Intel 471 Launches Free CTI Maturity Pulse Check to Amplify Program Growth and Business Value

New assessment provides a structured method to evaluate and uplevel CTI program maturity

WILMINGTON, Del.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Intel 471, the foremost provider of high-fidelity threat intelligence-driven solutions, today announced its new Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) Maturity Pulse Check, a free, lightweight self-assessment for practitioners based on the Cyber Threat Intelligence Capability Maturity Model (CTI-CMM v1.3). The CTI Maturity Pulse Check offers a quick, structured way for organizations to reflect on their CTI program’s current capabilities, highlight areas that warrant a closer look and help security teams prepare for a more thorough assessment using the official CTI-CMM tool.

“The CTI-CMM is a community-driven framework designed to give security teams a clear roadmap for improving how they support their wider business,” said Michael DeBolt, President and Chief Intelligence Officer of Intel 471. “We created this streamlined version to make the framework more accessible for busy practitioners who want to kickstart internal planning for more comprehensive CTI program evaluations. The assessment is also free to support the broader CTI community amidst rapidly evolving cyber and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven threats in today’s cybersecurity landscape.”

The 2026 SANS Cyber Threat Intelligence Survey found that 43% of CTI programs do not track maturity over time. At the same time, only 26% of CISOs feel CTI truly drives strategic decisions. Establishing a maturity baseline that teams can measure against is what allows them to make a data-backed case for budget and build the cross-functional buy-in needed to influence those strategic decisions.

The CTI Maturity Pulse Check distills each of the 11 CTI-CMM domains into a single representative question with answers mapped to the model’s maturity scale. In just 10–15 minutes, cybersecurity professionals can identify domains that warrant closer examination to mature their operation and prepare for a more thorough assessment using the official CTI-CMM self-assessment tool.

The CTI Maturity Pulse Check is designed for practitioners, program leaders and security executives. It provides a final evaluation that includes the highest priority gaps and five next steps to uplevel maturity – created to be readable at each level. After completing the survey, users will receive their overall maturity tier, which will under the following categories:

• Emerging: Capability is being established; little structure and limited reach
• Reactive: Responds to events and requests but doesn't yet drive proactive work
• Operational: Intelligence is consistently produced and integrated, but influence is still primarily technical
• Intelligence-led: The program shapes decisions, not just operations — driving strategy, risk prioritization, and executive action

“Our goal is to help CTI teams at any level identify their ‘right-sized’ maturity to help understand where their program sits,” added DeBolt. “Depending on a company’s business model, some domains may be less relevant to its business, so our tiers and guidance should be treated as directional indicators and not definitive maturity ratings. Respondents don’t need to see perfection across all 11 domains, but instead receive a clear vision of where their program stands today. This encourages productive internal conversations between security teams and key stakeholders on where the organization can focus and prioritize efforts.”

In addition to the CTI Maturity Pulse Check, Intel 471 offers a complimentary half-day workshop — Operationalizing the CTI-CMM and Intelligence Planning Process: Analytical Traceability & Proving ROI — that walks through building analytical traceability, extracting Priority Intelligence Requirements, and proving ROI, with a ready-to-deploy toolkit and certificate of completion.

For more information about Intel 471’s CTI Maturity Pulse Check or workshops, visit our website.

About Intel 471

Intel 471 empowers enterprises, government agencies, and other organizations to win the cybersecurity war using the real-time insights about adversaries, their relationships, threat patterns, and imminent attacks relevant to their businesses. The company’s platform collects, interprets, structures, and validates human-led, automation-enhanced intelligence, which fuels our external attack surface and advanced behavioral threat hunting solutions. Customers utilize this operationalized intelligence to drive a proactive response to neutralize threats and mitigate risk. Organizations across the globe leverage Intel 471’s world-class intelligence, our trusted practitioner engagement and enablement, and globally dispersed ground expertise as their frontline guardian against the ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats to fight the adversary — and win. We are the source of reason and truth into the cybercriminal underground. Learn more at www.intel471.com.