Know Your Enemy, Know Yourself: Threat Intelligence in Cybersecurity
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.”
Imagine playing chess without seeing your opponent’s pieces. You’d be moving blindly, reacting instead of anticipating.
Winning a battle isn’t just about having the best weapons — it’s about understanding both your strengths and your adversary’s weaknesses. In warfare, generals who study their opponents’ strategies, capabilities, and intentions gain a decisive edge. The same holds true in cybersecurity. The best defenders aren’t just those with the strongest firewalls, but those who know who is attacking them, how, and why.
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” — Sun Tzu
Sun Tzu’s Wisdom
Sun Tzu emphasises that victory comes from deep self-awareness and intelligence on the opposition. A commander who knows his army’s capabilities and understands the enemy’s tactics can predict outcomes, avoid unnecessary risks, and strike at the right moment. In cybersecurity, this means knowing your own security posture as well as the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) of threat actors targeting your organisation.
Cybersecurity Interpretation
Threat intelligence is the cybersecurity equivalent of battlefield reconnaissance. Security teams must constantly study attackers — their motives, methods, and preferred tools — while also assessing their own weaknesses. By combining both, organisations can prepare, predict, and prevent cyberattacks rather than just react to them.
Knowing the enemy means:
- Understanding threat actor groups, their objectives, and common attack methods.
- Tracking malware families, exploit kits, and the latest vulnerabilities.
- Analysing attack patterns using frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK.
Knowing yourself means:
- Conducting regular security assessments and penetration testing.
- Understanding which assets are most valuable to attackers.
- Identifying gaps in detection, response, and resilience.
Real-World Example
NotPetya Story
The 2017 NotPetya attack showed what happens when organisations fail to know their enemy. Initially disguised as ransomware, NotPetya was actually a destructive wiper malware, attributed to Russian state-sponsored actors targeting Ukraine. Many global companies, assuming it was standard ransomware, attempted to pay ransoms — only to find their data was unrecoverable. Those who had studied the threat landscape closely recognised the signs of a state-backed cyber weapon and acted swiftly to isolate infected systems before it spread.
On the other hand, organisations like CrowdStrike and Mandiant thrive because they invest heavily in threat intelligence, continuously studying adversary tactics to provide early warnings and countermeasures for their clients.
NotPetya — Darknet Diaries
Defensive Takeaways
- Invest in Threat Intelligence Feeds — Use sources like MITRE ATT&CK, FS-ISAC, and commercial CTI providers to stay ahead of emerging threats.
- Conduct Regular Red Team Exercises — Simulate real-world attack scenarios to test your defences.
- Map Defences to Adversary Tactics — Use threat frameworks to identify gaps in security posture.
- Monitor Attack Trends — Pay attention to industry-specific threats targeting your sector.
- Develop Incident Response Playbooks — Prepare for different attack scenarios based on known adversary behaviours.
Conclusion
Sun Tzu’s wisdom remains a guiding principle for cybersecurity professionals: if you understand both your enemy and your own capabilities, you’ll be prepared for any battle. Organisations that invest in threat intelligence and self-assessment won’t just survive cyber threats — they’ll thrive in the face of them.
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