It indicates that one or more subdomains under a given domain have recently become active or resolvable in DNS. This pattern often occurs in malicious infrastructures that dynamically generate subdomains to evade blacklists or conduct phishing and command-and-control operations.
Three questions every analyst asks before acting on this signal.
It indicates that one or more subdomains under a given domain have recently become active or resolvable in DNS. This pattern often occurs in malicious infrastructures that dynamically generate subdomains to evade blacklists or conduct phishing and command-and-control operations.
Because attackers frequently register or activate subdomains shortly before launching attacks. These subdomains are often used for specific malicious purposes—such as credential harvesting, hosting payloads, or establishing C2 channels—while the main domain remains seemingly benign.
Yes, legitimate organizations may also activate new subdomains when deploying services, microsites, or API endpoints. Analysts should evaluate other factors like registration timing, SSL issuance, and content reputation to distinguish benign from malicious activity.
A realistic shape of the entry the engine appends to the risk_signals array when this signal fires. Evidence keys are subgroup-default; per-signal overrides documented in the API reference.
{
"slug": "newly_up_subdomain",
"name": "Newly-Activated Subdomain",
"group": "dns_history",
"subgroup": "domain_lifecycle",
"direction": "malicious",
"evidence": {
"first_seen_days_ago": 4,
"activation_event": "newly_resolved",
"dormancy_days_before": 0,
"registered_days_ago": 7
}
}4 other signals share the same subgroup. They detect related behaviors and often co-fire on the same IOC.
It indicates that the domain has recently become active for the first time, either by starting to resolve in DNS or by r…
It refers to a domain that previously maintained a clean reputation and was considered safe, but has later been repurpos…
It indicates that the domain has started resolving to a new IP address for the first time. This event often marks a chan…
It refers to domains where only subdomains are active and the apex (root) domain does not serve any content or DNS respo…
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