Primary Source Collection (PSC): The Definitive Guide to Gaining Real-Time Threat Intelligence Advantage

Intelligence That Starts with Your Questions—Not Static Feeds

Executives don’t ask for “feeds.” They ask:
“Are we exposed?” “What’s the impact?” “How do we respond?”

Today, intelligence teams are under pressure to answer those questions with speed, precision, and defensibility across business units that span cyber, fraud, risk, legal, and physical security.

Answering these demands Primary Source Collection (PSC), which requires access to original sources, direct tasking, and analyst context aligned to real business decisions.

That’s why Flashpoint created a new guide: “Upgrade Your Threat Intelligence: Gain the Primary Source Advantage.” This guide details how PSC enables:

• Faster, more relevant answers.
• Customizable, defensible intelligence workflows.
• Operational flexibility for both government and commercial missions.
• De-risked collection infrastructure without the overhead.

What Is Primary Source Collection (PSC)?

Primary Source Collection (PSC) is the ability to collect data directly from original sources, driven by an organization’s unique requirements, not a vendor’s fixed feed.

Unlike aggregation models or resale approaches, Primary Source Collection gives teams access to:

• Sourcing intelligence in real time from closed forums, private messaging channels, fringe platforms, and ephemeral spaces based on the specific questions your internal stakeholders need answered
• Collection aligned to the questions that matter most to your stakeholders
• Insights that are timely, relevant, and tailored to your mission

At its core, Primary Source Collection turns intelligence into a taskable capability, not a fixed feed. It begins with stakeholder requirements and ends with clear, defensible answers to the business’s most urgent questions.

“Primary Source Collection transforms intelligence teams from consumers of generic feeds into drivers of mission-specific intelligence. It’s the difference between knowing an attack is happening in your sector and knowing that your organization is the target.”

Josh Lefkowitz, CEO at Flashpoint

Why PSC Matters: A Force Multiplier for Threat Teams

For modern intelligence teams, PSC is a new operating model. By starting with precise requirements and building collections around them, organizations can:

1. Deliver faster, more tailored answers to stakeholders.
2. Expand value across the business—from Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) and fraud, to brand, compliance, and executive protection.
3. Take control of visibility into emerging risks instead of relying on vendor-defined roadmaps.
4. Prove ROI by linking intelligence to specific, high-impact use cases.

Reduce operational and legal risk by understanding source provenance and access governance.

“In today’s threat landscape, speed and specificity are non-negotiable. Static feeds and broad aggregations leave critical gaps. Flashpoint’s Primary Source Collection delivers real-time visibility into closed, fringe, and fast-moving spaces—because the intelligence you act on should be timely, actionable, and reflect your requirements, not be dictated by a vendor’s generic feed.”

Josh Lefkowitz, CEO at Flashpoint

Core Enterprise Use Cases for Flashpoint’s Primary Source Collection

While often viewed through the lens of CTI, Primary Source Collection supports a wide range of mission-critical functions across an organization. Wherever there’s a need for direct visibility into emerging, hard-to-reach sources, Flashpoint’s PSC delivers:

• Executive Protection: Flashpoint supported the Community Security Initiative in NY, surfacing threats in encrypted chats and helping thwart a potential synagogue attack.
• Fraud Prevention: A global financial institution used PSC to detect stolen and altered checks in underground markets, preventing millions in losses.
• Market Insight & Risk: A manufacturer monitored fringe chatter during a geopolitical crisis, adjusting shifts and travel guidance to protect employees.
• Physical Security: A global manufacturer used Flashpoint’s Primary Source Collection to detect protest planning and supply chain targeting in fringe communities, enabling proactive measures that safeguarded staff, protected facilities, and maintained operational continuity.

How Flashpoint Powers Taskable, Primary Source Collection

Flashpoint enables Primary Source Collection at scale through a purpose-built operational model. When a customer submits a requirement—whether it’s a specific actor, region, or use case—Flashpoint teams are able to:

• Discover new sources in real time using automated and analyst-driven workflows
• Deploy managed attribution environments and tailored personas to access closed or restricted spaces
• Collect original content (posts, screenshots, conversations, files) from dark web forums, Telegram groups, Discord servers, and more
• Process and enrich that data with optical character recognition, entity extraction, and metadata tagging
• Deliver results through APIs, the Ignite platform, or direct analyst collaboration

Next Step: Gain the Primary Source Advantage

Threats are more dynamic than ever. Internal questions are more specific. And the need for timely, personalized intelligence is only growing. 

Primary Source Collection isn’t just a capability. It’s a new operating model for intelligence. One that starts from the inside out, adapts to your team’s needs, and delivers answers that drive action.

This model works. But only if your vendor can actually deliver it.

Get the full guide to learn how to shift from static feeds to real-time, taskable intelligence with Primary Source Collection.

Primary Source Collection (PSC) FAQs

Q: What is Primary Source Collection (PSC) and how does Flashpoint deliver it?

A: Primary Source Collection (PSC) is the practice of collecting real-time threat data directly from original, closed sources (e.g., private forums, encrypted chats) based on a client’s specific questions. Flashpoint delivers this capability by leveraging its access to these closed communities to provide tailored, taskable intelligence instead of generic, static feeds.

Q: Why is PSC more effective than traditional threat intelligence feeds?

A: Traditional feeds are broad data aggregations that can leave critical gaps and deliver irrelevant noise. PSC, in contrast, starts with your organization’s specific high-priority questions, delivering timely, actionable intelligence directly from the sources where threats originate. As Flashpoint CEO Josh Lefkowitz states: “Primary Source Collection transforms intelligence teams from consumers of generic feeds into drivers of mission-specific intelligence.”

Q: What business units can benefit from Primary Source Collection?

A: PSC is a force multiplier across the enterprise. It provides critical, high-impact intelligence for Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI), Fraud Prevention, Executive Protection, Physical Security, Legal/Compliance, and Brand Protection.

Q: How can I learn how to evaluate a vendor’s Primary Source Collection capabilities?

A: The Flashpoint guide, “Upgrade Your Threat Intelligence: Gain the Primary Source Advantage,” provides a clear framework for vendor evaluation and operational strategy to assess collection capabilities based on their ability to answer high-priority internal questions.