Threat actors may seek information/indicators from closed or open threat intelligence sources gathered about their own campaigns, as well as those conducted by other adversaries that may align with their target industries, capabilities/objectives, or other operational concerns. These reports may include descriptions of behavior, detailed breakdowns of attacks, atomic indicators such as malware hashes or IP addresses, timelines of a group’s activity, and more. Adversaries may change their behavior when planning their future operations.
Adversaries have been observed replacing atomic indicators mentioned in blog posts in under a week.(Citation: Google Cloud Threat Intelligence VMWare ESXi Zero-Day 2023) Adversaries have also been seen searching for their own domain names in threat vendor data and then taking them down, likely to avoid seizure or further investigation.(Citation: Sentinel One Contagious Interview ClickFix September 2025)
This technique is distinct from Threat Intel Vendors in that it describes threat actors performing reconnaissance on their own activity, not in search of victim information.
Detection of Search Threat Vendor Data
Pre-compromise: Pre-compromise mitigations involve proactive measures and defenses implemented to prevent adversaries from successfully identifying and exploiting weaknesses during the Reconnaissance and Resource Development phases of an attack. These activities focus on reducing an organization's attack surface, identify adversarial preparation efforts, and increase the difficulty for attackers to conduct successful operations. This mitigation can be implemented through the following measures:
Limit Information Exposure:
Protect Domain and DNS Infrastructure:
External Monitoring:
Threat Intelligence:
Content and Email Protections:
Training and Awareness:
No cross-framework mappings available