Domain separation and Threat Intelligence

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 5 minutes to read
    • Summarize
    Summarized using AI
    This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.

    Summary of Domain separation and Threat Intelligence

    The Threat Intelligence module, part of the Security Incident Response application in ServiceNow, supports domain separation to help service providers (SPs) manage threat intelligence data for multiple customers within a single instance. Domain separation logically segments data, processes, and administrative tasks by domains, ensuring that customer data, workflows, dashboards, and reports remain isolated and secure.

    Show full answer Show less

    This capability lowers operational costs and improves service quality by enabling SPs to tailor threat intelligence management—such as observables, indicators of compromise (IOC), TAXII profiles, and cases—to each customer domain without exposing data across domains.

    Key Features

    • Domain Separation Support: Security incident observables, TAXII service profiles, threat feed downloads, attack modes/methods, and investigation cases are stored and managed within their respective domains, preventing cross-domain data visibility.
    • Use Cases: Creation and management of observables from incidents, third-party SIEMs, email parsers, and threat feeds; association of observables with indicators, attack modes, and threat sources; and long-term case investigations—all domain aware.
    • Configuration: All threat intelligence configurations such as TAXII profiles, threat sources, attack modes, default threat info lists, and user role assignments are domain-specific, allowing tenants control over their own data and processes.
    • Global Properties: Certain properties like API keys, domain names for IP/URL information retrieval, and local IoC lookup settings remain global and are not domain separated.
    • Business Logic: Instance owners configure minimum viable product (MVP) business logic per tenant, enabling differentiated rules such as requiring comments on record closures in one domain but not another.
    • Support Level: Basic support level is provided for domain separation in Threat Intelligence, suitable for service providers managing multiple customers in one instance.

    Key Outcomes

    • Enhanced data security and privacy by isolating customer threat intelligence data within separate domains.
    • Improved operational efficiency for service providers managing multiple tenants through domain-specific configurations and workflows.
    • Ability for tenant domain owners to independently create and manage TAXII profiles, threat sources, attack modes, and default threat information lists.
    • Seamless integration of domain separation with incident management, ensuring observables and related threat data are correctly scoped to the appropriate domain.
    • Support for complex, multi-tenant security operations with controlled visibility and administrative boundaries across customers.

    Domain separation is supported in the Threat Intelligence module that is available as part of Security Incident Response. Domain separation enables you to separate data, processes, and administrative tasks into logical groupings called domains. You can control several aspects of this separation, including which users can see and access data.

    Support level: Basic

    • Includes Basic level support.
    • Business logic: The service provider (SP) creates or modifies processes per customer. The use cases reflect proper use of the application by multiple SP customers in a single instance.
    • The instance owner must configure the minimum viable product (MVP) business logic and data parameters per tenant as expected for the specific application.

    Sample use case: An admin must be able to make comments required when a record closes for one tenant, but not for another.

    For more information on support levels, see Application support for domain separation.

    Overview

    In the Threat Intelligence module (as part of the Security Incident Response application), domain separation enables service providers (SPs) to create and manage the threat intelligence repository in the following ways:

    • Threat sources and Trusted Automated Exchange of Indicator Information (TAXII) profiles
    • Observables
    • Indicators of compromise
    • Threat attack modes / methods and case management across the customer base they serve with lowered operational costs and a higher quality of service

    Having separate customer work spaces for workflows, dashboards, reports, and so on, ensures that customer data is separated and never exposed to other clients.

    Domain separation support in Threat Intelligence by version release

    Domain separation for the Threat Intelligence module (as part of the Security Incident Response application) covers the following product functionality:
    • Security incident observables are directed to the appropriate domain of the user whose ID/ Credential/ Scope generates the incident. The observables extracted from the incident are stored in the domain of the security incident.
    • Setting up of TAXII service profiles to download one or more TAXII collections that offer cyber-threat information feeds. The configuration is stored in the domain under which the profile is being set up.
    • Setting up the download of threat feeds into the IOC repository in the domain under which the configuration is being performed.
    • Creation of attack mode/methods in the domain of the threat intelligence source that provides the information automatically or the domain under which a new attack mode/method is being added manually by the user
    • Creation of cases for long-term investigation of incidents, observables, CIs, users, and indicators of compromise (IOC) associated with the case. The case is stored in the domain created by the user.
    Note:
    In all the above cases, the overarching principles of visibility in separated domains in the NOW Platform apply. As always, an incident in the parent domain can reference artifacts in the child domain, but not the other way around.

    How domain separation works in Threat Intelligence (as part of Security Incident Response)

    Threat Intelligence is part of Security Incident Response in the Professional and Enterprise Tiers, but not with the Standard Tier. Therefore a separate plugin is needed. The Threat Intelligence module (as part of the Security Incident Response application) creates and manages the threat intelligence information associated with security incidents in an organization. The following use cases are domain-separation aware:

    • Creation of security incident observables at the time of incident creation
      • From email parsers (Platform-based, user-reported phishing, custom)
      • From applications in third-party Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) stores
      • Manually keyed in by the SOC analyst
    • Collection of observables from threat feed sources - Threat intelligence sources from TAXII collections
    • Manage security incident observables
      • Associate observables with related indicators
      • Associate observables with security incidents
      • Associate observables with child observables
      • Associate observable to threat feed source
      • Add security annotations to observables
    • Manage indicators of compromise
      • Associate indicators with related observables
      • Associate indicators with attack mode/method
      • Associate indicators with indicator types
      • Associate indicators to threat feed source
      • Add security annotations to indicators
    • Manage cases
      • Create case (manually or from an incident)
      • Edit a new case to add details (choose case type and severity, add incidents, observables, configuration items, users, indicators)
      • Delete a case

    Domain separation setup

    Setting up domain separation for Threat Intelligence does not require any additional steps. All Threat Intelligence tables acquire the Domain column after the instance is domain separated.

    Domain-separated data

    Data can be domain separated, which means:

    • Security incident observables in one domain cannot be viewed from the scope of other domains.
    • Indicators of compromise in one domain cannot be viewed from the scope of other domains.
    • Attack modes/methods associated with one domain cannot be viewed from the scope of other domains.
    • TAXII service profiles associated with one domain cannot be viewed from the scope of other domains.
    • Threat intelligence sources associated with one domain cannot be viewed from the scope of other domains.
    • Cases associated with one domain cannot be viewed from the scope of other domains.
    Threat Intelligence properties are set at the global level and are not, therefore, domain-separated. The settings include:
    • The domain name to retrieve additional information for IP addresses/URLs
    • The API key to be used for retrieval
    • Lookup of local IoC tables before sending to remote scanner
    • Number of days local observables are considered
    • Marking an attack mode/method as inactive when not received from threat intel sources
    • Marking an indicator as inactive when not received from any source for a specified number of days

    Configuration

    All aspects of the threat intelligence functionality configuration are self-contained in a domain-separated environment.

    The following tasks can be configured per domain:

    1. Creation of TAXII service profiles
      • Choose a Discovery service configuration
      • Choose a Collection service configuration - Assign roles to users and groups of users
    2. Creation of threat intelligence sources
      • Configure the REST service that supplies the threat intel information
      • Schedule the download of threat intel information
      • Choose threat details information to assign to the source
    3. Creation of attack mode/methods (manual)
      • Source, malware type, attack mechanism, threat actor type, description, handling, intended effect, first seen, last seen
      • Related indicators, child attack mode/method, associated security incidents
        Note:
        Attack modes/methods are auto-created from the threat feed sources as well.
    4. Setting default lists for the following threat information categories:
      • Attack mechanisms
      • Discovery methods
      • Feeds
      • Indicator types
      • Intended effects
      • Notifications
      • Observable types
      • Rate limit definitions
      • Threat actor types
      • Attack motivations
      • Infrastructure types
      • Malware capabilities
      • Malware types
      • Report types
      • Threat actor roles
      • Tool types

    How tenant domains manage their own application data

    • Tenant domain owners can create their own TAXII service profiles.
    • Tenant domain owners can create their own threat intelligence sources.
    • Tenant domain owners can create their own attack mode/methods.
    • Tenant domain owners can create their own default lists for threat information categories.
    Note:
    Business logic and processes enable threat intelligence source download schedules to be domain separated by instance owner.