AUTOMATED EMERGING CYBER THREAT

IDENTIFICATION AND PROFILING USING

NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING.

A SEMINAR REPORT

Submitted by

KARTHIK K J (KGR21CS048)

to
A P J Abdul Kalam Technological University

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Degree

of
Bachelor of Technology
In
COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

DEPT. OF COMPUTER SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

(NBA Accredited 2022-2025)
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING KIDANGOOR
DECEMBER 2024
 VISION AND MISSION OF COLLEGE

VISION

To be a leading engineering institution in the region, providing competent professionals,

who engage in lifelong learning, driven by social values.

MISSION

To prepare engineering graduates for the development activities of the society and indus-
try, and to prepare them for higher engineering education.
 VISION AND MISSION OF THE DEPARTMENT

VISION

To become a center of excellence in Computer Science and Engineering imparting quality

professional education to develop competent professionals with social values who are
capable of life long learning.

MISSION

To impart quality technical education to students at undergraduate level through constant

knowledge upgradation by maintaining pace with the latest sophisticated innovations ,
research development and industry interaction in the field of Computer Science and
Engineering with focus on lifelong learning for the well-being of the society.
 Program Educational Objectives (PEO)

PEO1 Have sound knowledge and technical skills required to remain productive in the field
of Computer Science and Engineering.
PEO2 Be efficient team leaders, effective communicators and successful entrepreneurs.
PEO3 Resolve technical problems with a positive outlook towards well-being of the society.
PEO4 Function in diverse environments with the ability and competence to solve challeng-
ing problems.
PEO5 Pursue lifelong learning and professional development through higher education.
 Program Specific Outcomes (PSO)

PSO1 Ability to appreciate, learn and develop applications using modern programming
languages, and databases.
PSO2 Ability to understand and analyze computer networks, distributed systems and com-
puter system architectures for the designing of new systems.
PSO3 Ability to apply knowledge of domains like machine learning, cloud computing , im-
age processing, data mining and software engineering to tackle innovative problems.
 DECLARATION

I, Karthik K J hereby declare that the seminar report “Automated Emerging Cyber
Threat Identification and Profiling Based on Natural Language Processing.”,
submitted for partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of degree of Bachelor
of Technology of the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, Kerala is a bonafide
work done by me under supervision of Mrs. Linda Sebastian. This submission represents
my ideas in my own words and where ideas or words of others have been included, I have
adequately and accurately cited and referenced the original sources.
I also declare that I have adhered to ethics of academic honesty and integrity and have
not misrepresented or fabricated any data or idea or fact or source in my submission. I
understand that any violation of the above will be a cause for disciplinary action by the
institute and/or the University and can also evoke penal action from the sources which
have thus not been properly cited or from whom proper permission has not been obtained.
This report has not been previously formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma
or similar title of any other University.

Kidangoor
08-11-2024 KARTHIK K J
 DEPT. OF COMPUTER SCIENCE & ENGINEERING
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
KIDANGOOR
2024-2025

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the report entitled ”AUTOMATED EMERGING

CYBER THREAT IDENTIFICATION AND PROFILING US-
ING NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING.” submitted by Karthik
K J(KGR21CS048) to the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University in partial ful-
fillment of the B.Tech. degree in Computer Science and Engineering is a bonafide record
of the seminar work presented by him under our guidance and supervision. This report
in any form has not been submitted to any other University or Institute for any purpose.

Mrs. Shandry K K
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering
Dr. Ojus Thomas Lee College of Engineering Kidangoor
Associate Professor Seminar Coordinator
Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering
College of Engineering Kidangoor
Head of the Department
Mrs. Linda Sebastian
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering
College of Engineering Kidangoor
Seminar Guide
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Indhu P Nair, Principal College of

Engineering Kidangoor for providing us with all the necessary facilities and support.
I would like to express sincere gratitude. I wish to acknowledge all those who helped
me to complete this seminar. Firstly, I thank the Almighty for helping and guiding me
with his light in the right path to accomplish this. I extend my sincere gratitude to Dr.
Ojus Thomas Lee, Head of the department, Computer Science and Engineering, for
his constant motivation and support. I’d take this opportunity to express my profound
gratitude and deep regards to my seminar coordinator Mrs. Shandry K K,Assistant
Professor , Computer Science and Engineering . I wish to express my sincere gratitude
towards Mrs. Linda Sebastian, Seminar Guide for providing guidance in working
on the seminar and helping me successfully complete it
I thank all the teaching and nonteaching staff members of our Department for their
support.
Finally, I thank my parents, all my friends, near and dear ones who directly and
indirectly contributed to the success of this work.

Karthik K J
 ABSTRACT

The topic ”Automated Emerging Cyber Threat Identification and Profiling Based on
NLP” highlights the importance of automated frameworks to manage the complexity
of emerging cyber threats. Using Natural Language Processing (NLP) to analyze and
classify cybersecurity information from Twitter in alignment with the MITRE ATTCK
framework, this study proposes a system that profiles threat names, intentions, and risks
with an F1 score of 77 percnet accuracy. The framework includes components for data
ingestion, real-time analytics, and alert generation, enabling continuous monitoring to
deliver timely threat alerts. Data collection leverages Logstash and Elasticsearch to cap-
ture information from social media and dark web sources, utilizing a sliding time-window
methodology for up-to-date threat response. Key NLP techniques—such as TF-IDF, deep
learning, and entity recognition—support classification, sentiment analysis, and alerting.
An evaluation on the PetitPotam threat demonstrates practical application, as the sys-
tem detected the threat 17 days before an official patch was released, prompting early
response actions. Evaluation faced challenges with high false positive rates, data qual-
ity, and scalability, which future work aims to address by enhancing profiling accuracy,
integrating additional data sources, and fostering cybersecurity collaboration. This sys-
tem underscores the potential of automated, NLP-based frameworks to improve threat
intelligence, advocating for their adoption to strengthen real-time cybersecurity defenses.
 List of Figures

3.1 Fig.1.System Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

 Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Background and Motivation 3

2.1 The Growing Threat of Cyber Attacks: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 Need for Automation in Threat Detection : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3 Key Objectives: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

3 Framework Overview 5
3.1 System Architecture: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.2 Data Collection and Processing: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.3 Real-Time Threat Identification: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.4 Threat Intelligence Integration: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

4 Data Collection Methodology 8

4.1 Sources of Data: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.2 Data Retrieval Using Twitter API: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.3 Time-Window Data Collection: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.4 Data Preprocessing and Filtering: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

5 NLP Techniques in Cyber Threat Detection: 11

5.1 TF-IDF and Context Analysis: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.2 Entity Recognition and Classification: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5.3 Sentiment Analysis: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5.4 Topic Modeling for Threat Trend Analysis: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

6 Threat Profiling and Classification 14

6.1 Threat Profiling Accuracy and F1 Score: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
 6.2 Reducing False Positive: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6.3 Case Study: PetitPotam Thread: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

7 Results and Observations 16

7.1 Experimental Findings: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
7.2 Alert Generation and Response Time: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
7.3 Comparative Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

8 Challenges and Limitations 18

8.1 False Positive Rate: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
8.2 Data Quality and Noise: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
8.3 Scalability and Real-Time Constraints: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

9 Future work Directions 20

9.1 Enhancing Threat Profiling Accuracy: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
9.2 Exploring Advanced NLP Techniques: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
9.3 Expanding Data Sources and Platforms: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
9.4 Enhancing Contextual Awareness with Advanced Data Fusion : . . . . . 21

10 Contributions to Cybersecurity 23
10.1 Practical Impact and Adoption: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
10.2 Long-Term Vision for Cybersecurity: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

11 Conclusion 24

Bibliography 26
 Chapter 1

Introduction

In today’s digital age, the escalation of cyber threats poses serious risks, tar-
geting a broad spectrum of assets from personal data to critical national infrastructure.
These cyber attacks—ranging from malicious software (malware) and deceptive phishing
schemes to extortionate ransomware and crippling Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)
attacks—have not only increased in frequency but also become more advanced and adap-
tive. Traditional security defenses are struggling to keep pace with this evolving threat
landscape, as cybercriminals continuously develop more sophisticated techniques. The
impact on organizations can be devastating, encompassing not just financial losses but
also severe reputational damage, regulatory repercussions, and operational disruptions
that impair their ability to serve clients, protect data, and maintain public trust.
To counter this pressing issue, the proposed system introduces a powerful, automated
framework aimed at cyber threat identification and profiling, harnessing Natural Lan-
guage Processing (NLP) to monitor and analyze large volumes of data in real-time. Lever-
aging advanced NLP techniques—such as Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency
(TF-IDF) for identifying prominent terms, entity recognition for extracting specific data
points, and sentiment analysis for gauging urgency—the system can process unstructured
text to generate actionable insights. Social media serves as a critical data source for this
system, as real-time posts and reports often provide the earliest indications of emerging
cyber threats. By filtering and analyzing these massive data streams, the framework can
detect new threats almost instantly, allowing organizations to respond proactively before
attacks escalate.
The system is designed with flexibility and scalability at its core, featuring a modu-

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AUTOMATED EMERGING CYBER THREAT IDENTIFICATION AND PROFILING USING NLP

lar architecture capable of 24/7 continuous monitoring. This design ensures that it can
seamlessly integrate with an organization’s existing cybersecurity infrastructure, com-
plementing rather than replacing current tools. Its adaptability allows organizations to
extend their cyber defenses without the cost and disruption of a full system overhaul.
Moreover, the development process for this framework underscores the necessity of col-
laboration between data scientists, who bring expertise in data analysis and NLP, and
cybersecurity professionals, who offer insights into threat detection and response. This
partnership is crucial in ensuring the system evolves alongside the cyber threat landscape,
enabling it to respond to new and emerging threats effectively and in real time.

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 Chapter 2

Background and Motivation

2.1 The Growing Threat of Cyber Attacks:

In today’s digital landscape, cyber threats have become increasingly sophisticated, with
attackers continuously evolving their tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to by-
pass traditional security defenses. These attackers, whether motivated by financial gain,
political agendas, or data theft, are now utilizing advanced methods like social engi-
neering, zero-day exploits, and multi-stage attacks, often targeting multiple points of
vulnerability within a system. Unlike in the past, when cyber attacks were typically
isolated incidents, modern attacks are strategically designed to exploit weaknesses across
entire sectors. Industries such as finance, healthcare, and government have become prime
targets due to the sensitive nature of their data and the potential disruption attacks can
cause to their operations.
Operational impacts can be even more damaging, as cyber incidents often force busi-
nesses to shut down services temporarily, eroding customer trust and damaging reputa-
tions. As these risks escalate, there is a heightened demand for a proactive, preemptive
approach to cybersecurity—one that doesn’t just respond to incidents as they occur but
actively monitors and identifies potential risks before they evolve into full-scale attacks.
This need for proactive measures underscores the importance of innovative cybersecurity
frameworks capable of anticipating threats, allowing organizations to stay a step ahead
of attackers.

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AUTOMATED EMERGING CYBER THREAT IDENTIFICATION AND PROFILING USING NLP

2.2 Need for Automation in Threat Detection :

Historically, manual threat detection has been the primary approach in cybersecurity,
relying on teams of analysts to monitor, investigate, and respond to suspicious activities.
However, this manual approach has significant limitations, especially in an era of big data
where organizations must process and analyze vast amounts of information in real time.
As the volume and complexity of cyber threats grow, manual methods are increasingly
time-consuming, labor-intensive, and prone to human error. I
Automation offers a powerful solution to these challenges by enhancing scalability,
speed, and accuracy in threat detection. Automated systems can continuously monitor
large data volumes, processing information far more quickly than human analysts could.
This enables real-time threat detection, where potential risks are identified and flagged
as soon as they arise, minimizing response times and reducing the risk of escalation.
Furthermore, automation significantly reduces human error, as automated algorithms
consistently apply detection criteria without fatigue or oversight lapses. By integrating
advanced techniques like machine learning and natural language processing (NLP), au-
tomated systems can learn from past incidents, refine detection accuracy, and adapt to
emerging threat patterns.

2.3 Key Objectives:

The core objectives of the framework are outlined here, emphasizing the need to develop a
reliable, scalable, and adaptable automated threat detection system. The framework aims
to leverage Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to enhance threat profiling
accuracy and provide cybersecurity teams with real-time alerts for swift response.This sec-
tion also stresses the importance of fostering collaboration between cybersecurity experts
and data scientists to ensure continuous improvements in the framework. Ultimately, the
goal is to create a tool that not only detects threats accurately but is flexible enough to
adapt to new and evolving data sources and threat types.

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 Chapter 3

Framework Overview

3.1 System Architecture:

Fig.1.System Architecture

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AUTOMATED EMERGING CYBER THREAT IDENTIFICATION AND PROFILING USING NLP

The system’s architecture is designed with a modular framework that facilitates stream-
lined data ingestion, processing, analytics, and alert generation. This modular design
comprises interconnected components, each responsible for a specific function, enabling
continuous monitoring of data streams across various sources, such as social media plat-
forms, dark web activities, and cybersecurity discussion forums. Built to operate 24/7,
this architecture not only allows for constant surveillance of the cyber threat landscape
but also integrates seamlessly with existing cybersecurity tools, reinforcing an organiza-
tion’s threat detection capabilities without requiring a complete system overhaul. The
scalable nature of this architecture is essential, as it ensures that the framework can
handle large volumes of data and readily adapt to incorporate new cybersecurity tools
or technologies as they emerge. This adaptability makes the system an enduring and
flexible solution, capable of evolving with advancements in cybersecurity infrastructure.

3.2 Data Collection and Processing:

Effective data collection is at the core of the framework, as it provides the raw material
for identifying and analyzing cyber threats. This component of the system gathers infor-
mation from diverse sources, including real-time social media posts, forums on the dark
web, and other online discussions pertinent to cybersecurity. To streamline the continu-
ous flow of data from social media, the framework uses tools like the Logstash Twitter
Plugin, which enables the automatic collection of relevant tweets and posts discussing
cybersecurity issues. Once collected, these data are stored in an Elasticsearch database,
optimized for fast and efficient data retrieval and analysis. The system then processes this
raw data by filtering out irrelevant content, ensuring that only posts indicating potential
cybersecurity threats are analyzed further. This filtration stage is vital for enhancing the
accuracy and efficiency of the threat detection process, as it eliminates noise and allows
the system to focus on content that poses actual risks, ultimately improving its overall
performance and reliability.

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AUTOMATED EMERGING CYBER THREAT IDENTIFICATION AND PROFILING USING NLP

3.3 Real-Time Threat Identification:

The framework’s real-time analytics module is designed to continually monitor incoming
data, identifying and classifying potential cyber threats as they emerge. This module
leverages machine learning algorithms, which are trained to recognize specific patterns,
keywords, and behaviors commonly associated with cyber threats. By processing each
data point in real-time, the system can detect subtle indicators of potential threats,
including patterns that may indicate new forms of attack. Upon identifying a threat, the
system immediately generates an alert, notifying cybersecurity teams so they can respond
proactively. This real-time capability is a critical component in cybersecurity, where quick
detection and rapid responses can prevent threats from escalating and limit the potential
damage to an organization. The continuous, automated nature of this module reduces
the response time, helping to mitigate threats before they have a chance to impact the
organization significantly.

3.4 Threat Intelligence Integration:

One of the framework’s most valuable features is its integration with existing threat
intelligence sources and databases, which greatly enhances its ability to detect and pro-
file threats. By connecting to established threat intelligence feeds, such as those from
the MITRE ATT&CK framework, industry threat-sharing platforms, and government
databases, the system can augment its analysis with vetted, high-quality threat data.
This integration enables the framework to cross-reference newly identified threats with
a rich database of known tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), improving both
accuracy and context for security teams. The system can provide detailed insights by
correlating current threat data with historical cyber incidents, allowing for the iden-
tification of emerging attack patterns. This alignment with established cybersecurity
standards not only ensures that the framework’s threat profiling remains comprehensive
and timely but also supports proactive defense by offering contextual intelligence. This
capability equips cybersecurity teams with essential insights, enabling them to anticipate,
prevent, and respond to threats with a deeper understanding of the attacker’s strategy
and methods.

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 Chapter 4

Data Collection Methodology

4.1 Sources of Data:

The framework relies on a diverse range of data sources to capture an accurate and timely
picture of the cyber threat landscape. Social media platforms, especially Twitter, play
a critical role as they often serve as the first platform where cybersecurity incidents are
reported or discussed, sometimes even in real time. Twitter posts may reveal early indi-
cators of cyber threats, such as new vulnerabilities, active cyber campaigns, or emerging
tactics shared by cybersecurity experts and affected individuals alike. Additionally, cy-
bersecurity forums provide valuable insights, as they serve as community spaces where
both professionals and enthusiasts share information on new threats, malware strains,
and possible vulnerabilities in existing systems. The framework also monitors the dark
web, where hackers frequently share and discuss new tools, techniques, and exploits. By
gathering data from these channels, the framework gains a comprehensive understanding
of potential threats, drawing from a mix of public discussion, expert analysis, and insider
knowledge shared within hacker communities.

4.2 Data Retrieval Using Twitter API:

Data retrieval from Twitter is a key element of the framework, providing real-time access
to discussions and updates related to cybersecurity. Twitter is a popular platform for
timely information, where professionals and organizations frequently share reports on
newly discovered vulnerabilities, ongoing cyber incidents, and tactics used in current

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AUTOMATED EMERGING CYBER THREAT IDENTIFICATION AND PROFILING USING NLP

cyber threats. The framework utilizes the Logstash Twitter Plugin to connect seamlessly
with the Twitter API, allowing it to pull in tweets containing relevant cybersecurity
keywords and hashtags. This plugin enables the system to gather large volumes of tweets
systematically, filtering them based on specific criteria to retain only the most relevant
information. The system continuously sifts through these tweets in real time, extracting
posts that indicate potential or emerging cyber threats. This focused approach helps
ensure that the framework remains up-to-date with the latest cybersecurity developments,
capturing actionable intelligence on new risks as they surface.

4.3 Time-Window Data Collection:

The framework employs a sliding time window approach for data collection, designed to
continuously capture the most recent cybersecurity information within a defined time-
frame. This approach allows the system to remain highly responsive to evolving trends
and imminent threats by analyzing only the latest data within each time window. By
periodically updating the window, the system ensures that data analysis reflects the cur-
rent state of the cyber landscape, minimizing the risk of overlooking critical developments
due to outdated information. In cases of heightened threat activity, the system can ad-
just the time window to capture higher volumes of data more frequently, ensuring that
urgent threats are prioritized for rapid detection. This approach also incorporates his-
torical data, which allows the system to recognize and analyze threat patterns over time.
By tracking these patterns, the framework can anticipate potential future threats and
offer predictive insights, bolstering proactive cybersecurity efforts and improving overall
defense preparedness.

4.4 Data Preprocessing and Filtering:

Before the collected data can be effectively analyzed, it must go through a series of pre-
processing and filtering steps to ensure only relevant, high-quality information is retained.
This step is crucial because the raw data gathered from social media, forums, and dark
web sources often contains a high volume of noise—unrelated posts, duplicate entries, or
ambiguous language—that can obscure meaningful insights. Data preprocessing in this

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AUTOMATED EMERGING CYBER THREAT IDENTIFICATION AND PROFILING USING NLP

framework begins with text normalization, which standardizes elements such as capital-
ization, punctuation, and spelling variations to make the text easier for machine learning
algorithms to analyze. Additionally, non-textual content, such as images or unrelated
metadata, is removed to streamline processing.
Once normalized, the data undergoes language filtering to exclude content in lan-
guages that the framework is not configured to analyze. This step ensures that the
focus remains on high-quality, interpretable data in languages relevant to the organi-
zation’s security needs. Following language filtering, the framework employs natural
language processing (NLP) techniques like stop-word removal, stemming, and lemmati-
zation. Stop-word removal eliminates common, non-informative words (e.g., ”the,” ”is,”
”at”) that can clutter the analysis, while stemming and lemmatization reduce words to
their root forms (e.g., ”running” to ”run”), ensuring consistency across different word
variations.

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 Chapter 5

NLP Techniques in Cyber Threat

Detection:

5.1 TF-IDF and Context Analysis:

Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) is a foundational text analysis
technique within the framework, transforming unstructured text data from social media
and other sources into a structured format that highlights key cybersecurity-related terms.
TF-IDF assigns weight to words based on their frequency within a specific document
relative to their frequency across all documents, giving prominence to terms that are
unique and relevant to each data source. By focusing on the most distinctive terms, TF-
IDF helps the framework distinguish emerging threats or tactics by identifying sudden
spikes in the frequency of particular keywords or phrases. For instance, if mentions of a
specific malware variant or vulnerability dramatically increase within a short time frame,
TF-IDF can flag this as an anomaly worth further investigation. This technique not only
provides context to the system but also enables it to track the evolution of threats by
analyzing changes in keyword patterns over time. By detecting these shifts in context,
TF-IDF helps cybersecurity teams quickly identify and respond to potential threats,
making it a critical tool for proactive defense.

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AUTOMATED EMERGING CYBER THREAT IDENTIFICATION AND PROFILING USING NLP

5.2 Entity Recognition and Classification:

Entity recognition and classification play a vital role in enhancing the system’s under-
standing of specific cybersecurity threats. Using natural language processing (NLP)
models trained to recognize entities related to cybersecurity, such as malware names,
attack types, vulnerabilities, and threat actors, the framework can extract critical ele-
ments from unstructured text data. For example, the system can identify ”WannaCry”
as a ransomware strain or ”SQL injection” as a method of attack. Once identified, these
entities are classified according to cybersecurity frameworks like the MITRE ATT&CK
framework, which categorizes tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used by at-
tackers. This classification provides valuable insights into the methods and motivations
behind each threat, enabling the system to assess the severity and implications of various
incidents. By systematically categorizing these entities, the framework can build detailed
threat profiles that support faster and more effective responses, equipping security teams
with a clear understanding of the type and origin of each threat, as well as potential
countermeasures.

5.3 Sentiment Analysis:

Sentiment analysis evaluates the tone and emotional intensity within social media posts
or forum discussions related to cybersecurity incidents. This technique enables the frame-
work to assess public and industry reactions to specific threats, which can provide addi-
tional layers of context and priority for security teams. Sentiment analysis assigns scores
to posts based on the positivity, negativity, or neutrality expressed, helping the frame-
work determine the urgency and potential impact of each threat. For example, a high
volume of negative sentiment surrounding a new vulnerability may indicate growing con-
cern or even panic, signaling to cybersecurity teams that the threat may be particularly
severe or require immediate attention. Sentiment analysis also helps in identifying trends
in public perception, which can be crucial for assessing how threats are perceived across
different sectors and regions. This information empowers cybersecurity teams to priori-
tize response efforts and communicate effectively, addressing the most pressing concerns
while maintaining situational awareness.

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AUTOMATED EMERGING CYBER THREAT IDENTIFICATION AND PROFILING USING NLP

5.4 Topic Modeling for Threat Trend Analysis:

Topic modeling is a powerful NLP technique that allows the framework to identify over-
arching themes within vast datasets, providing a macro-level view of the evolving cyber
threat landscape. One popular topic modeling technique, Latent Dirichlet Allocation
(LDA), groups related discussions based on common topics, helping the framework de-
tect patterns and recurring themes that may indicate long-term threat trends. By au-
tomatically clustering related terms and phrases, topic modeling can uncover underlying
structures within the data, highlighting topics such as ransomware, phishing, or zero-day
vulnerabilities, and showing how often these themes appear over time. This ability to de-
tect and track trends supports strategic threat forecasting, allowing cybersecurity teams
to anticipate potential surges in specific types of attacks, such as a rise in ransomware
during certain seasons or around major events. By recognizing these periodic or emerging
patterns, the framework supports a forward-looking approach, allowing analysts to allo-
cate resources more effectively, strengthen defenses in anticipation of high-risk threats,
and enhance their organization’s preparedness for potential future attacks.

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 Chapter 6

Threat Profiling and Classification

6.1 Threat Profiling Accuracy and F1 Score:

The framework’s accuracy in threat profiling is assessed using the F1 score, a crucial
metric that balances precision (the proportion of true positive identifications among all
positive identifications) and recall (the proportion of true positives identified out of all
actual positives). Achieving an F1 score of 77 percent reflects the system’s capability
to profile cyber threats with substantial accuracy, especially given the variability and
complexity of social media data. This score indicates that the framework is effectively
distinguishing between different types of threats, tactics, and techniques based on real-
time data inputs. The profiling process involves categorizing threats into 14 tactics as per
the MITRE ATTCK framework, making it comprehensive and actionable for cybersecu-
rity teams. Such accuracy in profiling allows the framework to provide relevant threat
intelligence, equipping analysts with detailed insights that are crucial for prioritizing and
responding to threats with efficiency and confidence.

6.2 Reducing False Positive:

Reducing false positives is essential to maintain the framework’s credibility and prevent
”alert fatigue” among cybersecurity analysts. False positives occur when the system
incorrectly flags benign information as a threat, leading to unnecessary workload for

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AUTOMATED EMERGING CYBER THREAT IDENTIFICATION AND PROFILING USING NLP

analysts who must verify each alert. However, through iterative refinements in NLP al-
gorithms, data filtering techniques, and the adjustment of classification thresholds, the
framework has successfully reduced the false positive rate to approximately 15 percent.
These improvements have made the alerting process more streamlined and reliable, al-
lowing security teams to focus on genuine threats rather than spending time on irrelevant
alerts. Reducing false positives not only enhances efficiency but also increases trust in the
framework’s alerts, ensuring analysts are more likely to respond promptly to real threats.

6.3 Case Study: PetitPotam Thread:

The PetitPotam case study exemplifies the framework’s effectiveness in early threat de-
tection and real-world impact. PetitPotam, a critical vulnerability targeting Windows
systems, became widely known due to its potential for enabling attackers to forcefully
authenticate and gain access to sensitive resources. During its initial detection phase,
the framework identified patterns associated with PetitPotam on social media and issued
an alert to the Threat Intelligence Team a full 17 days before an official security patch
was released. This early alert allowed the team to implement immediate investigation
and mitigation measures, limiting the potential damage that could have been caused by
this vulnerability. By enabling preemptive action, the framework not only helps reduce
potential damage but also reinforces the importance of early detection in preventing the
exploitation of newly discovered vulnerabilities.

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 Chapter 7

Results and Observations

7.1 Experimental Findings:

During a comprehensive 70-day experimental phase, the framework analyzed an impres-
sive dataset of over 204,000 tweets to assess its threat detection accuracy, speed, and
reliability. This testing period provided a real-world simulation of high-volume, real-time
data processing, enabling the framework to encounter and learn from various types of
cybersecurity discussions. Throughout the experiment, the framework generated 212 ac-
tionable alerts, signaling potential threats based on the frequency, context, and sentiment
of key terms. Initially, the system’s false positive rate was 38 percent, which highlighted
the challenges of filtering irrelevant data and noise inherent to social media platforms.
Continuous algorithm refinements, including adjustments to keyword filtering, context
analysis, and threshold settings, successfully reduced this false positive rate over time.

7.2 Alert Generation and Response Time:

The framework’s alert generation capabilities significantly improved response times, al-
lowing cybersecurity teams to act promptly on credible threats. Feedback from users
indicated that the alerts provided were highly relevant, increasing situational awareness
and enabling faster, more targeted responses to emerging risks.

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AUTOMATED EMERGING CYBER THREAT IDENTIFICATION AND PROFILING USING NLP

7.3 Comparative Analysis

In comparing the framework’s performance with traditional threat detection methods,
the automated system displayed distinct advantages in terms of speed, accuracy, and
scalability. Traditional manual methods, which rely on human analysis and rule-based
detection, often struggle with the sheer volume and velocity of data generated in real
time on platforms like Twitter. Compared to standard approaches, the framework’s au-
tomated analysis and alerting system demonstrated faster and more reliable insights into
emerging threats. By reducing response times and lowering false positives, the framework
outperformed conventional methods, offering a modernized solution better equipped to
handle the demands of today’s high-paced and ever-evolving cyber threat landscape. This
comparative analysis highlights the value of automation in providing timely, relevant, and
scalable threat detection capabilities essential for robust cybersecurity defense.

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 Chapter 8

Challenges and Limitations

8.1 False Positive Rate:

The framework initially encountered high false-positive rates, which created an added
burden on cybersecurity analysts. High false positives can lead to ”alert fatigue,” where
the volume of alerts becomes overwhelming and reduces the effectiveness of the response.
However, the system was refined to lower the false-positive rate to around 15 percent,
enhancing the precision and reliability of alerts. Reducing false positives remains a key fo-
cus to improve the system’s accuracy and efficiency further, allowing analysts to dedicate
their time to true threats rather than verifying unnecessary alerts.

8.2 Data Quality and Noise:

Data quality and noise present ongoing challenges for the framework, particularly given
the variability and inconsistency of social media content. Social media platforms often
contain irrelevant or misleading information, which can affect the accuracy of the frame-
work’s threat detection. To counter this, the system applies rigorous filtering techniques
to isolate relevant cybersecurity discussions and reduce the impact of noise. Despite
these efforts, maintaining high-quality data inputs is essential to ensure that the frame-
work delivers reliable threat intelligence and does not inadvertently include irrelevant
data.

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AUTOMATED EMERGING CYBER THREAT IDENTIFICATION AND PROFILING USING NLP

8.3 Scalability and Real-Time Constraints:

Scalability is an important consideration as the volume of cybersecurity-related data
continues to grow. The framework needs to process data in real-time, which can be
challenging as the system scales up to handle larger datasets. Real-time processing is es-
sential for prompt threat detection and timely response, so the framework must maintain
high-speed processing without compromising accuracy. Achieving this balance between
scalability and real-time constraints is critical for the long-term effectiveness of the system
as a comprehensive cybersecurity solution.

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 Chapter 9

Future work Directions

9.1 Enhancing Threat Profiling Accuracy:

Improving the accuracy of threat profiling remains a critical goal for advancing the frame-
work’s capabilities in detecting and categorizing cyber threats. While the current F1 score
of 77 percent indicates a strong starting point, a higher precision level is needed to en-
sure even greater reliability in real-world applications. Future work will involve refining
NLP algorithms and the underlying classification models to minimize misclassifications,
thereby reducing the risk of false positives and false negatives. Achieving this will likely
include leveraging techniques such as deep learning models like BERT or transformers,
which have shown success in handling complex language patterns in large datasets. Ad-
ditionally, the framework could be trained on a more extensive and diverse set of labeled
data specific to cybersecurity contexts, helping the system differentiate between various
types of threats more accurately. This improvement in profiling precision would enable
the framework to provide cybersecurity teams with more specific, high-confidence alerts,
ensuring they can respond quickly and prioritize threats effectively based on their severity
and relevance .

9.2 Exploring Advanced NLP Techniques:

Incorporating advanced NLP techniques like Part of Speech (POS) tagging, semantic
analysis, and named entity linking offers promising avenues to enrich the framework’s
understanding of language structure and context in cybersecurity discussions. POS tag-

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AUTOMATED EMERGING CYBER THREAT IDENTIFICATION AND PROFILING USING NLP

ging, for instance, could enable the system to interpret complex sentence structures and
discern relationships between words, which can be particularly useful in understanding
the nuanced descriptions often found in cybersecurity alerts and threat reports. Seman-
tic analysis could add further depth by allowing the system to grasp subtle differences
in meaning, context, or sentiment, which are essential for identifying emerging threats or
new vulnerabilities that are described in varied terminology. Exploring these advanced
NLP techniques would increase the framework’s adaptability to the fast-evolving lan-
guage and jargon of cybersecurity, enhancing its ability to detect and interpret threats
accurately, regardless of the terminology or phrasing used in online discussions.

9.3 Expanding Data Sources and Platforms:

One key direction for future enhancement is expanding the framework’s data sources to
capture a broader range of cybersecurity-relevant content beyond mainstream platforms
like Twitter and common forums. Adding specialized cybersecurity forums, industry-
specific blogs, and continuous monitoring of the dark web can provide unique insights
into tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used by cyber adversaries. Monitoring
the dark web, for example, would give the framework access to underground hacker
discussions, where cybercriminals often share or sell details about vulnerabilities, exploits,
and malware. Additionally, collecting data from diverse regions and languages could help
detect threats emerging from international sources. Expanding these data sources would
allow the framework to analyze a more comprehensive view of cybersecurity discussions,
increasing its potential to identify and assess a wider variety of threats at earlier stages,
providing organizations with timely intelligence on newly developing risks.

9.4 Enhancing Contextual Awareness with Advanced

Data Fusion :
Enhancing the framework’s contextual awareness through advanced data fusion tech-
niques is another promising direction. While the current system relies primarily on text
data from sources like social media and forums, integrating multi-modal data sources—such
as images, videos, and network logs—would offer a richer, more layered understanding

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AUTOMATED EMERGING CYBER THREAT IDENTIFICATION AND PROFILING USING NLP

of each identified threat. Data fusion would allow the framework to cross-validate and
enrich text-based insights with other types of data to improve credibility and context. For
instance, if an uptick in cybersecurity-related discussions on Twitter mentions a specific
vulnerability, the system could cross-reference these mentions with related images (like
screenshots of malware behavior), network logs showing unusual traffic patterns, or videos
detailing new attack techniques. Incorporating these additional data types would enable
a more thorough assessment of each threat, validating findings and helping cybersecurity
teams better understand the full scope of a potential threat. Advanced data fusion would
also support the system’s ability to provide more contextually accurate and actionable
intelligence, empowering security analysts to make informed decisions quickly.

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 Chapter 10

Contributions to Cybersecurity

10.1 Practical Impact and Adoption:

This framework has the potential to significantly impact the cybersecurity landscape by
providing a practical, automated solution for real-time threat detection and profiling. By
offering an efficient alternative to manual threat monitoring, the framework encourages
organizations to adopt automation to improve their defenses against cyber threats. Its
seamless integration with existing cybersecurity tools makes it a versatile addition to
current security protocols, enabling organizations to adopt a proactive approach to threat
detection without a substantial overhaul of their infrastructure.

10.2 Long-Term Vision for Cybersecurity:

The framework’s long-term vision extends beyond simple threat detection, aiming to con-
tribute to a comprehensive cybersecurity ecosystem that evolves with emerging threats
and technological advances. Collaboration with cybersecurity firms and research institu-
tions is key to refining the framework further, with the goal of creating a global, adaptive
intelligence network capable of identifying and mitigating threats on a larger scale. Ul-
timately, the framework envisions a future where automated, real-time threat detection
is an integral part of cybersecurity operations worldwide, facilitating a safer digital envi-
ronment.

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 Chapter 11

Conclusion

This framework showcases the transformative potential of a fully automated, NLP-

driven approach to cyber threat detection, highlighting its superiority over traditional,
manual monitoring methods. By employing advanced NLP techniques—including TF-
IDF, entity recognition, and sentiment analysis—the system efficiently analyzes vast
streams of unstructured data from social media, dark web forums, and other online
sources. This real-time data processing capability empowers organizations to detect
emerging threats quickly and accurately, providing timely alerts that support a proactive
approach to cybersecurity. Unlike traditional systems that often struggle to keep pace
with the high volume and rapid evolution of cyber threats, this NLP-based framework
ensures organizations can respond to potential risks before they escalate into significant
security incidents.
While the framework offers significant advantages, challenges remain in managing
data quality, reducing false positives, and ensuring scalability as data volumes increase.
False positives, in particular, can lead to alert fatigue, reducing the efficiency of security
teams; therefore, ongoing refinement of NLP algorithms and enhanced filtering techniques
are essential. Improving the accuracy and precision of the system will require iterative
improvements to the framework’s data processing pipeline, including more sophisticated
relevance filtering, noise reduction, and real-time processing optimizations. Additionally,
as data sources continue to diversify and grow, scaling the framework to handle this
expansion without sacrificing performance will be crucial, underscoring the importance
of flexible, adaptable architecture in automated threat detection systems.

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AUTOMATED EMERGING CYBER THREAT IDENTIFICATION AND PROFILING USING NLP

Ultimately, this framework represents a significant step forward in cybersecurity, illus-

trating the value of NLP-driven automation in transforming how organizations manage
and respond to cyber threats. By providing a scalable, accurate, and responsive tool
for real-time threat identification, the system encourages a shift toward proactive, rather
than reactive, defense strategies. As cyber threats continue to evolve, frameworks like
this will play a critical role in safeguarding digital ecosystems and assets, offering orga-
nizations the agility they need to stay ahead. This project underscores the importance
of further development and collaboration between data science and cybersecurity fields,
paving the way for a more resilient and secure digital future where automation, AI, and
human expertise work together to counter complex and ever-changing cyber threats.

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