Improve Phishing Incident Responses with Cofense´s Phishing Intelligence
Cofense´s phishing intelligence reports enable IT security teams to better protect their networks, data, and employees against phishing threats by providing human-verified and contextualized information that can be used in order to improve phishing incident response and prevent malware infections and ransomware attacks.
There is an old English proverb that states being forewarned is being forearmed. The proverb is believed to have originated in the 16th century, and five hundred years later it is still relevant – especially in the world of cybersecurity, where having advance knowledge of potential phishing threats enables IT security teams to better defend organizations against an attack.
However, there is a big difference between being advised a phishing attack may be launched in the near future and knowing what format the phishing attack will take. Cofense’s phishing intelligence reports better protect organizations against malware and ransomware because they provide insights into what methods attackers are using to circumnavigate security technologies.
How Cofense Collects Such Detailed Phishing Threat Intelligence
The Cofense platform is used by organizations all over the world for conditioning employees to identify potential phishing attempts and report them. Once reported, our Triage program sorts genuine threats from false positives so that IT security teams can act faster and quarantine phishing emails across the organization, or respond more effectively to opened phishing emails to mitigate the consequences.
The data collected by Cofense Triage – from millions of messages received daily from a wide variety of sources – is analyzed to identify new and emerging phishing threats that attempt to skim credentials, install malware, or lock data with ransomware.. Our team of human analysts verify phishing threats and, as soon as they are confirmed, issue phishing intelligence reports to IT security teams subscribed to our service.
Phishing intelligence reports are distributed as easily-digestible email alerts or as Machine-Readable Threat Intelligence (MRTI) reports that integrate automatically with third-party threat intelligence programs such as PaloAlto Networks, Threat Connect, Splunk, Centripetal Networks, etc. due to technical partnerships with these platforms and other Security Information and Event Management applications.
The degree of phishing threat intelligence provided includes compromised IP addresses, URLs, domains, and hashes. Where applicable, intelligence about botnet and command and control infrastructures is also provided, as are correlations between phishing emails, malware families, payload sites and command and control servers. With this information, IT security teams can act quickly and confidently to make well-informed security decisions.
Actionable Phishing Threat Intelligence Where You Need It
The faster your team can be armed with critical knowledge about an attack, the faster they can minimize the threat. That’s why Cofense Intelligence delivers phishing-specific threats to help you defend your network. Learn More
What Difference Does Phishing Intelligence Make?
It is difficult to quantify the difference Cofense’s phishing intelligence reports make because most organizations use this service in tandem with other Cofense services. However, research indicates employee conditioning decreases susceptibility to phishing emails by 97.14%1. Furthermore, with a greater number of suspicious emails being reported, a greater number of phishing threats are mitigated.
It was mentioned at the beginning of this article that being forewarned is being forearmed. Therefore, if IT security teams improve phishing incident responses and are prepared (due to phishing intelligence) to quarantine known phishing emails as they arrive – and before they are delivered to employees inboxes – there is no opportunity to measure how many phishing emails may have been opened and what the consequences may have been.
Tackle Phishing Threats Proactively with Cofense
Our dedicated team of analysts focuses on one thing only – evaluating crowdsourced threats, identifying trends, and alerting organizations to phishing attacks so that in-house IT security teams can tackle phishing threats proactively rather than reactively. This level of service is why Cofense is the leading provider of phishing intelligence and one that more than half of the Fortune 100 trusts to enhance their network security.
As briefly explained above, Cofense’s phishing intelligence service is only part of the full picture. Our multi-level platform combines best-in-class technology with the human instinct to create a cycle of unparalleled vigilance and response – or, in other words, a complete collective defense against email-based cyberattacks. To find out how you can tackle phishing threats proactively with Cofense, do not hesitate to contact us.
1. 2016 Phishing Susceptibility Report (https://cofense.com/whitepaper/enterprise-phishing-susceptibility-report/)