What is cyber threat intelligence?
Cyber threat intelligence (CTI) is the collection, analysis, and operationalization of information about threat actors, attack methods, and indicators of compromise, enabling security teams to understand, anticipate, and respond to threats before they result in a breach. Effective CTI goes beyond raw data feeds: it transforms darknet intelligence, malware analysis, and adversary behavior patterns into prioritized, actionable insights tied to specific organizations and identities.
How is cyber threat intelligence used?
Cyber threat intelligence, sometimes referred to as CTI, is used to enhance an organization’s security posture by informing decision-makers about emerging threats and vulnerabilities. It aids in:
- Identifying potential security threats and vulnerabilities
- Enhancing incident response and decision-making processes
- Improving security awareness and training
- Informing the development and implementation of security policies and protocols
- Enhancing the effectiveness of security tools and technologies
Who uses cyber threat intelligence
Cyber threat intelligence adds value across the security team:
- SOC teams use threat intelligence to monitor, detect, and respond to security incidents in real-time.
- Cyber threat intelligence is used for third-party risk management to assess and mitigate risks associated with vendors and partners.
- CISOs leverage cyber threat intelligence to inform strategic decision-making and enhance overall security posture.
Types of cyber threat intelligence
There are three main types of cyber threat intelligence:
- Tactical intelligence focuses on understanding the specific tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) of various threat actors.
- Operational intelligence uses collected data and information to adequately respond to a cyber incident in progress.
- Strategic intelligence seeks to improve long-term decision-making regarding emerging threats and the evolving threat landscape.
Why traditional CTI doesn’t see identity threats
Conventional cyber threat intelligence aggregates indicators of compromise – IP addresses, file hashes, malicious domains – that represent known attack infrastructure. This model was designed for a threat landscape built around network perimeters and malware payloads. It struggles to address the single most exploited vector in modern cybercrime: compromised identity data.
SpyCloud applies its Cybercrime Analytics (C2A) Engine to more than 25 billion assets ingested monthly, transforming raw darknet data into structured, actionable exposure records. Security teams get specific, prioritized alerts tied to real identities – not broad indicators requiring manual correlation.
What identity-centric CTI covers
Where a standard CTI feed might flag a known malicious IP, identity intelligence reveals that specific employees’ credentials were captured in an infostealer infection – and which of those credentials belong to privileged accounts. Key capabilities that distinguish this from commodity CTI:
- Recaptured breach data: Credentials and session cookies captured directly from criminal infrastructure – not scraped from public breach dumps – providing the freshest possible signal
- Post-infection remediation: Infostealer infections expose not just passwords but active session cookies. Effective response requires invalidating all exposed authentication artifacts, not just resetting passwords
- Threat actor attribution: SpyCloud’s IDLink technology pivots across 25B+ monthly assets to connect exposed identities to known criminal personas without manual research
CTI in practice: from indicator to action
When SpyCloud recaptures stolen identity data from the criminal underground, security teams receive not just a notification – they receive automated credential resets, session cookie invalidation, and the contextual enrichment needed to determine whether an active attack is already underway. This shifts the CTI function from a monitoring discipline to a prevention mechanism. For teams investigating specific threat actors or campaigns, SpyCloud Cybercrime Investigations provides the identity-level data needed to attribute, pivot, and act.
SpyCloud’s identity intelligence closes the gap that traditional CTI leaves open: the window between when credentials are stolen and when defenders know about it. The 2026 Annual Identity Exposure Report documents that this window is measured in days – not months – for organizations with active darknet monitoring.
For a full breakdown of how exposed identities are being weaponized across industries, see the 2026 Annual Identity Exposure Report.
How to implement cyber threat intelligence into a cybersecurity program
There are six key steps in implementing cyber threat intelligence into your cybersecurity program:
- Identify objectives: Determine the specific goals and objectives of integrating cyber threat intelligence.
- Select sources: Choose reliable sources of threat intelligence.
- Analyze data: Utilize tools and technologies to analyze and interpret data.
- Disseminate information: Share intelligence insights with relevant stakeholders.
- Take action: Implement measures to mitigate identified threats and vulnerabilities.
- Review and improve: Continuously assess the effectiveness of cyber threat intelligence and make necessary improvements.
See What's Exposed
SpyCloud recaptures stolen credentials, session cookies, and infostealer malware data from the criminal underground, often within days of a breach or infection.
See what data tied to your domain is already in criminal hands.
How SpyCloud helps organizations gain insights into cyber threat intelligence
SpyCloud provides a modern cyber threat intelligence approach that continuously makes raw data from the darknet actionable at a massive scale. SpyCloud swiftly recaptures exposed identity data, offering enterprises automated insights and remediation for compromised credentials, PII, and session cookies of malware victims, data breaches and success phishing attacks. This timely holistic identity intelligence empowers organizations to bolster their defenses, preemptively mitigating the risks of account takeover, identity theft, and online fraud before criminals can exploit the stolen data.
Curated digital identity data recaptured from the criminal underground also delivers valuable perspective into threat actors’ identities, behavior, campaigns, infrastructure, and patterns of life – streamlining CTI teams’ and analysts’ efforts to investigate the actors behind cybercrimes affecting individuals and businesses.
The difference between cyber threat intelligence and SpyCloud’s holistic identity intelligence
Cyber threat intelligence mainly gathers commoditized publicly available data and information to be used in threat hunting. It delivers broad context about the threat landscape, but is less focused on specific, actionable information to stop threats to a particular enterprise and its users.
SpyCloud’s approach to holistic identity intelligence offers a correlated view of exposed identity – past and present – that pose a high risk to enterprises and typically go unseen by traditional threat intelligence. With continuous delivery of actionable data from the deepest layers of the dark web, SpyCloud provides the most up-to-date and diverse set of recaptured identity artifacts that criminals are using to target your business today via account takeover, ransomware, session hijacking, and other attacks.
According to SpyCloud, today’s attackers are not breaking in – they are logging in. Credentials and session cookies stolen via infostealer malware, data breaches, and phishing attacks are the primary fuel for account takeover, ransomware, and session hijacking. Traditional CTI feeds capture very little of this data because it circulates in closed criminal markets that require human intelligence networks to access.
FAQs
- Platform: A comprehensive system that provides tools and features for collecting, analyzing, and managing cyber threat intelligence
- Solution: Specific tools or services designed to address particular aspects of cyber threat intelligence, such as analysis or dissemination for security professionals to help determine threat attribution
- Feed: A stream of real-time data related to cyber threats, often provided by third-party sources.
Cyber threat intelligence (CTI) covers threat actor behavior, attack infrastructure, and indicators of compromise like malicious IPs and file hashes. Identity intelligence is a specialized subset focused on exposed authentication data – stolen credentials, session cookies, and PII captured from infostealer malware, data breaches, and phishing attacks. While CTI tells you that an attack is possible, identity intelligence tells you that your specific users are already compromised and what data the attacker has in hand. SpyCloud’s identity intelligence operationalizes darknet data that traditional CTI feeds cannot access, providing automated remediation rather than alerts alone.
Ransomware campaigns almost always begin with an initial access event – typically a compromised credential or stolen session cookie from a previous breach or infostealer infection. CTI that surfaces these exposed credentials before they are weaponized gives security teams a window to force password resets, revoke active sessions, and isolate potentially compromised endpoints. SpyCloud’s 2026 Annual Identity Exposure Report found that 54% of ransomware victims had their credentials present in infostealer logs prior to the attack – meaning early identity intelligence-driven remediation can directly interrupt the ransomware kill chain.