Breaking 5 Misconceptions of Threat Intelligence Blocklists

Blocklists and firewalls have a long history together. However, many Security Operations teams shy away from tools like blocklists because they are often perceived as complex and risky. But did you know that CrowdSec has revolutionized this with an effortless and risk-free way to deploy threat intelligence blocklists? 

Allow me to break the blocklist misconceptions and show you why intelligence blocklists can, in fact, be a game-changer for your security strategy.

Misconception 1: It’s risky

One of the standout benefits of threat intelligence blocklists is the ability to feed a firewall rule that you turn on log only mode. This means you can test the quality of the data without any risk. By monitoring the logs, you can evaluate how well the blocklist performs and ensure that it doesn’t inadvertently block legitimate traffic. 

Not to mention that during the evaluation period, you can check the details of flagged IPs in our CTI to get further insight and be 100% sure that an IP is malicious and needs to be remediated. This risk-free testing phase allows you to build confidence in the blocklist’s accuracy before fully implementing it in blocking mode.

Testing the blocklist will not break anything, and you will be able to measure the benefits instantly. If only all security products could do that!

Misconception 2: It’s not relevant

Granted, most intelligence blocklists out there are created using uncurated, third-party data. But not all blocklists are the same! CrowdSec takes data accuracy very seriously. Our intelligence blocklists are meticulously curated to ensure zero false positives, a critical factor for maintaining smooth operations. Here’s CrowdSec’s top-secret sauce:

• Real-time updates: CrowdSec blocklists are updated in real time, ensuring that you are always protected against the latest threats and never served stale information.
• Crowd-powered intelligence: With data from over 70,000 users worldwide, CrowdSec’s blocklists are built on a vast and diverse pool of threat intelligence.
• Advanced data protection: The blocklists are safeguarded against data poisoning through sophisticated validation methods, ensuring the highest quality and reliability.

An IP address is never in a CrowdSec blocklist by chance. Behind this IP, some bad actors are operating at this very moment and have been reported by multiple users. As soon as they stop, their IP will quickly disappear from the blocklist.

Misconception 3: It’s useless

Deploying these blocklists isn’t just about enhanced security — it’s also about financial diligence. Here’s why integrating the CrowdSec blocklists delivers substantial ROI:

1. Overall cost saving: Blocking malicious traffic reduces server load and cloud egress costs, allowing more resources to be allocated to legitimate users.
2. Reduced incident response costs: With fewer security alerts, your SOC can focus on more critical tasks, lowering the overall cost of incident management.
3. Minimized downtime: Proactively blocking threats prevents data breaches and reduces downtime, ensuring your services remain reliable and available.
4. Improved performance: Less malicious traffic means better performance for your infrastructure, providing a smoother experience for users.

This is not a side effect. Our threat intelligence blocklists provide immediate benefits, including an 80% reduction in security alerts. I guarantee you — that this immediate impact, coupled with long-term savings and efficiency gains, makes adopting the CrowdSec blocklists a strategic move for any organization. Threat intelligence blocklists are real force multipliers for your security teams and your CFO will love them!

Misconception 4: It’s too expensive

We know the value of our data. Above all, we know the benefits you’ll derive from it, the cost of a cyber attack, and the cost savings of optimizing the performance of your SOC and servers. 

Nevertheless, we want our data to be accessible to everyone, which is why we have adopted a very competitive pricing strategy. Contact us, and we will most definitely find a plan that works for you and your team.

Misconception 5: It is difficult to deploy

Deploying threat intelligence blocklists might seem like a hassle, but what if I told you that we have a solution to that too? You can integrate the CrowdSec blocklists into your existing infrastructure without any configuration changes. 

1. Log in to the CrowdSec Console
2. Subscribe to the Blocklist you need from a variety of tailored blocklists
3. Grab your URL and set up authentification to obtain the necessary credentials for the selected blocklist
4. Integrate the blocklist as an automated rule in your firewall or CDN

By streamlining this process, we wanted to ensure that you can boost your defenses quickly and efficiently in a matter of minutes!

That is all, folks

I hope that by now, I have helped clear out the air a bit and broken some of your misconceptions about the usefulness of threat intelligence blocklists. It’s really so simple and risk-free to implement threat intelligence blocklists into your security infrastructure. CrowdSec’s ultra-curated, real-time updated blocklists ensure zero false positives and deliver significant ROI. With the ability to test in “log only” mode, you can confidently integrate these blocklists into your existing systems.

Simplify your security, enhance your protection, and get instant ROI with the CrowdSec Blocklists and take the first step towards a more efficient approach to cybersecurity.

Bonus round!

In case you missed it, we recently announced our unconditional support for fellow French organizations that face increased security risks as France prepares for the peak in cybercrime expected during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. To help French organizations defend against this surge in cyber threats, we provide free access to our ultra-curated threat intelligence blocklist. 

The blocklist can be integrated into any firewall in minutes without any required changes to existing infrastructure. It contains thousands of the most aggressive IPs specifically targeting French entities. This proactive measure aims to safeguard French interests and reduce the volume of alarms in SOC by up to 80%, as the most aggressive IPs are also responsible for generating the majority of alerts. The CrowdSec Paris 2024 Intelligence Blocklist will remain free for all organizations, and it will be continuously updated throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Games and you can access it directly from the CrowdSec Console. 

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