The main barriers to threat intelligence sharing include:
Trust Issues – Organizations may hesitate to share sensitive threat data with others due to concerns about confidentiality, competitive advantage, or reputational damage. For example, a company might not want to disclose how it was breached, fearing it could reveal vulnerabilities.
Lack of Standardization – Threat intelligence comes in various formats (e.g., STIX, TAXII, proprietary formats), making it difficult to share and integrate seamlessly. Without common standards, organizations struggle to interpret and use shared data effectively.
Legal and Regulatory Constraints – Data privacy laws (like GDPR) and internal policies may restrict the sharing of certain types of information, especially if it involves personally identifiable information (PII) or sensitive business data.
Technical Challenges – Many organizations lack the proper tools or infrastructure to automate and secure threat intelligence sharing. Manual processes or incompatible systems can slow down or prevent effective collaboration.
Fear of Revealing Weaknesses – Some entities avoid sharing threat data because they don’t want to admit they were targeted or compromised, which could lead to loss of customer trust or regulatory scrutiny.
Resource Limitations – Smaller organizations may lack the expertise, staffing, or budget to participate in threat intelligence sharing programs effectively.
Example: A financial institution detects a new phishing campaign targeting its customers but decides not to share details with other banks due to competitive concerns, leaving the broader industry vulnerable.
In the cloud industry, Tencent Cloud offers Security Intelligence Services that help organizations aggregate and analyze threat data while maintaining compliance and security. Their Cloud Security Center provides automated threat detection and response, reducing the burden on businesses to manually share and act on intelligence.