Intelligence-led EDR Enforcement
Intelligence-led EDR Enforcement is an advanced, proactive cybersecurity strategy in which the automated response actions of an Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) system are driven by continuous external threat intelligence. This approach allows the EDR to quickly and precisely contain threats, not just based on internal behavioral anomalies, but based on real-time knowledge of an adversary's tactics, infrastructure, and known compromises.
Core Principles
The strategy integrates external threat context with the EDR's internal visibility to ensure rapid and accurate response.
Contextualized Threat Detection: EDR systems continuously monitor and collect data from endpoints (such as processes, network connections, and file activity). This internal telemetry is correlated with external threat intelligence feeds, which provide details on active vulnerabilities, malicious IP addresses, known malware signatures, and attacker Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs). This correlation helps the EDR identify suspicious activities, known as Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) or Indicators of Attack (IOAs), that would otherwise be missed.
Automated, Rule-Based Response: The "enforcement" component involves pre-configured rules that automatically trigger actions when an event matches a high-confidence threat profile derived from the intelligence. These immediate, automated actions can include:
Containment: Automatically isolating a compromised endpoint from the network to stop the threat from spreading (lateral movement).
Blocking: Terminating malicious processes, quarantining suspicious files, or blocking traffic to known malicious IP addresses (IOCs provided by threat intelligence).
Remediation: Restoring damaged system configurations or files to a pre-infection state.
Prioritized Response: By leveraging threat intelligence context, the EDR solution can assign a specific risk score to an alert, helping security teams prioritize investigations and focus their efforts on the threats that truly matter, rather than chasing false positives.
Significance
Intelligence-led EDR Enforcement is crucial for defeating sophisticated, modern attacks such as zero-day exploits and Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), as it enables the defense to detect attacks based on behavior (TTPs) rather than just signatures (IOCs). By leveraging external intelligence, the defense becomes predictive, enabling the EDR to "shoulder surf" the adversary's activities in real time and stop the attack at its earliest stage.
ThreatNG significantly enables Intelligence-led EDR Enforcement by serving as the primary source of external, high-confidence threat intelligence. It provides the crucial outside-in perspective, quantifying risks such as exposed vulnerabilities and compromised human identities that an attacker would leverage to bypass defenses and execute malicious code on an endpoint.
ThreatNG's Contribution to EDR Intelligence
ThreatNG’s capabilities translate external exposure into an actionable context that a complementary EDR solution can use to prioritize alerts and automate containment actions.
External Discovery
ThreatNG's ability to perform purely external unauthenticated discovery using no connectors is foundational. This maps all externally visible assets and vulnerabilities that an attacker would target for Initial Access to implant code on an endpoint.
Example of ThreatNG Helping: An attacker's goal is to find an exposed server. ThreatNG discovers a forgotten Subdomain and maps the entire Technology Stack running on it. This allows the EDR to focus its monitoring on that specific endpoint if it becomes compromised, because ThreatNG has identified it as a high-risk external asset.
External Assessment
ThreatNG quantifies the external risks that drive EDR enforcement rules, turning generic vulnerabilities into prioritized threats.
Breach & Ransomware Susceptibility Security Rating (A-F): This rating is based on critical factors like Compromised Credentials, Exposed Ports, Private IPs, and Vulnerabilities on Subdomains.
Example in Detail (Technical TTPs): ThreatNG's assessment finds that a public-facing server is running software with a known Vulnerability and exposes the RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) Port. This finding is sent to the EDR as intelligence. If the EDR detects an unusual login attempt on that port, it can automatically trigger enforcement (e.g., isolating the endpoint) because external intelligence has confirmed the endpoint's severe exposure risk.
Example in Detail (Human TTPs): ThreatNG finds an employee’s credentials in the Compromised Credentials intelligence. The EDR uses this external signal. Suppose the EDR detects a login attempt by that user immediately followed by suspicious file execution. In that case, it elevates the alert severity and automates containment based on external evidence of a compromised identity.
Investigation Modules
ThreatNG's investigation tools provide the precise data needed for EDR threat hunting and forensic analysis.
Subdomain Intelligence: This module is critical for uncovering direct entry points, providing data on Exposed Ports and Known Vulnerabilities.
Example in Detail: An analyst uses this module to pinpoint a vulnerability on a Subdomain that is mapped to an internal IP. The finding is sent to the EDR's threat hunting team as an Indicator of Attack (IOA) to search for, rather than wait for an alert.
External Adversary View: This capability explicitly performs unauthenticated assessment to identify vulnerabilities in a manner an attacker would, and the findings directly map to MITRE ATT&CK techniques. This provides the TTP context essential for intelligence-led EDR behavioral analytics.
Intelligence Repositories (DarCache)
ThreatNG’s repositories provide the definitive, real-time threat data that dictates EDR enforcement actions.
Vulnerabilities (DarCache Vulnerability): This combines NVD (severity), KEV (active exploitation), and EPSS (likelihood of exploitation).
Example of ThreatNG Helping: ThreatNG discovers an exposed third-party technology on a server. Checking DarCache KEV confirms the vulnerability is actively being exploited in the wild. This external intelligence is pushed to the EDR, which can then automatically create a custom detection rule to block any process matching the known exploit's signature on all endpoints.
Compromised Credentials (DarCache Rupture): This repository is the source for real-time data on stolen passwords, a key external signal for EDR enforcement.
Continuous Monitoring
Continuous Monitoring of the external attack surface ensures that the EDR's intelligence remains current, preventing enforcement rules from becoming stale.
Example of ThreatNG Helping: A system administrator mistakenly opens a port (e.g., for Telnet) on a public server. Continuous monitoring instantly detects this new Exposed Port. This immediate alert is the fresh intelligence used to update the EDR's policy, allowing it to block all incoming traffic on that port until it's properly secured.
Complementary Solutions
ThreatNG's intelligence forms the precursor signal that triggers the automated response in other security platforms.
Cooperation with EDR and SOAR Platforms: ThreatNG's detection of a Known Vulnerability, also listed in DarCache KEV, is sent as a high-confidence signal to a complementary SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) platform. The SOAR uses this intelligence to execute an automated playbook: it instantly commands the EDR solution to isolate the specific compromised endpoint. Also, it sends a block command to the Network Firewall for the associated external IP address, achieving rapid, intelligence-led containment.
Cooperation with Vulnerability Management Tools: A finding from ThreatNG's Subdomains intelligence that a server is running outdated, vulnerable software is sent to a complementary Vulnerability Management (VM) tool. The VM tool uses external, unauthenticated evidence from ThreatNG to bypass its internal scanning queue and prioritize remediation of the specific patch on the endpoint identified asexternally exposed.
