Threat actor landscape: what every CISO must know to stay ahead
Without threat intelligence, your defenses are guesses
· TechRadarOpinion By Lane Sullivan published 19 December 2025
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Now in 2H 2025, the cybersecurity landscape is not just active; it’s industry-specialized and precision-targeted. Sophisticated threat actors no longer take a “spray-and-pray” approach.
Instead, they study your sector, exploit your business model, and even train their malware to mimic your workflows.
Lane Sullivan
Chief Information Security and Strategy Officer, Concentric.ai.
To outpace attackers, CISOs must understand who is targeting their industry, how they're doing it, and why – and then convert that knowledge into action through a robust threat intelligence program (TIP).
Without threat intelligence, your defenses are based on guesswork. Threat actors know your industry, your environment, and your users. Your defenses should know them too.
The Essential Threat Intelligence Program (TIP)
A mature threat intelligence capability isn’t just about collecting feeds—it’s about translating threat data into actionable defenses. With a modern program, you can:
- Identify threat actors and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) targeting your industry with high fidelity.
- Use frameworks like MITRE ATT&CK to reduce risk.
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