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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 intervals. While legitimate domains typically maintain consistent uptime, such instability is often observed in malicious infrastructures designed to evade detection or control access dynamically.

Analyst Q&A

What this signal answers

The questions every analyst asks before acting on this signal.

What it detects01

What does 'Unstable HTTP Service' mean in SOC or domain analysis?

It refers to a domain whose HTTP or HTTPS service repeatedly switches between being online and offline within short time intervals. While legitimate domains typically maintain consistent uptime, such instability is often observed in malicious infrastructures designed to evade detection or control access dynamically.

Why it matters02

Why is unstable or intermittent HTTP behavior considered suspicious?

Because threat actors frequently use unstable or short-lived hosting setups to avoid automated scanning, takedown actions, or forensic investigation. These servers may only be brought online during active campaigns, distributing malicious payloads or acting as temporary C2 nodes. The frequent up/down pattern is a strong indicator of potential malicious activity.

How analysts use it03

Can legitimate services also show similar instability?

Yes, in rare cases. Small websites, testing environments, or misconfigured servers can exhibit intermittent availability due to maintenance or resource limits. Therefore, this indicator should be correlated with other threat signals (e.g., domain reputation, registration age, or external link behavior) before making a definitive judgment.

Often paired with:alert_only
Evidence shape

What Unstable or Intermittent HTTP Service Detected 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_often_up_and_down",
  "name": "Unstable or Intermittent HTTP Service Detected",
  "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.

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
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 …

Malicious
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
Non-Public Domain

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

Malicious

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