelligence in order to best protect their assets, people, and reputation. If you’re a mom-and-pop store with just one location, your main source of security intelligence might solely be a video camera system. And that’s probably all you need. But, if you’re operating on a national or global scale with multiple physical locations or a robust supply chain or employees based around the world, your security plan better be a lot more intricate and your sources of security intelligence substantially more robust.
It Must Be a Priority
Having a well-developed security strategy, complete with reliable and up-to-date security intelligence, is essential. After all, on any given day a business leader is faced with a number of challenges, from manufacturing disruptions to geopolitical issues to environmental threats to online cyber breaches, and the list goes on.
This is where security intelligence comes in. Security intelligence is the use of technology and machines, such as AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning), to collect and sort data, which is then served to human analysts who apply on-the-ground knowledge to produce recommendations on how to best mitigate potential threats. An organization’s security intelligence is only as strong as the technology and humans behind it.
According to Security Magazine, “Some of the areas where intelligence has the most tangible, demonstrative value to an organization is for the decision-making regarding operational continuity from political unrest, geopolitical issues, conflicts or pandemics, as well as business expansion and support.”
Is your security intelligence up to par? That’s a question that an organization’s leadership team should be confident in answering and if there is doubt, it’s time to make some changes.
Maximizing the Impact of Your Security Intelligence Operations
Today’s threat and risk intelligence professionals have a daunting job when it comes to protecting their assets, people, and reputation in the global economy. After all, we live in a world where a political uprising happening in Asia might completely disrupt the production of a product needed in the Americas, or an extremist might decide to target an organization’s CEO because of a difference in opinion, and the only way to possibly avoid these crises is to try to stay ahead of them. Here are three tips to help organizations ensure they are getting the most from their security intelligence operations.
- Don’t count on technology alone. While the advancements of innovative services and tools, like AI, NPL (natural language processing) and more are incredibly critical for organizations to be using, human analysts are still imperative. Analysts can identify fake news from real threats. They can understand the nuance of a city. And they can offer a historical perspective that offers illuminations that even the savviest program hasn’t mastered.
- Outsource As Needed. The news cycle is endless and information is shared, posted, and circulated 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Those with nefarious goals have no inhibitions and are sharing their plans for disruption on the dark web at all times. If your security team isn’t as robust as you need, find a partner that can supplement your people’s bandwidth.
- Stop Reacting and Start Forecasting. When an unexpected crisis emerges leaders can get caught up in the moment – spending all of their efforts in diffusing the existing issue. While this is unavoidable, it’s also imperative for risk and threat analysts to enable leaders to develop strategies in advance of disruptive events that can support the various crisis scenarios that could potentially play out. Analysts can apply historical insight to the data being served up via security intelligence to identify the disruptions that are likely to occur based on activities, news reports, and social chatter being uncovered. It’s not enough to simply focus on the real-time issues. Instead leaders need to combine the knowledge of the experts with the insights they cull from current conditions. Because days, hours, and minutes count. The more forewarning, the better prepared organizations can be for events both big and small.
Security Intelligence Done Right is Powerful
Today’s security teams have an unlimited pool of data at their fingertips. This can not only be overwhelming, but can even prohibit analysts from doing their jobs as they get stuck trying to identify the most relevant and pressing insights from a deluge of data. But when security intelligence is done right – by leveraging the right tools and the right partners – it’s an invaluable tool that can protect the well being of an organization’s assets, people, and reputation. Moreover, by leveraging security intelligence to forecast possible future scenarios, leaders can circumvent or diffuse roadblocks before they become full blow crises. It is a critical element to all strategic business plans. If your organization isn’t leveraging it properly, it’s time to get started.
About Seerist
Seerist’s augmented analytics solution combines AI, machine learning, and expert human analysis to deliver trustworthy threat intelligence. By automating the collection of global data, capturing various shifts and swings, and filtering out the noise, Seerist provides valuable insights. These insights are seamlessly integrated into a user-friendly dashboard, ensuring swift and dependable decision-making in crucial moments.
Book a demo to see Seerist’s threat intelligence tools in action or follow us on LinkedIn to learn more about how Seerist helps you stay ahead of the curve.
