CTI measurement gaps: what do CISOs actually need to see?

TL;DR: CTI is valued by 91% of CISOs, yet only 26% say it significantly influences decisions, because 51% of organisations do not gather effectiveness feedback and 43% do not track maturity over time, according to Intel 471 drawing on the 2026 SANS Cyber Threat Intelligence Survey. Budget defence, not report volume, becomes the governance problem.

Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by Intel 471: “Making the Business Case for Your CTI Budget”.

By the numbers:

• 51% of organisations do not gather feedback about the effectiveness of their CTI.
• 43% do not track the maturity of their CTI program over time.
• 44% of teams said their top barrier to effective CTI was a lack of funding.

Key questions

Q: What breaks when CTI teams do not measure decision impact?

A: When CTI teams do not measure decision impact, they cannot prove which products changed a control, accelerated a response, or improved prioritisation.

Q: Why does lack of CTI feedback create budget risk?

A: Because budgets are justified by outcomes, not volume.

Q: How should CTI teams decide what to collect and publish?

A: They should start with stakeholder demand signals and Priority Intelligence Requirements.

Practitioner guidance

• Define intelligence products by decision they support Map each recurring CTI deliverable to a specific stakeholder decision, such as patching priority, incident escalation, supplier risk review, or access control change.
• Track decision impact, not just distribution Measure whether intelligence changed a control, delayed an exposure, or accelerated a response.
• Build PIRs from stakeholder interviews Use structured interviews to capture Priority Intelligence Requirements by function, then turn them into a collection plan that reflects recurring operational needs rather than executive guesswork.

Bottom line: CTI programmes often fail because they cannot connect intelligence outputs to measurable decisions, not because they lack raw information.

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