Risk prioritization in today’s evolving cyber threat landscape

In today’s hyperconnected world, every innovation, from cloud adoption and artificial intelligence to the proliferation of IoT and remote work, expands not only opportunities but also vulnerabilities. As organizations accelerate digital transformation, the traditional boundaries that once protected enterprise systems are dissolving, giving rise to a broader, more complex cyber threat landscape.

This has resulted in an increase in cyber threats and the associated cyber threat intelligence (CTI) being generated for organizations’ consumption. CTI contains information about threats and threat actors that help mitigate against malicious activity. Therefore, it is in the organization’s best interest to consider integrating CTI with the risk management process to enable the organization to take corrective actions based on risk prioritization. 

There are several practical challenges with this integration process because of the time-sensitive nature of the emerging threats. These challenges warrant a discussion around a more suitable approach under unprecedented circumstances when it comes to rethinking risk prioritization.

Why traditional risk prioritization falls short

Organizations use CTI information to mitigate any relevant vulnerabilities within their business environment prior to these being identified and targeted by threat actors.

CTI team should first identify any corresponding vulnerabilities within the business environment against the nature of the increased cyber threats. Then, the CTI team should inform the corresponding stakeholders (mostly Information Technology and Cybersecurity teams) to fix these vulnerabilities. However, organizations do not have unlimited resources or bandwidth and require some prioritization to fix those cyber threats that are critical and require immediate action. 

Organizations might already be using a risk-based prioritization for the cyber threats arising out of CTI. A risk-based approach to cybersecurity means that risk is above all other factors before making security-related decisions. This approach without considering the time-sensitive nature of these threats would not be very effective. Moreover, a risk-based prioritization with a time-sensitive approach would enable organizations to take risk-aware decisions in a timely manner. 

Integrating CTI into the cybersecurity risk management process

This risk prioritization should be implemented by integrating the threats arising from CTI into the cybersecurity risk management process. The cybersecurity risk management team should calculate the risk ratings (e.g., High, Medium and Low) for these threats based on their risk management framework (impact and likelihood statements). Refer to the matrix below for a sample risk prioritization matrix. Then, the cybersecurity risk management team should provide risk-based prioritization for these threats to the corresponding stakeholders. Finally, the stakeholders should take corrective action based on these risk ratings and their associated timelines. A risk-based approach to CTI would ensure effective prioritization of cyber threats and their corresponding mitigation efforts.

Figure 1: Sample Risk Prioritization Matrix

Possible challenges with this approach

However, there are several practical challenges while using a risk-based approach to prioritizing CTI. These are mainly due to the time-sensitive nature of these threats. Stakeholders need to take immediate action to mitigate these real-world threats, as threat actors (attackers) are continuously exploiting them.

However, the risk prioritization might unintentionally delay the process of corrective action, as a regular cybersecurity risk assessment should be performed for these threats. Hence, the stakeholders might need to wait until the issuance of the complete risk assessment report to initiate corrective actions. This unintentional delay could be considered critical and even unacceptable, given the time-sensitive nature of these threats.

These challenges are elaborated below:

• Cyber threats are time-sensitive that would require immediate action. 
• Risk prioritization of these threats will unintentionally delay the dissemination of critical information to relevant stakeholders.
• The CTI team should integrate all these threats with the organization’s internal cybersecurity risk management framework for risk prioritization.
• The risk management process might involve considerable turnover time based on the risk management team’s efficiency, bandwidth and capabilities.
• These threats should jump the risk assessment queue to take top priority because of its time-sensitive nature.
• The risk management team might have other high priority tasks that might take a back seat because of these threats.
• All these above factors will in turn unintentionally delay the mitigation efforts by stakeholders in a timely manner.

Recommendations for a more effective risk prioritization process

Though these challenges might appear daunting at first look, diligent evaluation of existing processes could provide some valuable solutions. There is no perfect solution for these practical challenges. However, some delicate changes to existing processes could result in an optimal and feasible solution. They are:

• Filter all the incoming cyber threat intelligence to identify relevant threats that might have an adverse impact on the organization.
• This process should drastically reduce the threats requiring risk prioritization. 
• Issue a flash or immediate requirements CTI report to all relevant stakeholders without risk prioritization.
• This report could include immediate next steps required (compensating controls like patch updates or configuration changes) to mitigate these risks as much as possible.
• This report should also include a timeline for an updated report with detailed risk prioritization of these threats.
• This should enable the stakeholders to take initial mitigation efforts promptly without waiting for risk prioritization.
• In addition, the stakeholders would get to know when to expect a detailed report with risk prioritization. This should enable them to plan accordingly.
• Customize the existing risk management process to provide high priority for cyber threats arising from CTI.
• Establish internal service level agreements for this customized process and obtain buy-in from relevant stakeholders.

With organizations receiving increased CTI about cyberattacks and the associated threats, it will require a method of prioritization for taking corrective actions.

Refer to State of the UAE Cybersecurity Report 2025 for the latest cyber threat intelligence. The current situation provides compelling reasons to review and enhance the integration of CTI with the cybersecurity risk management process with specific consideration given to the time-sensitive nature of these cyber threats. The above recommendations will be a great start for this enhanced integration process. Organizations can also speak with an external Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) consultant to manage this enhanced integration process.