No matter your industry, your business is at risk for security threats. The methods behind these risks vary, and new ones routinely crop up. The best way to combat these dangers is through threat intelligence tools. Physical security threat intelligence tools gather data from numerous external sources to identify a threat perpetrator’s motives, methods, and potential targets. Their ability to predict, anticipate, and mitigate is essential to any business’s holistic risk management strategy.
Commonly lumped in with cybersecurity, these tools (often called “threat intelligence platforms” or “TIPs”) do help IT and physical security teams disrupt digital threats. However, companies often overlook the potential for threat intelligence software to address physical threats to the workplace — and the employees within it.
Every company (yours included) stands to benefit from the use of threat intelligence tools to provide the best possible protection for its employees and business interests. Here’s how threat intelligence tools save your business from the costs associated with threat risks — plus a breakdown of some of the best platforms on the market.
Why Threat Intelligence Tools are Essential to Physical Security
Security teams have long been tasked with mitigating the risks associated with threats, but this complex task has become more difficult in the digital age. Criminals use the internet to research methods for carrying out threats and use the “deep web” and “dark web” to communicate their plans. Potential threats can stream in from a multitude of channels, and even the best security officer would have difficulty detecting events and preparing for them. An employee could post a seemingly innocuous photo of their lunch on Instagram that could include important documents in the background, which could, in turn, accidentally communicate sensitive information to external audiences.
(*For context, the deep web refers to content that lives online that search engines don’t index. Whereas the dark web uses encryption software for added security. Both are commonly used by hackers, terrorist groups, and other bad actors to share information that might be flagged on the traditional worldwide web.)
Threat intelligence services were developed as a means of tackling this problem. They process data from various sources in real-time to identify, assess, and organize threats. These tools filter out the noise and help teams act on the best possible security information in the fastest time possible.
The benefits extend past improved reaction time. The best physical security threat intelligence software solutions infer patterns from seemingly random data points and detect certain threats before they ever come to fruition.
Physical security threat intelligence tools also:
- Enable security teams to investigate and validate individual threats
- Assist security leaders in making data-informed risk management strategies
- Enable security teams to prioritize active threats and react quickly to reduce the potential impact
What to Look for in Physical Security Threat Intelligence Tools
Deciding on physical security threat intelligence tools for your business shouldn’t be something you settle on before first assessing what features you need. The size of your company and industry affect the category, frequency, and severity of the threats against your business. A small startup composed of a handful of people likely won’t require the same magnitude of protection as a massive financial organization with multiple physical locations.
Every company should create a list of business-specific needs before shopping for a threat detection solution. In addition to these necessity-based features, companies should look for platforms that emphasize:
Maximum integration
Threat intelligence tools function best when fed as much relevant data as possible. The accuracy of your threat feeds, models, and predictions depend on data supplied by open-source (OSINT) feeds, your internal security networks, and other sources. The more complex your organization is, the more integrations you’ll require to ensure that your threat assessments use the best available information.
Minimum friction
Vast stores of data do you no good if the appropriate stakeholders can’t easily find and understand them. Your threat intelligence tools must allow for quick and easy access to data feeds, reports, and profiles to ensure that no team or department is left in the dark about pertinent threats. The best threat protection tools contain dashboards that visualize relevant threat intelligence data so that even non-security experts can understand and act on the information.
Next-level contextualization
Ideally, a comprehensive threat intelligence tool must contain the ability to integrate with threat protection software so that you can prioritize, categorize, and connect various threat risks. Without the right tools, threat detection is akin to finding a dangerous needle in a massive haystack. The best tools filter out the noise and contextualize threat risks against the bigger picture.
They also provide better visibility, helping security teams determine which threats are the most likely, consequential, and urgent. Additionally, seemingly random and unrelated events may actually be connected indicators of a larger threat—something the most robust threat intelligence tools will be able to determine in conjunction with your threat protection platform.
Essential Threat Intelligence Solutions for Mitigating Threat Risk
Rarely does a company make a decision as critical to worker safety and long-term business health as choosing the right threat intelligence tools for its risk management tech stack. Each organization must ultimately choose tools that cover its unique security risks, but several tools bolster and complement any business’s threat management strategy.
Learn more about physical security threat intelligence tools that integrate with Resolver’s Threat Protection Software:
LifeRaft Navigator
Canadian-based LifeRaft was founded in 2014. Its Navigator platform specializes in analyzing online threat data. It continuously monitors social media channels, classifieds, paste sites, the deep web, and dark web sources, gathering them under a single umbrella. Navigator generates threat feeds for particular regions, keywords, and individual threat actors to gain more clarity on specific threats.
Navigator also helps companies:
- Send real-time notifications via desktop, email, Slack, or the Navigator app itself
- Visualize data with a simple but effective threat dashboard
- Investigate the veracity of threats with features like identity resolution, threat intel management, and sentiment analysis
Topo.ai TopoOne
Topo.ai was founded in 2018, and its TopoOne platform works wonders for critical event management. It combines online threat data with physical security data, traffic, and weather alerts to provide a truly comprehensive picture of threat risk. It also emphasizes the automation of repetitive, time-consuming tasks to free up security teams to focus on mitigation and response efforts.
TopoOne lets businesses:
- Visualize threat data in dashboards that are easy to read for security operations and executives alike to conveniently access data for reporting
- Pre-fill alert prompts to expedite response times
- Send targeted threat notifications specifically to impacted personnel for a more efficient and expedient response
- Escalate the notification and response to specific threats based on perceived risk and impact
RESOLVER
RESOLVER delivers real-time risk intelligence for security teams who need a reliable early warning when threats to their people or assets emerge on the surface, deep, or dark web. RESOLVER offers fast, actionable threat detection powered by AI technology, trained over 17 years, and trusted by mainstream and Fortune 500 companies. Unlike other threat intelligence providers, RESOLVER combined its powerful AI with a team of experienced threat experts who review and classify all threat alerts to ensure their clients get better intelligence and fewer false alarms.
Further, RESOLVER offers a comprehensive threat discovery overseen by its experienced threat analysts to ensure clients don’t have any gaps in their monitoring plan and are not left having to set up complicated queries on their own. What does purchasing RESOLVER mean to security teams? It means the confidence of knowing a team of highly trained threat analysts, empowered by market-leading AI are working 24/7 to identify potential threats to your business.
Use Threat Intelligence to Protect Your Business and the People Within It
Unfortunately, it’s quite easy for malicious entities to plan and follow through on a threat against your business. They can scope out your company before ever stepping foot inside using OSINT gathering security tools. Just one security vulnerability can be exploited to maximum impact.
Bad actors will use whatever means available to them to carry out a threat. Your security team will be playing catch-up if they’re not already using every tool at their disposal. Threat intelligence tools won’t prevent threats completely, but they will connect far-flung dots in a sea of data to give you an advantage over potential perpetrators.
Resolver’s threat protection software integrates with thousands of data sources, unifying OSINT, public records, internal security data, and the threat intelligence tools listed above — in a single place for more comprehensive threat analysis. This allows companies to gain smarter insights, execute quicker remediation efforts, and better understand the context of how each threat impacts the business overall.
Resolver’s threat protection solution gives security teams the tools they need to stay ahead of threats, big and small. Recognizing patterns and identifying risks around the clock, our threat protection software helps you and your team create data-informed strategies and threat mitigation plans. By zeroing in on relevant signals for a more accurate and efficient picture, your team can more easily and confidently focus on avoiding, reducing, and eliminating threats that could potentially disrupt your business.
