A Comparative Study on Cyber Threat Intelligence: The Security Incident Response Perspective

Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) is threat information intended for security purposes. However, use for incident response demands standardization. This study examines the broader security incident response perspective. Introducing 18 core concepts, we assist efforts to establish and assess current standardization approaches. We further provide the reader with a detailed analysis of 6 incident response formats. While we synthesize structural elements, we point to characteristics and show format deficiencies. Also, we describe how core concepts can be used to determine a suitable format for a given use case. Our surveys’ findings indicate a consistent focus on incident response actions within all formats. Besides, playbooks are used to represent procedures. Different use cases suggest that organizations can leverage and combine multiple formats. Finally, we discuss open research challenges to fully realize incident response potentials.