The CISO’s View: Too Many Alerts, Too Little Context
Imagine a SOC analyst under pressure. Their screen is filled with IP addresses, malware hashes, geolocations, login alerts, and thousands of other signals. It’s a flood of noise. IOCs used to be the gold standard for cyber threat detection, but today? Attackers don’t need malware or flagged infrastructure – they just log in using valid credentials or stolen active session cookies.
In this evolving threat landscape, stolen identities – not compromised endpoints – are becoming the real front lines. CISOs and their teams are waking up to a new reality: effective threat detection must move beyond the technical and into the human layer.
- The Problem With Traditional Threat Intelligence
Indicators like IP addresses, file hashes, and domains are fleeting. Attackers rotate infrastructure constantly. Polymorphic malware shifts its signature to evade detection. A TOR exit node could belong to an innocent user. And even if you identify something suspicious – what’s next? Who is behind it? Where else have they been active?
Traditional threat intelligence might tell you what’s happening, but not who’s doing it – or how to stop them from coming back.
Identity-Centric Intelligence: A Shift in Strategy
Threats today look like normal logins. Stolen credentials from phishing kits, infostealer malware, or dark web marketplaces are used to impersonate real users. And because these credentials are valid, they often fly under the radar.
Here’s where identity-centric digital risk intelligence comes in. Instead of focusing on technical indicators alone, this approach tracks human and non-human entities:
- Has this email address appeared in multiple unrelated breach dumps?
- Is this password reused across high-risk services?
- Does this user show signs of being synthetic or impersonated?
A Real Threat Example: The Synthetic Insider
Consider a recent pattern: North Korean operatives applying for remote IT jobs in the West. These attackers used synthetic personas, AI-generated profile pictures, and stolen personal data to pass background checks. Once inside, they exfiltrated data for espionage and extortion.
Had identity intelligence been used in the hiring process—checking whether an applicant’s credentials appeared in breach datasets or were linked to known patterns of misuse—these synthetic insiders might have been caught earlier.
Looking Ahead: Identity Signals at the Core of Threat Detection
With identity at the center of detection, attribution, and response, organizations can:
- Prioritize alerts based on exposed identity risk posture
- Correlate credential leaks with actor behavior and infrastructure
- Detect credential misuse before access is granted
Want to understand how identity signals can protect your organization? Download The Identity Intelligence Playbook today.
