Threat intelligence was analyzed in a recent report by OPSWAT. Additionally, the findings reveal pain points, maturity levels and strategies adopted by organizations to manage the current threat landscape and how to prepare for future challenges.

Threat actors leverage malware as an initial foothold to infiltrate targeted infrastructures and move laterally to gain long-term access, cause damage or exfiltrate data and trade secrets. To combat these threats effectively, organizations rely on actionable threat intelligence gathered through sandboxes and advanced malware analysis technologies and processes. This proactive approach enables organizations to fortify their infrastructure defenses, enhance incident response capabilities and tailor security strategies based on specific threats they are likely to encounter.

Sixty-two percent of organizations recognize the need for additional investments in tools and processes to enhance their threat intelligence capabilities. Twenty-two percent have fully matured threat intelligence programs in place, with most indicating that they are only in the early stages or need to make additional investments in tools and processes. 

The survey reveals that organizations face common challenges, including detecting both known and unknown malware (68%), grappling with inadequate signature-based solutions (67%) and dealing with fragmented tools (54%).   

While 11% of respondents currently use AI for threat detection, 56% of security professionals indicated they are optimistic about the use of it in the future and 27% are skeptical. Additionally, approximately half of all participants noted that phishing URLs and email were among the top concerns for file type and delivery methods.

Read the full report here.