Certified Threat Intelligence Analyst v2 (CTIA) — Lesson 1: Threat Landscape, Intelligence Requirements, Sources, and Collection Planning

Learning Objectives

• Explain the structures, services, data, settings, roles, and dependencies governing Threat Landscape and Priority Intelligence Requirements.
• Implement and validate Collection Plan, Source Reliability, and Legal Constraints and Stakeholder Needs using reviewable evidence.
• Evaluate the condition where the observed result differs from the approved Threat Landscape baseline because Priority Intelligence Requirements scope, permissions, or prerequisites were missed and select a proportionate corrective response.

Detailed Topics

• Threat Landscape applied to the course scenario, expected behavior, dependencies, controls, and evidence.
• Priority Intelligence Requirements applied to the course scenario, expected behavior, dependencies, controls, and evidence.
• Collection Plan applied to the course scenario, expected behavior, dependencies, controls, and evidence.
• Source Reliability applied to the course scenario, expected behavior, dependencies, controls, and evidence.
• Legal Constraints and Stakeholder Needs applied to the course scenario, expected behavior, dependencies, controls, and evidence.

Instructor Demonstration

The instructor traces a cyber defense team must turn fragmented internal and external observations into timely, decision-ready intelligence without overstating confidence. The walkthrough connects tools, configuration or analysis logic, system messages, decisions, and evidence captured in the CTIA intelligence requirements, collection matrix, analytical assessment, and dissemination package. It also tests the exception where the observed result differs from the approved Threat Landscape baseline because Priority Intelligence Requirements scope, permissions, or prerequisites were missed.

Hands-On Exercise

Complete a controlled, authorized EC-Council exercise covering Threat Landscape, Intelligence Requirements, Sources, and Collection Planning and preserve the verified result in the CTIA intelligence requirements, collection matrix, analytical assessment, and dissemination package.

1. Confirm scope, authorization, prerequisites, versions, identities, dependencies, and acceptance criteria.
2. Execute the workflow while recording settings, outputs, events, decisions, and system messages.
3. Test normal behavior, one boundary condition, and the stated exception without targeting real third-party systems.
4. Document corrections, evidence, ownership, retest criteria, rollback or recovery, and handover actions.

Scenario Analysis

• Identify which object, service, policy, setting, or sequence most strongly influences Threat Landscape.
• Compare two defensible responses and explain technical, security, operational, legal, and support trade-offs.
• Determine how the CTIA intelligence requirements, collection matrix, analytical assessment, and dissemination package should be approved, retained, retested, and updated.

Troubleshooting Guidance

Start where expected behavior first differs from the observed result. Check authorization, prerequisites, identity, configuration order, data quality, version compatibility, connectivity, status, resource limits, and evidence separately. Treat “the observed result differs from the approved Threat Landscape baseline because Priority Intelligence Requirements scope, permissions, or prerequisites were missed” as a hypothesis until logs, settings, captured outputs, and retest outcomes confirm the cause.

Validation Checklist

• Required components, identities, permissions, settings, safety controls, and dependencies are present.
• The CTIA intelligence requirements, collection matrix, analytical assessment, and dissemination package connects each conclusion to objective, reviewable evidence.
• Normal processing, a boundary condition, dependency behavior, and the stated exception were tested.
• Corrections, ownership, retest criteria, rollback or recovery, documentation, and operational handover are complete.

Lesson Outcome

Learners can apply Threat Landscape, Intelligence Requirements, Sources, and Collection Planning, explain the resulting security or operational behavior, and defend the outcome through the CTIA intelligence requirements, collection matrix, analytical assessment, and dissemination package.