Detecting suspicious or malicious IP activity is one of the most important skills for cybersecurity professionals to possess. Malicious IPs are a critical component of cyberattacks and can be used to target your business’s devices, steal your data, and cause other forms of harm. Luckily, there are many ways to detect malicious IP activity and block these threats before they can cause damage.

Cyber Threat Intelligence

To detect malicious IP activity, you must be able to understand the patterns and behavior of these threats so that you can train your firewalls and other cybersecurity solutions to block them before they cause any harm. For example, if an IP address has been involved in a brute force attack (where attackers attempt to guess passwords or other credentials to gain unauthorized access), this could be indicative of an ongoing cyberattack. The same can be true of IP addresses that have been involved in other types of activity, such as launching distributed denial-of-service attacks or hosting phishing websites and illegal material.

Often, these IP addresses will be flagged and listed on real-time blacklists by security platforms, email providers, and other services that rely on this information to protect their users. Also, an IP address may be flagged when it is repeatedly accessed beyond the limit set by an online service. This is often due to misconfigured devices and compromised systems acting as zombies in botnets. Using a service like Abusix Guardian Intel can provide insights into these flagged and suspicious IP addresses and help you detect malicious activity in your organization.