What is Threat Intelligence?
Key takeaways
- Threat intelligence turns data into insight. It transforms raw, unstructured threat data into actionable knowledge—revealing the “who, what, why, and how” behind attacks.
- Automation drives speed and scale. The threat intelligence lifecycle—collection, processing, analysis, and feedback—relies on automation to deliver real-time context across millions of sources.
- Recorded Future makes intelligence operational. Its Intelligence Cloud and proprietary Intelligence Graph deliver finished intelligence tailored to every security role, from the CISO to the SOC analyst.
Introduction
Security teams today are drowning in alerts, telemetry, and log data—but not in context. Analysts face thousands of notifications a day, yet lack the insight to know which ones truly matter. More data doesn’t mean better defense; what’s missing is intelligence—information that’s collected, processed, and analyzed to provide actionable understanding.
Data vs. Intelligence
- Data: Raw, unorganized facts—like IP addresses, file hashes, or URLs—without context or prioritization.
- Intelligence: Data that’s been collected, analyzed, and enriched to answer who is attacking, what their methods are, and why your organization might be a target.
Definition
Threat intelligence is evidence-based knowledge about an existing or emerging threat or hazard. It provides the critical context—the “who,” “what,” “why,” “where,” and “how”—behind an attack, enabling security teams to make faster, more effective decisions.
By converting raw information into meaningful insight, threat intelligence helps organizations evolve from reacting to alerts to anticipating threats and proactively defending against them.
In this article, we’ll break down how threat intelligence is produced (the lifecycle), what types of intelligence exist, who uses it, and how Recorded Future delivers it at scale.
The Threat Intelligence Lifecycle
Threat intelligence isn’t a single report—it’s the outcome of a structured, continuous process that transforms raw data into finished intelligence. The six key stages of this lifecycle are:
Planning / Direction
Define your intelligence requirements: What needs protection? Who are the likely adversaries? What do we need to know to defend ourselves?
A clear plan ensures that collection and analysis focus on the organization’s most important risks and assets.
Collection
Gather raw data from a vast range of sources, including technical feeds, internal telemetry, the open web, social media, government databases, and the dark web.
Processing
Organize and normalize the collected data—filtering noise, de-duplicating entries, translating foreign-language posts, and structuring information into usable formats.
Analysis
Connect the dots. Analysts (and AI models) identify patterns, attribute activity to threat actors, and determine intent. For example, analysis might reveal that multiple phishing domains and malware samples belong to one coordinated campaign.
This stage turns data into intelligence—providing assessments like “This IP belongs to a ransomware operator targeting the finance sector.”
Dissemination
Deliver intelligence to the right audience in the right format:
- CISOs get executive summaries of emerging risks.
- SOCs and IR teams receive machine-readable indicators of compromise (IoCs) or reports integrated into SIEM and SOAR tools.
- Threat hunters get adversary TTP profiles.
Feedback
Stakeholders evaluate what worked and what didn’t. Their input refines future requirements, closing the loop.
Throughout the lifecycle, automation ensures the process runs continuously and at scale. Recorded Future’s threat intelligence platform automates collection, enrichment, and analysis—delivering finished intelligence in real time.
The types of Threat Intelligence
Threat intelligence is not one-size-fits-all, and it’s not all created equal. It’s tailored by audience and purpose, typically grouped into four categories:
Type
Audience
Purpose
What It Answers
Why It Matters
“Who is targeting our industry and why?”
“What geopolitical or economic factors drive risk?”
“Where should we invest long-term?”
“What TTPs (tactics, techniques, and procedures) are they using?”
“What infrastructure supports their attacks?”
“What indicators of compromise (IoCs) should we watch for?”
“What IPs or hashes should we block?”
Each intelligence type aligns with specific security functions—from high-level strategy to day-to-day detection. Together, they ensure every team—from the boardroom to the SOC—operates from the same intelligence foundation.
How Recorded Future delivers intelligence at scale
Recorded Future is about much more than a data feed—it delivers real-time, finished intelligence through its Intelligence Cloud, which automates every phase of the intelligence lifecycle.
Automating the Lifecycle
The platform continuously collects, processes, and analyzes data from the broadest set of open, dark, and technical sources on the web. Automation and machine learning transform this data into actionable insight, surfacing relevant intelligence the moment new threats emerge.
For instance, if a phishing domain targeting your brand appears, Recorded Future can identify it, assess its risk, and alert your team within minutes—long before an attacker can act.
The Intelligence Graph
At the core of the Intelligence Cloud is Recorded Future’s proprietary Intelligence Graph—a constantly updated map connecting billions of entities: threat actors, malware families, TTPs, vulnerabilities, and more.
When a suspicious IP or hash is detected, the Intelligence Graph instantly shows how it links to known infrastructure or campaigns, giving analysts immediate context and confidence in decision-making.
Intelligence for Everyone
Recorded Future delivers intelligence purpose-built for all roles:
- Strategic dashboards and reports for CISOs.
- Operational insights like real-time vulnerability risk scores.
- Tactical/Technical IoC feeds and alerts for SOCs and automated defenses.
This multi-layered approach ensures that every team—from the boardroom to the analyst console—operates from a shared, current understanding of the threat landscape.
Making Your Tools Smarter
Recorded Future integrates seamlessly with your existing security stack, including SIEM, SOAR, EDR, and beyond. It enriches alerts with context, automatically triggers playbooks, and enhances detection precision.
By feeding threat intelligence directly into these systems, Recorded Future transforms existing tools into intelligent, adaptive defenses.
From Data Overload to Intelligence-Led Security
In cybersecurity, acting without intelligence is like flying blind—data is everywhere, but understanding is scarce. Threat intelligence gives organizations the clarity to focus on what truly matters.
With a mature, intelligence-led approach, organizations move from reactive defense (responding only after incidents) to proactive and predictive security. Intelligence provides early warning of threats, sharper prioritization of alerts, and a unified view of adversary behavior.
Recorded Future’s real-time, automated intelligence empowers organizations to outpace attackers, not just keep up with them. By turning noise into knowledge and data into decisions, threat intelligence becomes the foundation of modern cybersecurity.
Ready to accelerate your security operations with threat intelligence automation? Reach out for a demo or trial to experience how real-time threat intelligence automation can make all the difference in protecting your business.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is threat intelligence?
Threat intelligence (aka cyber threat intelligence) is actionable knowledge about an existing or emerging cyber threat. It provides critical context—the "who," "what," "why," and "how" that allows security teams to make faster, more informed decisions and move from a reactive to a proactive security posture.
What's the difference between threat data and threat intelligence?
This is a critical distinction. Threat data is a raw, unorganized stream of facts, like a list of IP addresses or file hashes. By itself, it has no context and isn't actionable. Threat intelligence is what you get after that data has been collected, processed, and analyzed to provide relevant context.
What are the main types of threat intelligence?
Threat intelligence can be broken down into three categories:
- Strategic: High-level insights for leadership on the threat landscape and associated business risks.
- Operational: Context on threat actors, detailing their TTPs (Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures) for security managers and threat hunters.
- Tactical: Specific Indicators of Compromise (IoCs) for SOC analysts and security tools used to block immediate threats.
What is the threat intelligence lifecycle?
The threat intelligence lifecycle is the six-step process used to convert raw data into finished, usable intelligence:
- Planning/Direction: Defining the goals and questions that need to be answered.
- Collection: Gathering the raw data from diverse sources.
- Processing: Organizing and formatting the collected data.
- Analysis: Connecting the dots to find patterns, attribute threats, and create insights.
- Dissemination: Delivering the finished intelligence to the right stakeholders.
- Feedback: Using input from stakeholders to refine the entire process.
How do security teams use threat intelligence?
Threat intelligence is used by nearly every security function:
- Security Operations: To prioritize alerts and enrich event data in the SIEM.
- Incident Response: To understand the scope of a breach and attribute the attack.
- Vulnerability Management: To prioritize which vulnerabilities to patch first based on real-world exploitation.
- Security Leadership: To justify security investments and communicate risk to the board.
What are TTPs and IoCs in threat intelligence?
- IoCs (Indicators of Compromise): These are the tactical, "what" of an attack. They are the artifacts or evidence left behind, such as malicious file hashes, IP addresses, or domain names. They are often short-lived.
- TTPs (Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures): This is the operational, "how" of an attack. They describe the behavior of a threat actor. TTPs are much more durable than IoCs and provide more valuable, long-term intelligence for defense.