TLCTC

Top Level Cyber Threat Clusters

White Paper V1.6.1

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TLCTC Executive Briefing (White Paper Summary)

"The Top Level Cyber Threat Clusters (TLCTC) framework serves as a "Rosetta Stone" connecting strategic planning to operational security through logically-derived, non-overlapping threat categories. This fills a critical gap in current standards while complementing existing risk management approaches."

TLCTC: Delivering Value to Diverse Stakeholders

Strategic Leadership

Enhanced Strategic Decision-Making: CISOs and Executives gain a structured threat taxonomy for clearer risk prioritization and resource allocation.
Quantifiable Risk Management: Risk Managers can leverage TLCTC to integrate quantifiable metrics into FAIR or other risk models, improving risk assessments.
Improved Board-Level Communication: Boards receive a clear and concise framework for understanding cyber threats and overseeing cybersecurity strategy.
Stronger Cybersecurity Governance: Enables better alignment between strategic risk appetite and operational security execution, strengthening overall governance.

Security Operations & Technical Teams

Consistent Incident Classification: CSIRTs/CERTs gain a consistent and unambiguous taxonomy for classifying and responding to cyber incidents.
Enhanced MITRE Integration: MITRE ATT&CK and CWE users benefit from improved mapping and contextualization of techniques and weaknesses.
Streamlined Threat Intelligence Sharing (STIX): STIX users gain a standardized threat taxonomy for more effective threat intelligence exchange and analysis.
Precise Attack Path Analysis for SOCs: SOC analysts can leverage TLCTC for precise attack path analysis, improving threat detection and incident response.
Standardized Threat Intel Framework: Threat Intelligence teams benefit from a standardized analysis framework, enhancing the quality and actionability of threat intelligence.
Improved Vulnerability Prioritization (CVEs): CVE analysts can leverage TLCTC to add strategic context to vulnerability data, enabling better prioritization and remediation efforts.

Standards Bodies & Regulatory Agencies

Developing Clearer Threat Standards (NIST/ISO/CIS): Provides a robust foundation for NIST, ISO, CIS, and other standards bodies to develop clearer, more consistent threat standards.
Framework Harmonization (CISA/ENISA): Enables CISA, ENISA, and similar agencies to harmonize cybersecurity frameworks and improve interoperability.
Global Consistency for EU Agencies: Facilitates consistent threat understanding and reporting across EU agencies and member states, supporting EU-wide cybersecurity initiatives.
Enhanced National & International Coordination: Empowers national cyber security centers (NCSCs) and international bodies to coordinate threat intelligence sharing and incident response more effectively.

The 10 Top Level Cyber Threat Clusters

#1 Abuse of functions

#2 Exploiting Server

#3 Exploiting Client

#4 Identity Theft

#5 Man in the middle

#6 Flooding Attack

#7 Malware

#8 Physical Attack

#9 Social Engineering

#10 Supply Chain (Attack)

Date: 2025/03/20

Consensus conclusion from leading AI models including Anthropic: Claude (Sonnet 3.7, 3.7 extended) OpenAI: ChatGPT (4o, o1, o3-mini, o3-mini-high) Google: gemini-2.0-flash-thinking-exp-01-21, gemini-2.0-pro-exp-02-05 Mistral: Le Chat (Mistral Large Nov 24) deepseek: V3, DeepThink (R1) xAI: Grok 3, Grok 3 Think