It refers to domains that have not been active or resolvable through DNS for an extended period. Dead domains often indicate abandoned or decommissioned infrastructure but can also be reactivated later for malicious purposes, a tactic known as domain reanimation.
Three questions every analyst asks before acting on this signal.
It refers to domains that have not been active or resolvable through DNS for an extended period. Dead domains often indicate abandoned or decommissioned infrastructure but can also be reactivated later for malicious purposes, a tactic known as domain reanimation.
An inactive domain is temporarily non-resolving, often due to misconfiguration, expired hosting, or intentional shutdown. Unlike dormant domains, they may return online, which makes monitoring for reactivation important from a threat-hunting perspective.
It designates domains that have never shown any DNS resolution activity since registration. Such domains can be part of pre-staged malicious infrastructure or domain parking setups used for future campaigns.
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": "ip_down_domain",
"name": "Dead Domain",
"group": "dns_history",
"subgroup": "ip_stability_retention",
"direction": "malicious",
"evidence": {
"current_ip_lifespan_days": 612,
"median_ip_lifespan_days": 540,
"ip_churn_30d": 1,
"last_ip_change_days_ago": 612
}
}7 other signals share the same subgroup. They detect related behaviors and often co-fire on the same IOC.
It means the domain operates on an IP address that is not shared with any other unrelated domains. This indicates a dedi…
It indicates that the domain has maintained the same IP address or hosting infrastructure for an extended period—weeks, …
These refer to domains that have consistently resolved through DNS over a long period. Long-lived DNS activity often ind…
It indicates that the domain has recently become active and started responding to DNS queries after a period of inactivi…
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