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Inactive HTTP Service Detected (Base Domain)

It indicates that the base domain’s web service (HTTP/HTTPS) is no longer responding or has gone offline. This behavior typically appears when domains used in malicious operations are abandoned, deactivated, or taken down after detection. However, it can also occur with legitimate domains that have been retired, expired, or are under maintenance.

Also surfaces as:
Long-term Inactive HTTP Service Detected (Base Domain)Newly Inactive HTTP Service Detected (Base Domain)
Analyst Q&A

What this signal answers

The questions every analyst asks before acting on this signal.

What it detects01

What does 'Inactive/Long-term Inactive HTTP Service (Base Domain)' mean in SOC or domain analysis?

It indicates that the base domain’s web service (HTTP/HTTPS) is no longer responding or has gone offline. This behavior typically appears when domains used in malicious operations are abandoned, deactivated, or taken down after detection. However, it can also occur with legitimate domains that have been retired, expired, or are under maintenance.

Why it matters02

Why are HTTP-inactive base domains relevant to SOC monitoring?

Because requests to long-inactive or newly deactivated base domains often signal outdated configurations, infected endpoints trying to reconnect to old C2 servers, or threat actor cleanup activity. Monitoring traffic toward these domains helps analysts identify potential compromise remnants and legacy threat callbacks.

How analysts use it03

What does 'Newly Inactive HTTP Service (Base Domain)' indicate?

It describes a base domain that was recently operational but has become unresponsive at the HTTP level. In threat intelligence, such sudden downtime can indicate a domain being decommissioned after malicious use, taken down by defenders, or intentionally disabled by threat actors to evade detection.

Often paired with:alert_only
Evidence shape

What Inactive HTTP Service Detected (Base Domain) looks like in the response

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.

json
{
  "slug": "http_down_domain",
  "name": "Inactive HTTP Service Detected (Base Domain)",
  "group": "http_crawling_history",
  "subgroup": "http_availability_stability",
  "direction": "malicious",
  "evidence": {
    "uptime_30d_pct": 99.4,
    "status_code_mode": 200,
    "intermittent_failures_30d": 2,
    "last_unreachable_days_ago": 14
  }
}
See in API reference
Siblings

Peers in HTTP Availability & Stability

4 other signals share the same subgroup. They detect related behaviors and often co-fire on the same IOC.

Non-Public Domain

It refers to a domain that operates with restricted accessibility, its HTTP/HTTPS services are either protected, limited…

Malicious
Long-lived HTTP Service Detected

This term refers to a web service (HTTP/HTTPS) that has been continuously active and reachable for a long duration witho…

SafeCore
Newly Active HTTP Service Detected

It indicates that the domain has recently started serving web content over HTTP or HTTPS after a long period of inactivi…

Malicious
Unstable or Intermittent HTTP Service Detected

It refers to a domain whose HTTP or HTTPS service repeatedly switches between being online and offline within short time…

Malicious

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