CTI Hyperloop Framework

The CTI Hyperloop (based on Google/Mandiant's practical implementation framework) extends the traditional intelligence cycle by running it at three levels simultaneously with continuous bidirectional feedback.

Core Concept

Traditional intelligence cycle: linear, single-track, often stuck at the tactical level. Hyperloop: three parallel tracks (strategic, operational, tactical) feeding each other continuously.

STRATEGIC  ←→  OPERATIONAL  ←→  TACTICAL
    ↓              ↓               ↓
Direction → Collection → Processing → Analysis → Dissemination → Feedback
    ↑                                                              |
    └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Intelligence Levels

Strategic Intelligence

• Time horizon: 6-24 months
• Consumers: CISO, Board, Risk Management, Security Architecture
• Focus: Threat landscape trends, emerging threats, geopolitical developments, sector risk posture
• Products: Threat landscape reports, strategic assessments, horizon scanning reports, maturity assessments
• Example PIR: "How will the ransomware threat landscape evolve over the next 12 months and what are the implications for our risk posture?"

Operational Intelligence

• Time horizon: Weeks to months
• Consumers: SOC Manager, IR Lead, Security Operations
• Focus: Active campaigns, threat actor profiling, TTP analysis, vulnerability exploitation trends
• Products: Campaign reports, threat actor profiles, operational assessments, hunt packages
• Example PIR: "What TTPs are currently being used by groups targeting our sector?"

Tactical Intelligence

• Time horizon: Hours to days
• Consumers: SOC Analysts, Detection Engineers, IR Analysts
• Focus: IOCs, detection rules, immediate response support, indicator enrichment
• Products: IOC packages, SIGMA/YARA/KQL rules, flash reports, enrichment reports
• Example PIR: "What IOCs are associated with the current wave of attacks targeting our VPN appliances?"

Phase Mapping to Platform

Phase 1: Planning & Direction

What: Define what intelligence is needed and set priorities.

Level	Activity	Agent	Skills
Strategic	Set/review PIRs, horizon scanning briefs	orchestrator	pir-management, stakeholder-management
Operational	Define collection priorities for active investigations	orchestrator	pir-management, sops
Tactical	Identify IOC collection gaps, detection coverage gaps	orchestrator	sops

Phase 2: Collection

What: Gather raw data from relevant sources.

Level	Activity	Agent	Skills
Strategic	Trend monitoring, landscape research	osint-researcher	osint-methodology
Operational	Threat actor tracking, campaign research, dark web monitoring	osint-researcher, tool agents	osint-methodology, darkweb-collection
Tactical	IOC lookups, bulk enrichment	tool agents, ioc-processor	tool-api skills, ioc-enrichment-workflow

Phase 3: Processing

What: Normalise, deduplicate, and structure collected data.

Level	Activity	Agent	Skills
All	IOC deduplication, format normalisation, source assessment tagging	ioc-processor	ioc-enrichment-workflow, source-assessment

Phase 4: Analysis

What: Apply human judgment to produce assessed intelligence.

Level	Activity	Agent	Skills
Strategic	Horizon scanning, maturity assessment, trend analysis	analyst	horizon-scanning, threat-assessment, maturity-assessment
Operational	ACH, threat actor profiling, campaign tracking	analyst	ach, threat-actor-profiling, campaign-tracking, key-assumptions-check
Tactical	IOC correlation, detection gap analysis, indicator pivoting	analyst	indicator-pivoting, vulnerability-intelligence

Phase 5: Dissemination

What: Deliver finished intelligence to stakeholders.

Level	Activity	Agent	Skills
Strategic	Landscape reports, annual assessments, board briefings	report-writer	intelligence-writing, writing-assessments, stakeholder-management
Operational	Actor profiles, campaign reports, operational assessments	report-writer	intelligence-writing, writing-assessments
Tactical	IOC packages, detection rules, flash reports	detection-engineer, ioc-processor, report-writer	sigma/yara/kql-writing, ioc-export, stix-bundle

Phase 6: Feedback

What: Assess effectiveness and refine direction.

Level	Activity	Agent	Skills
All	Consumer feedback, source quality tracking, PIR refinement	orchestrator	feedback-loops, pir-management

Bidirectional Flow Examples

Tactical → Operational: IOC enrichment reveals infrastructure pattern shared across multiple incidents → triggers campaign tracking investigation.

Operational → Strategic: Campaign analysis identifies new nation-state actor shifting targeting to a new sector → feeds into strategic landscape assessment and PIR update.

Strategic → Operational: Horizon scanning identifies AI-augmented social engineering as emerging threat → creates operational collection tasking for specific TTP monitoring.

Operational → Tactical: Threat actor profiling reveals preferred exploitation technique → drives creation of specific SIGMA detection rules.

Strategic → Tactical: Risk assessment identifies unpatched VPN as critical exposure → prioritises vulnerability intelligence and IOC monitoring for VPN exploits.

Tactical → Strategic: Spike in credential-stuffing alerts → informs strategic assessment of the underground economy and infostealer trend.

Orchestrator Workflow Mapping

When the orchestrator receives a task, it maps it to the Hyperloop:

User Request	Primary Level	Hyperloop Phases	Key Agents
"Investigate this IP"	Tactical	2→3→4→5	Tool agents → IOC processor → Analyst → Detection engineer
"Profile this threat actor"	Operational	2→3→4→5→6	OSINT researcher → IOC processor → Analyst → Report writer → Update knowledge cell
"Write a threat assessment on X"	Strategic/Operational	1→2→3→4→5→6	Orchestrator (PIRs) → OSINT researcher → Analyst (SATs) → Report writer → Quality reviewer
"Enrich this IOC list"	Tactical	2→3→5	Tool agents → IOC processor → Export
"What's the current ransomware landscape?"	Strategic	2→4→5	OSINT researcher → Analyst (knowledge cell) → Report writer
"Create detection rules for APT28 TTPs"	Tactical	4→5	Analyst (knowledge cell) → Detection engineer
"Review our PIRs"	Management	1→6	Orchestrator (PIR management, feedback loops)