Lt. Col. Sushil Pradhan (R)
Executive Director and COO, MitKat Advisory, Certified Data Centre Professional
Co-authors
Introduction
Amid an evolving global environment characterized by socio-political turbulence, economic changes, supply chain disruptions, and climate change, businesses face various risks that threaten their operational capability. The need to continuously monitor relevant events and threat indicators has emerged to mitigate these risks promptly and effectively.
Corporate threat intelligence is an essential tool to this end. It emphasizes proactive identification and mitigation of risks and enables timely reactions. Risks can be generated by regulatory changes, economic sanctions, upcoming civil unrest, extremism, terrorism, political changes etc. Modern threat intelligence integrates the capabilities of artificial intelligence (AI) and human analytical capabilities to address these issues. AI processes vast amounts of information and datasets through various sources like social media, open-source intelligence (OSINT), and government sources. In parallel, human analytical skill complements AI by interpreting, analyzing and contextualizing filtered information, and presenting it in the form of actionable intelligence that can enable viable options for decision-making.
Corporate Threat Intelligence
Today’s interconnected world features a dynamic and unpredictable operational environment. Dimensions like domestic politics, international relations, technological advancements, and civil unrest come into play, affecting a business environment. To adapt to these changes, corporations and businesses need a robust threat intelligence system to track, monitor, and manage these risks.
Corporate threat intelligence has evolved beyond cybersecurity and now includes climate change, governance, political and economic stability, as well as regulatory policies. Businesses, especially MNCs, face diverse political and economic landscapes that pose adaptability issues as well as operational interruptions. Regime changes, sudden tariffs or sanctions, and regional conflicts are common in sensitive regions and impact business operations.
For example, Houthis attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea region has previously impacted the maritime trade route, adding to transportation and logistics costs. Corporate threat intelligence assists businesses in tracking and monitoring such events, thereby enabling effective risk mitigation strategies.
Role of Artificial Intelligence in Threat Intelligence
Productive threat analysis is an outcome of deciphering a vast amount of information within a specified timeframe. AI helps declutter irrelevant information, reduce noise, and provide relevant data. Threat intelligence traditionally relies on human analysts who used to surf the web, aggregate OSINT and analyze data manually. This approach was useful in providing depth and conceptual understanding but is labor-intensive and cannot keep up with the pace of the changing operational environment. The introduction of AI has provided a credible counter to these challenges. AI enables automated data collection and curation at an incredible speed.
Synergizing Artificial Intelligence and Human Analysis
Furthermore, AI also features 24/7 monitoring of relevant events, pattern and trend recognition, and regulatory compliance. AI’s integration with mass notification tools provides real-time updates, which nearly simultaneously enhances organizational awareness. For example, in the case of protests, AI continuously monitors media and social media to look for patterns and possible anomalies. AI can then notify the organization regarding possible supply chain disruptions due to the blockage of national highways, roads, or railway tracks, informing speedy decision-making.
Role of Human Intelligence in Threat Intelligence
AI has indeed revolutionized threat intelligence with its scalability and speed in processing vast amounts of data in a short period, as well as pattern and trend recognition. However, the role of human analysts remains irreplaceable. The human element of threat intelligence adds cultural context, deeper understanding, and strategic insight. Human analysts can identify the root causes of an event through cultural and contextual understanding while AI provides relevant data.
AI excels at processing vast amounts of data and generating pattern analysis, which is difficult for a human analyst in the age of information overload. A human analyst focuses on building strategies and actionable steps to mitigate the risks based on the data provided by AI. For example, in case of a ransomware attack, AI will quickly identify the entry points and systems affected by the attack, while human analysts will focus on strategizing mitigation of the risk.
Despite these advancements, vulnerabilities exist, thus making human collaboration an integral part of corporate threat intelligence. An important shortfall of AI integration in threat intelligence is the spread of disinformation and misinformation, which can be eliminated with human involvement, which includes verification of sources, checking patterns and inconsistencies, and flagging of issues considered false. This helps to bring in authenticity, reliability, and conceptualization, overcoming the deficiencies of AI.
Future Applications
Future applications of AI in threat intelligence include advancements like dynamic risk mapping and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), which will assist businesses in exposing geopolitical and geographical vulnerabilities, leading to a better understanding of the region of interest. One of the most important features of AI is Natural Language Processing (NLP), which enhances the language and dialect understanding of AI. It will help businesses to understand contextual and localized dynamics on a deeper level. Upcoming AI advancements like scenario simulations and advanced sentiment analysis will provide a deeper understanding of public opinion, predict upcoming events, and simulate them to effectively mitigate the risk early on.
However, ethical concerns like data privacy and AI bias still cloud the capability of AI. Advancements like Explainable AI (XAI) can build transparency and trust, but the collaboration between AI and analysts will remain crucial, with humans contextualizing and conceptualizing information that AI refines through data made available to it.
Conclusion
Threat Intelligence has proved to be essential for businesses globally. Dynamically evolving operational environments necessitate innovative threat intelligence protection to safeguard critical assets, business operations, and reputation. AI has been a revolutionary part of corporate threat intelligence, and its scalability and speed have changed how we process the increasingly interconnected global risk landscape. AI has enabled real-time data analysis, pattern and trend recognition, sentiment analysis, and predictive modeling to identify risks early on.
The synergy between AI and humans creates a feedback loop that enhances the relevance and accuracy of solutions to upcoming risks. This paves the way for a hybrid model which will allow for more accurate information as well as the most actionable intelligence inputs for businesses globally.
