Spotlight: Making the Most of Cyber Threat Intelligence with Itsik Kesler of KELA

In this Spotlight episode of the Security Ledger podcast, I interview Itsik Kesler, the CTO of the threat intelligence firm Kela about the evolution of threat intelligence and findings from the company’s latest State of Cybercrime Threat Intelligence report. [MP3] | [Transcript] In the last decade, so-called “cybercrime threat intelligence” has gone from being the specialty of three letter intelligence agencies to a standard part of many enterprise security portfolios. With threats online proliferating and with a thriving cybercriminal underground, organizations that care about security need an ear to the ground in cybercriminal forums and dark markets, where stolen data, access credentials and more are traded. Itsik Kesler, CTO of KELA Properly integrated into a cyber response program, cybercrime threat intelligence can give firms early warning about security breaches and alert them to the theft of sensitive data or the compromise of an employee account. It can even tip off firms about attacks that are still in the planning stage – not simply narrowing the “window of compromise” but slamming it shut. Connecting The Dots: The Kremlin’s Links to Cyber Crime Despite that, operationalizing the kinds of information that cybercrime threat intelligence firms provide is easier said than done, as a recent survey by the firm KELA shows. That company’s State of Cybercrime Threat Intelligence Report for 2022 surveyed 400 IT pros and revealed ongoing concerns about the risk of corporate information turning up on cybercrime forums, but also concerns about visibility into that risk, and a lack of clear policies within organizations to handle cybercrime threat intelligence.  What’s the Future of Detection Teams? Five Predictions for What Lies Ahead  In this Spotlight podcast, I speak with Itsik Kesler, the CTO of Kayla about the new report and about the challenges organizations face as they look to leverage cybercrime threat intelligence as part of their security operations. Transcript Itsik Kesler (Kela): I’m Itsik and I’m the CTO at Kela Paul Roberts (Security Ledger): itsik, welcome to the Security Ledger podcast. Itsik Kesler (Kela): Thank you Paul. Great to be here. Thanks for having me. Paul Roberts (Security Ledger): Okay. So for our listeners who are not familiar with Kela, tell us a little bit about your company, where your C T O and what Kela does. Itsik Kesler (Kela): Sure. So Kela is a threat intelligence company focused on providing actionable intelligence. We specialize in this cyber grime on the ground. with the goal of digital crime. To support it. We have to know,