Breaking the One-Way Intelligence Barrier: Introducing True Bi-Directional Cyber Threat Intelligence Sharing Between Cyware and Microsoft Sentinel

When a security analyst detects a novel attack pattern in their Security Incident and Event Management (SIEM) at 3 AM, that discovery should immediately benefit every organization facing similar threats. Yet for years, a fundamental technical limitation has prevented this from happening: threat intelligence could flow into SIEMs via the Threat Intelligence Platforms (TIPs), but the insights generated within the SIEMs remained trapped there.

Today, that changes- Cyware announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft to bridge this gap and redefine how organizations share and act on threat data. This collaboration combines Cyware’s AI-powered threat intelligence automation with Microsoft’s scale in cloud innovation and enterprise-grade cybersecurity to advance the future of collective defense.

Through a new bi-directional cyber threat intelligence integration between Cyware Intel Exchange, (Cyware’s threat intelligence management platform) and Microsoft Sentinel, organizations can now share threat intelligence in real-time using the TAXII protocol.

For the first time, intelligence discovered in Microsoft Sentinel can be shared with the broader security ecosystem through a standardized mechanism via Cyware, enabling true collective defense and reducing manual work, where every new detection strengthens the entire network.

The Asymmetric Integration Sharing Problem

Most organizations today operate sophisticated security stacks where Threat Intelligence Platforms aggregate intelligence from commercial feeds, open-source repositories, and industry sharing communities. This curated intelligence flows into platforms like Microsoft Sentinel, where it enhances detection rules, enables correlation analytics, and provides context during investigations. The technical implementation is straightforward: STIX-formatted intelligence transmitted via TAXII protocol to Sentinel's threat intelligence connector.

The challenge emerges in the reverse direction. Microsoft Sentinel's analytics engine continuously processes security telemetry, identifies anomalies, correlates events across multiple data sources, and detects new indicators of compromise. It also produces contextual, environment-specific intelligence derived from correlating the incidents helping analysts strengthen future defenses. These insights are highly valuable because they reflect attacks observed in real production environments. However, sharing them externally has traditionally relied on manual processes that:

• Add latency, delaying intelligence dissemination and giving attackers more time to act

• Reduce coverage, since analysts cannot manually process every alert

• Consume analyst time, shifting focus away from higher-value threat investigation

The root cause is architectural. The lack of a seamless bi-directional connection between solutions has created a gap. This disconnect has historically forced organizations to choose between timely detection and broad, effective intelligence sharing.

Standards-Based Bi-Directional Threat Intel Sharing Architecture

In order to tackle the threat intelligence sharing challenge, Microsoft Sentinel launched a new capability  that enables exporting threat intelligence to trusted destinations with ease. In this case, a TAXII-based channel is established from Microsoft Sentinel to Cyware Intel Exchange, enabling a natively built threat intelligence export using the same protocols that power intelligence import. This architectural symmetry is significant because it allows organizations to build truly circular intelligence workflows where detection, analysis, and dissemination form a continuous cycle.

Figure 1: Architecture of bi-directional intelligence sharing between Microsoft Sentinel and Cyware Intel Exchange

The technical implementation leverages Microsoft Sentinel's ability to generate threat intelligence through its analytics rules and threat indicators. When Microsoft Sentinel identifies suspicious activity or detects new IOCs, the application serializes this data into STIX 2.1 format and can then be exported to a designated TAXII collection on the Cyware Intel Exchange server. From there, standard threat intelligence management workflows take over: enrichment, validation, contextualization, and automated distribution to configured recipients.

What makes this approach powerful is its adherence to established standards. Organizations are not locked into proprietary data formats or vendor-specific APIs. Any system capable of consuming TAXII feeds can receive intelligence generated in Microsoft Sentinel, and any STIX-compatible tool can process it. This interoperability ensures that the integration scales across diverse security ecosystems without creating new silos.

The configuration process reflects this simplicity. Organizations provide their Cyware Intel Exchange credentials to the Sentinel application, map analytics rules to specific TAXII collections, and define distribution policies. Intelligence flow begins immediately.

Operational Transformation in Practice

Consider the operational workflow for an ISAC or a national SOC with, say, 500 member organizations, many of which use Microsoft Sentinel as their primary SIEM. Prior to this integration, when one member detected a new phishing campaign targeting the sector, the discovery process looked like this:

• A security analyst reviews Microsoft Sentinel alerts and identifies an attack pattern.

• The analyst manually extracts relevant IOCs (Indicators of Compromise).

• Logs into the ISAC portal and creates an intelligence report in proper STIX format.

• Submits the report for review.

• An ISAC analyst validates the submission, enriches it with additional context, and publishes it to the member community.

• Other members receive the intelligence hours later and manually import it into their respective security tools.

With Bi-Directional Integration, the workflow transforms completely:

• Microsoft Sentinel analytics detect the phishing campaign and generate STIX-formatted threat intelligence.

• Intelligence flows immediately to Cyware Intel Exchange via TAXII with the click of a button.

• Automated enrichment validates the intelligence and adds additional indicators from related campaigns.

• Distribution rules publish the intelligence to relevant ISAC members in the sector.

• Within minutes, intelligence is available for ingestion by member security tools, including Microsoft Sentinel, endpoint protection platforms, and email security gateways.

The time from detection to community-wide protection decreases from hours to minutes. The analyst workload shifts from manual data transformation to higher-value tasks like threat analysis and hunt hypothesis development.

Extended Microsoft Security Ecosystem

This integration exists within a broader set of capabilities connecting Cyware with Microsoft's security portfolio. Organizations can ingest threat intelligence directly from Microsoft Defender, gaining access to Microsoft's global threat research and detection capabilities. This intelligence populates TAXII collections that member organizations can consume, effectively extending Microsoft's threat visibility across entire security communities.

Azure Logic Apps provide a layer for sophisticated intelligence workflows. Organizations can implement validation pipelines where intelligence from multiple sources is verified against Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence before distribution. This ensures high signal-to-noise ratios in shared intelligence while maintaining the velocity that real-time threat response demands.

The Cyware solution is available through Microsoft Commercial Marketplace and includes Cyware Intel Exchange, Azure Logic Apps templates, and pre-configured Microsoft Sentinel integration. This marketplace presence simplifies procurement and deployment while ensuring that all components meet Microsoft's security and compliance standards.

How Organizations Benefit from Bi-Directional Integration

Organizations can leverage this bi-directional integration in several ways to strengthen their security operations. 

Enterprise Hub-and-Spoke Architectures: Global enterprises can centralize threat intelligence collection from distributed Microsoft Sentinel deployments. Regional SOCs can contribute detections to a central Cyware Intel Exchange instance with the click of a button, where security intelligence teams perform analysis and enrichment before redistributing verified intelligence across the enterprise. This model enables consistent threat visibility and faster response across diverse regions and business units.

Industry-Specific ISACs/CERTs, and National SOCs: Sector-focused ISACs can create dedicated TAXII collections where member organizations can share Microsoft Sentinel detections relevant to their industry. Built-in privacy controls ensure that sensitive information remains protected while still fostering collaboration on sector-specific threats. Members benefit from collective defense, where each organization’s security investments contribute to stronger protection for the entire community.

Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs): MSSPs can aggregate intelligence from multiple client Microsoft Sentinel deployments into unified threat intelligence feeds. This enables them to identify cross-client attack campaigns, implement shared protective measures, and deliver more proactive and effective security operations. Robust client isolation ensures that each organization's data remains secure while allowing MSSPs to derive collective insights that benefit all clients.

Moving Forward

The integration between Cyware and Microsoft Sentinel is available now through Microsoft Commercial Marketplace. Organizations currently using either platform can enable bi-directional intelligence sharing with minimal configuration effort and no additional licensing costs.

For security teams seeking to enhance their threat intelligence operations, this integration provides immediate access to standards-based intelligence sharing that scales with operational requirements. The combination of Microsoft Sentinel's detection capabilities and Cyware Intel Exchange's intelligence distribution platform creates infrastructure for responsive, collaborative threat defense.

The future of effective cybersecurity hinges on sharing threat intelligence at machine speed across organizational boundaries. This strategic partnership and integration provide the technical foundation to make that vision a reality, enabling truly collaborative defense at scale. 

Security teams seeking implementation guidance, deployment best practices, or tailored use case consultations can connect with their Cyware or Microsoft point of contact to turn intelligence into measurable protection. Book a demo today!