Cisco FirePOWER: Cisco Talos Threat Intelligence

Here are the most important terms and acronyms you’ll encounter when exploring Cisco Firepower and Cisco Talos Threat Intelligence:

• Cisco Firepower: Cisco’s next-generation firewall and intrusion prevention system that delivers advanced threat protection and deep network visibility.
• Cisco Talos: The global threat intelligence and research team at Cisco, responsible for detecting, analyzing, and disseminating information about emerging cybersecurity threats.
• Threat Intelligence: Context-rich data and analysis concerning cyber threats, threat actors, vulnerabilities, and attack methods.
• IoC (Indicator of Compromise): Evidence of a potential security incident, such as suspicious IP addresses, file hashes, domains, or network traffic anomalies.
• AMP (Advanced Malware Protection): Cisco’s security solution that leverages real-time threat intelligence to detect and block malware quickly.
• TTD (Time to Detect): The elapsed time between when a threat enters an environment and when it’s detected by security systems.

Cisco Talos organizes cyber threats into well-defined categories to help organizations understand risks and implement effective defenses. Here are the main threat categories tracked by Cisco Talos:

• Malware: Malicious software designed to disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorized access to computers, networks, or data. Examples include viruses, worms, ransomware, trojans, and spyware.
• Phishing: Deceptive techniques aimed at tricking individuals into disclosing sensitive information, such as login credentials or financial details, often via fraudulent emails or websites.
• Advanced Persistent Threat (APT): Sustained and targeted cyberattacks, typically orchestrated by well-funded and skilled adversaries, focused on stealing data or disrupting operations over extended periods.
• Botnet: A network of compromised computers and devices remotely controlled by malicious actors, often used to carry out coordinated attacks like DDoS or mass spam campaigns.
• Exploit: Code, scripts, or techniques that take advantage of vulnerabilities in systems or applications to facilitate unauthorized actions.
• Command and Control (C2): Communication channels used by attackers to maintain persistent control over compromised devices and manage malicious operations remotely.

These are the core components you’ll typically configure when setting up Cisco Firepower to leverage Cisco Talos Threat Intelligence for advanced protection:

• Access Control Policies: Rules that determine what network traffic is permitted or denied. They act as the primary security gatekeepers, specifying which sources, destinations, and applications are allowed.
• Security Intelligence Feeds: Automated threat feeds—often powered by Cisco Talos—used to proactively block connections to known malicious IP addresses, domains, or URLs based on the latest threat research.
• Network Analysis Policies: Settings that control how network traffic is inspected for suspicious activities or threats. This includes traffic pre-processing and defining which protocols and file types get extra scrutiny.
• Device Management: The process of adding, configuring, and maintaining Firepower appliances and sensors. Enables centralized management, software updates, and continuous policy enforcement.
• Intrusion Policies: Rulesets that detect and block known and unknown attacks by inspecting network streams for exploit attempts and malicious payloads.
• Logging and Reporting: Configurable mechanisms to capture, store, and analyze security events. These help track incidents, demonstrate compliance, and improve overall security posture.

Cisco Talos delivers world-class threat intelligence and security services designed to help organizations anticipate, detect, and respond to cyber threats more effectively. Here’s an overview of their core offerings:

• Comprehensive Threat Intelligence: Talos provides global, real-time insights into emerging threats—leveraging advanced AI and machine learning to process large datasets and deliver actionable intelligence across the Cisco security portfolio.
• Malware Defense: Multilayered protection that uses behavioral analysis, file reputation, and sandboxing to detect and block known and unknown malware, including zero-day threats.
• Email Security: Ray-layered protection that filters out malicious emails, prevents phishing, and blocks business email compromise attempts using sender reputation, URL scanning, and AI-based detection.
• Web Security: DNS and web filtering capabilities that block access to harmful domains and prevent malware downloads, phishing, and C2 communications at the network edge.
• Network Intrusion Prevention: Real-time detection and automated response to network-based attacks using deep packet inspection, signature-based, anomaly-based, and machine learning-driven threat detection.
• Incident Response & Proactive Services: Services that help organizations prepare for, investigate, and recover from cyber incidents. This includes creation of response playbooks, threat modeling, and direct support from experienced researchers and analysts.
• Integration & Automation: Threat intelligence is seamlessly integrated into Cisco’s security platforms, enabling automated defenses, rapid policy updates, and improved protection with less manual effort.

Together, these services empower organizations to stay ahead of evolving threats and optimize their security posture across endpoints, network, email, and cloud environments.

Cisco Firepower and Cisco Talos support deep inspection and enforcement for a wide range of common and specialized network protocols. Below is a sample list of the protocols commonly supported for network visibility, threat detection, and policy enforcement:

Note: For comprehensive and up-to-date protocol support details, consult the official Cisco Firepower or Cisco Talos documentation for your specific product version.