TLCTC Blog - 2025/05/05

Visualizing Cyber Threats with TLCTC Radar: A Strategic Approach to Threat Intelligence

Introduction

In today's complex cybersecurity landscape, organizations face a critical challenge: how to effectively visualize, communicate, and prioritize the diverse array of cyber threats targeting their environments. The Top Level Cyber Threat Clusters (TLCTC) framework provides a powerful taxonomy for threat categorization, and now the TLCTC Radar tool offers an innovative visualization approach that bridges the gap between strategic risk management and operational security activities.

This article explores how the TLCTC Radar visualization tool enables organizations to gain clearer insights into their threat landscape through structured, consistent visualization of the ten distinct threat clusters across various domains.

Understanding the TLCTC Framework

Before diving into the visualization capabilities, it's essential to understand the foundational framework. The TLCTC framework identifies ten distinct threat clusters, each targeting a specific generic vulnerability:

Cluster Number Threat Cluster Description
1 Abuse of Functions An attacker abuses the logic or scope of existing, legitimate software functions, features, or configurations for malicious purposes.
2 Exploiting Server An attacker targets and leverages flaws originating directly within the server-side application's source code implementation.
3 Exploiting Client An attacker targets and leverages flaws originating directly within the source code implementation of any software acting in a client role.
4 Identity Theft An attacker targets weaknesses in identity and access management processes or credential protection mechanisms.
5 Man in the Middle An attacker intercepts, eavesdrops on, modifies, or relays communication between two parties without their knowledge or consent.
6 Flooding Attack An attacker intentionally overwhelms system resources or exceeds capacity limits through a high volume of requests, data, or operations.
7 Malware An attacker abuses the inherent ability of a software environment to execute foreign executable content.
8 Physical Attack An attacker gains unauthorized physical interaction with or causes physical interference to hardware, devices, facilities, or data transmission media.
9 Social Engineering An attacker psychologically manipulates individuals into performing actions counter to their or their organization's best interests.
10 Supply Chain Attack An attacker compromises systems by targeting vulnerabilities within an organization's supply chain.

TLCTC Radar: Visualizing Threat Landscapes

The TLCTC Radar tool translates these threat clusters into an intuitive visual representation that enables security teams to:

  • Map threat intensity across domains: Visualize how each threat cluster impacts different aspects of the organization
  • Track changes over time: Compare current and previous states to identify emerging threats
  • Prioritize risk management resources: Focus on the most critical threats based on their positions in the radar
  • Communicate effectively: Share standardized threat information across teams and with leadership

Key Visualization Concepts

The radar visualization employs several key concepts:

  • Concentric rings: Represent threat intensity levels (High, Medium, Low, Latent)
  • Sectors: Represent different aspects of the organization or environment being analyzed
  • Numbered points: Represent each of the ten threat clusters
  • Position: Threats closer to the center are more active or impactful
  • Color coding: Distinguishes between sectors for easier visual identification
  • Flags: Optional indicators showing issues requiring reporting or exceeding risk tolerance

Practical Applications of TLCTC Radar Visualization

Let's explore three powerful ways organizations can apply the TLCTC Radar to gain strategic insights:

1. Organizational Boundary Analysis

The first example shows how TLCTC Radar can visualize threats across organizational boundaries:

Organizational Boundary Radar showing threats across different organizational environments

This visualization reveals:

  • E-Channel (Customer) Environment: Shows high activity in Identity Theft (#4), Social Engineering (#9), and Man in the Middle (#5), indicating that customer-facing systems are primarily targeted through credential theft and manipulation tactics.
  • 3rd Parties: Represents connected IT systems that support the organization through Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), SaaS, IaaS, and PaaS. It's important to understand that these third parties face all ten TLCTC threat clusters themselves. The radar shows significant activity in Supply Chain Attack (#10), Malware (#7), and Abuse of Functions (#1). Note that #10 specifically points to vulnerabilities in third-party components that are part of your software/hardware supply chain, not to third parties as a whole.
  • Internal Environment ("Me"): Shows elevated risk in Exploiting Client (#3) and Exploiting Server (#2), suggesting that internal systems face more technical exploitation attempts targeting code-level vulnerabilities.

This cross-boundary view enables security leaders to implement appropriately tailored controls for each environment rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach.

2. Infrastructure Domain Analysis

The second example demonstrates how TLCTC Radar can map threats across infrastructure domains:

Infrastructure Domain Radar showing threats across different technology domains

This visualization provides several key insights:

  • Cloud Services (Q1): Shows elevated activity in Exploiting Server (#2), Identity Theft (#4), and Supply Chain Attack (#10), reflecting the cloud-specific attack surface.
  • Servers (Q1): Reveals high activity in Malware (#7) and Exploiting Server (#2), indicating that server infrastructure faces significant code exploitation and malicious code execution attempts.
  • Network Devices (Q1): Shows elevated risk in Flooding Attack (#6) and Malware (#7), representing the unique threats targeting network infrastructure.
  • User Endpoints (Q1): Displays high activity in Social Engineering (#9), Exploiting Client (#3), and Malware (#7), highlighting the user-focused attack vectors.

This domain-specific view allows security teams to implement controls precisely targeted to the unique threat profile of each infrastructure domain.

3. Data Risk Impact Analysis

The third example illustrates how TLCTC Radar can visualize threats based on potential data risk impacts:

Data Risk Impact Radar showing threats categorized by type of security impact

This visualization reveals:

  • Confidentiality Impact (Q1): Shows high activity in Identity Theft (#4), Malware (#7), and Social Engineering (#9), indicating that data confidentiality is primarily threatened through credential theft, malicious code, and human manipulation.
  • Integrity Impact (Q1): Reveals moderate activity across several clusters, with elevated risk in Exploiting Server (#2) and Exploiting Client (#3), showing how code-level vulnerabilities particularly impact data integrity.
  • Availability Impact (Q1): Displays high activity in Malware (#7) and Flooding Attack (#6), highlighting the primary threats to system and service availability.

This impact-oriented view enables teams to align security controls specifically to protect the types of data impacts they're most concerned about.

4. Threat Actor Analysis

The fourth example demonstrates how TLCTC Radar can compare capabilities across different threat actor groups:

Threat Actor Radar showing capabilities of different threat actor groups across the ten threat clusters

This visualization reveals distinct threat profiles for different actor types:

  • Hacktivists (CH 2024): Shows high activity in Flooding Attack (#6) and Supply Chain Attack (#10), with medium activity in Man in the Middle (#5) and Malware (#7), reflecting their focus on disruption, visibility, and ideological impact.
  • Financially Motivated Criminals (CH 2024): Demonstrates high activity in Identity Theft (#4), Malware (#7), and Social Engineering (#9), indicating their preference for monetizable attack vectors that target data and credentials.
  • Nation-State / APTs (CH 2024): Exhibits broad capabilities across nearly all threat clusters with high intensity, particularly in Supply Chain Attack (#10), Social Engineering (#9), Malware (#7), and Identity Theft (#4), showcasing their sophisticated, well-resourced approach.

This actor-based analysis helps security teams prioritize defenses based on which threat actors are most likely to target their organization and understand the specific threat clusters those actors typically employ. The "CH 2024" notation indicates that this reflects the capability assessment as of 2024 for threats targeting Swiss (CH) organizations.

Implementing TLCTC Radar in Your Organization

The TLCTC Radar tool offers several valuable capabilities for organizations looking to enhance their threat intelligence visualization:

  1. Custom sector definition: Create sectors that reflect your organization's specific environment, domains, or risk categories
  2. Threat level customization: Adjust thresholds for High/Medium/Low/Latent zones to match your risk tolerance
  3. Snapshot comparison: Capture the current state to compare with future assessments, enabling trend analysis
  4. Flag indicators: Mark threats requiring formal reporting or exceeding risk tolerance for heightened awareness
  5. Exportable visualization: Share radar visualizations as images for inclusion in security reports and presentations

Conclusion

The TLCTC Radar visualization tool represents a significant advancement in how organizations can visualize, communicate, and act upon cyber threat intelligence. By providing a structured approach based on the ten distinct threat clusters, it enables security leaders to:

  1. Develop more precise risk management strategies
  2. Allocate security resources more effectively
  3. Track the evolution of threats over time
  4. Communicate complex threat landscapes in an intuitive format

As cyber threats continue to evolve in complexity and impact, tools like the TLCTC Radar that bridge the gap between strategic risk management and operational security will become increasingly valuable components of a mature cybersecurity program.

This blog post is based on the Top Level Cyber Threat Clusters (TLCTC) framework developed by Bernhard Kreinz. The TLCTC Radar visualization tool was created by Barnes Projects as an open-source implementation of the framework's visualization concepts.