Threat Intelligence Blog
Research, insights, and updates from the isMalicious team.
isMalicious vs OpenCTI: Why This Is the Wrong Comparison (and How They Work Together)
OpenCTI is a threat intelligence platform and knowledge graph. isMalicious is a data provider that feeds it. Teams searching for an OpenCTI alternative usually need a feed, not a replacement TIP.
STIX/TAXII Threat Feeds: Operational Guide for OpenCTI, MISP, and SIEM Pipelines
How to wire STIX 2.1 and TAXII 2.1 collections into OpenCTI, MISP, or your SIEM — what to poll, how to handle confidence and aging indicators, and where enrichment APIs fit alongside feed ingestion.
isMalicious vs IPQualityScore: Fraud Scoring and Threat Intelligence Are Different Jobs
IPQS scores whether a signup is fraudulent. isMalicious scores whether infrastructure is malicious. The two get compared constantly because both return a number about an IP address — and they answer different questions.
isMalicious vs MISP: Why This Is the Wrong Comparison (and What to Compare Instead)
MISP is where you store and share indicators. isMalicious is where indicators come from. Teams searching for a MISP alternative are usually looking for a feed, not a replacement platform.
Reverse IP Lookup: Pivoting on Infrastructure Without Drowning in Shared Hosting
A reverse IP lookup turns one indicator into a cluster — or into a thousand innocent neighbours. Here is how to tell the difference, and how to pivot on hosting infrastructure without generating false positives.
BlueHammer Defender Exploitation: July 2026 Patch SLA For Windows Fleets
BlueHammer coverage shows why endpoint patching, CISA KEV context, CVE Watch, and IOC enrichment have to work together when local privilege escalation becomes ransomware tradecraft.
CISA KEV Adds Cisco, Chrome, And Arista Flaws: How To Prioritize Active Exploitation
CISA added Cisco SD-WAN, Google Chromium V8, and Arista EOS vulnerabilities to KEV in June 2026. Here is how SOC and vulnerability teams should turn that signal into action.
YellowKey and BitLocker Bypass: How Security Teams Should Re-Baseline Stolen-Device Risk
YellowKey made a quiet assumption loud again: encrypted endpoints still need vulnerability intelligence, asset context, and incident workflows. Here is how to respond when a last-resort control becomes a live risk.
SIEM and SOAR Threat Intelligence Enrichment: Workflows, Field Mapping, and the Metrics That Keep Teams Sane
A SOAR playbook without enrichment is a ticket printer. A SIEM with unbounded threat feeds is a bill. Here is a practical way to design enrichment for Splunk, Sentinel, or Elastic-style stacks—what to store, when to run playbooks, and what to report upward.
Threat Intelligence Risk Scoring: How to Calibrate Reputation, Reduce False Positives, and Defend Your Decisions
A noisy score is worse than no score. Learn what makes a reputation model trustworthy, how to combine multi-source evidence, and how to communicate uncertainty to your SOC and your executives.
Proxy, VPN, Tor, and Datacenter IPs: A Decision Matrix for WAF, Fraud, and SIEM Rules (Without Breaking Real Users)
Not every "datacenter" IP is malicious, and not every Tor exit is a fraudster. This matrix-style guide helps you combine IP type signals with reputation and product context for safer, explainable security decisions.
Threat Intelligence Platforms: Architecture, Data Quality, and High-Signal Feeds
Design TIPs and intel pipelines that scale: normalization, confidence scoring, deduplication, API-first delivery, and how to pair platform investments with analyst workflows.
Building IOC Pipelines: From Raw Indicators to Operational Threat Intelligence in 2026
A practical engineering guide to building indicator of compromise (IOC) pipelines—ingestion, normalization, deduplication, enrichment, scoring, distribution, and feedback—to turn raw threat feeds into operational defense.
Answer-Engine Optimization for Cybersecurity: How to Get Cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude in 2026
Traditional SEO is not enough when users ask large language models for vendor comparisons and step-by-step security guidance. Learn how to structure threat intelligence and security content so AI systems can parse, trust, and cite your brand without hype or ambiguity.
Strategic, Tactical, and Operational Threat Intelligence: Frameworks for Modern Security Programs
Align CTI outputs with audience needs: executive risk narratives, SOC-ready IOCs, and MITRE-mapped TTPs—plus governance models that keep intelligence timely and measurable.
Hash Reputation at Scale: Building Detection Rules That Survive Real Networks
Move beyond one-off hash blocks: design reputation pipelines, reduce false positives, and integrate file intelligence with IP and domain context for production-ready detection engineering.
EPSS vs CVSS vs KEV: How to Prioritize CVEs When Everything Looks Critical
Cut through scoring confusion: compare CVSS severity, EPSS exploit probability, and CISA KEV active exploitation—and learn a practical model for patch and compensating-control decisions.
Initial Access Brokers: How Threat Actors Breach Enterprise Perimeters in 2026
A deep dive into initial access brokers (IABs)—the cybercrime specialists who sell footholds into corporate networks—covering their techniques, pricing, detection signals, and how to defend against the top attack vectors they exploit.
Strategic, Operational, and Tactical Threat Intelligence: A Practitioner's Framework for 2026
A complete guide to the three levels of threat intelligence—strategic, operational, and tactical—with practical examples of consumers, outputs, feeds, and how to connect them into a coherent CTI program.
Real-Time IP Reputation Check: Stop Cyber Threats at the Network Edge
Real-time IP reputation checks give you the power to identify and block malicious actors the moment they connect to your systems. Discover how to implement automated threat detection that works at machine speed, not analyst speed.
Cognitive Hacking: The Battle for Your Mind
Cognitive hacking targets the user, not the machine. It manipulates perception and decision-making through disinformation and psychological triggers.
The Splinternet: Navigating a Fragmented World Wide Web
The global internet is fracturing into regional, regulated intranets. We explore the rise of the "Splinternet" and its impact on cybersecurity and global business.
The Evolution of Threat Intelligence in 2026
Threat intelligence has moved beyond simple blocklists. Explore how AI, context, and real-time integration are shaping the future of cyber defense.
The Dark Web vs. Deep Web: Where Do Cyber Threats Hide?
Confused by the Dark Web and Deep Web? We explain the difference and where cyber threats like stolen credentials and malware actually live.
Expert Threat Intelligence Analysis
Our blog features in-depth analysis from our threat research team. Each article is backed by real data from our analysis of millions of malicious domains, IPs, and URLs across the global threat landscape. Topics include ransomware campaigns, phishing techniques, malware distribution networks, and emerging threat trends. We publish specific intelligence that security teams can immediately use to improve their defenses.
Practical Security Guidance
Beyond threat analysis, we share practical guidance for security practitioners. Our tutorials cover API integration, SIEM configuration, threat hunting techniques, and building effective threat intelligence programs. Whether you're a SOC analyst, security engineer, or CISO, you'll find content tailored to your role and experience level.
Stay Ahead of Emerging Threats
The threat landscape evolves constantly. Our blog keeps you informed about the latest attack techniques, newly discovered vulnerabilities, and emerging threat actors. Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly digests of the most important developments in cybersecurity.
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