TL;DR

• PIRs keep security focused on the few threat questions that materially change decisions, reducing noise and enabling faster, defensible prioritization with limited resources.

• PIR #1: Track ransomware/extortion pathways tied to KEV exploitation + identity compromise; fastest route to enterprise-scale disruption.

• PIR #2: Prioritize AI-accelerated social engineering (BEC/payment diversion, deepfake-enabled impersonation); highest fraud ROI for adversaries.

• PIR #3: Treat software/supplier concentration and supply chain compromise as a first-order risk driver (SaaS, third parties, poisoned updates).

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What is a PIR?

PIRs (Priority Intelligence Requirements) matter because they turn “we should pay attention to threats” into a small set of answerable questions that directly drive better security
decisions.

• They focus limited time and budget on what changes risk most. Instead of tracking everything, you track what would materially change priorities (patching, controls, vendor decisions).

• They improve speed and consistency in decisions. PIRs define what you need to know before acting, reducing ad hoc judgment during incidents.

• They align security with business impact. A good PIR ties threats to outcomes (ransomware downtime, payment fraud loss, student data exposure), making prioritization
  defensible.

• They make detection and response measurable. PIRs translate into concrete collection needs (logs, telemetry, vendor signals) and success criteria (time-to-detect, exposure
  reduction).

• They reduce noise. PIRs help you say “no” to low-value alerts, reporting, and threat feeds that don’t affect your environment.

Ranked PIRs

PIR #1 — Ransomware + data extortion initial access (KEV + identity)

• Intelligence requirement: Identify which internet-facing assets and identity paths are most likely to be used for initial access (KEV CVEs, VPNs, hypervisors, backup
  systems).

• What to collect/answer in Q1:

  • Which KEV entries map to our exposed perimeter and remote access stack, and which are being linked to ransomware activity?

  • Which identity abuse patterns (credential stuffing, password spraying, token theft) are most prevalent in our environment and vendors?

PIR #2 — AI-enabled social engineering and payment fraud

• Intelligence requirement: Determine the top fraud playbooks targeting finance operations (wire diversion, invoice manipulation, payroll reroute), and which roles/workflows
  are most exploitable.

• What to collect/answer in Q1:

  • Which business processes can be coerced without technical compromise (approvals, vendor onboarding, payment changes)?

  • Where are “trust signals” weakest (voice calls, SMS, helpdesk, executive impersonation)?

PIR #3 — Supply chain & shared-service systemic risk

• Intelligence requirement: Maintain a current view of critical dependencies (SaaS, managed services, key libraries) and supplier compromise signals that could create
  correlated failure.

• What to collect/answer in Q1:

  • Which vendors/components represent single points of failure, and what evidence exists of supply chain targeting relevant to them?

  • Where do we lack SBOM/visibility into transitive dependencies and update channels?

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Detection Ideas and Suggested Pivots