Intelligence Categories

Talos, Cisco’s Security Intelligence and Research Group, constantly tracks a broad set of attributes to evaluate conclusions about a given host. The below tables contain alphabetical listings and descriptions of the standard categories used to classify website content and the standard threat categories used to classify attack types.


Updates and Blog Posts

Category Description Example URLs
Adult Directed at adults, but not necessarily pornographic. May include adult clubs (strip clubs, swingers clubs, escort services, strippers); general information about sex, non-pornographic in nature; genital piercing; adult products or greeting cards; information about sex not in the context of health or disease. www.adultentertainmentexpo.com www.sincerelynot.com
Advertisements Banner and pop-up advertisements that often accompany a web page; other advertising websites that provide advertisement content. Advertising services and sales are classified as Business and Industry. http://www.adforce.com http://www.doubleclick.com
Alcohol Alcohol as a pleasurable activity; beer and wine making, cocktail recipes; liquor sellers, wineries, vineyards, breweries, alcohol distributors. Alcohol addiction is classified as Health and Nutrition. Bars and restaurants are classified as Dining and Drinking. http://www.samueladams.com http://www.whisky.com
Animals and Pets Information about domestic animals, livestock, service animals, pets and their care. Veterinary services, medicines, and animal health. Pet and animal training, aquariums, zoos, and animal shows. Includes animal shelters, humane societies, animal centric charities, and sanctuaries, bee keeping, training, and animal husbandry; dinosaurs and extinct animals. petmd.co wheaten.org.uk
Arts Galleries and exhibitions; artists and art; photography; literature and books; performing arts and theater; musicals; ballet; museums; design; architecture. Cinema and television are classified as Entertainment. http://www.rosenthalfineart.com http://www.nga.gov
Astrology Astrology; horoscope; fortune telling; numerology; psychic advice; tarot. http://www.astro.com http://www.astrology.com
Auctions Online and offline auctions, auction houses, and classified advertisements. http://www.craigslist.com http://www.ebay.com
Bulletproof Hosting Infrastructure for hosting services that ignore takedown requests and legal challenges. Their content guidelines tend to be extremely permissive as to what they are willing to host, and their services may be used to support malicious activities.
Business and Industry Marketing, commerce, corporations, business practices, workforce, human resources, transportation, payroll, security and venture capital; office supplies; industrial equipment (process equipment), machines and mechanical systems; heating equipment, cooling equipment; materials handling equipment; packaging equipment; manufacturing: solids handling, metal fabrication, construction and building; passenger transportation; commerce; industrial design; construction, building materials; shipping and freight (freight services, trucking, freight forwarders, truckload carriers, freight and transportation brokers, expedited services, load and freight matching, track and trace, rail shipping, ocean shipping, road feeder services, moving and storage). www.freightcenter.com www.ge.com
Cannabis Websites that focus on the recreational and medicinal consumption of cannabis. Sites may include marketing, discussions about legal and regulatory issues, growth and production, paraphernalia, research, and investment in the cannabis industry. Dispensaries, cannabinoid (CBD oil, THC, etc.) based products are also included. localproduct.co oregonbc.com
Chat and Instant Messaging Web-based instant messaging and chat rooms. www.icq.com www.e-chat.co
Cheating and Plagiarism Promoting cheating and selling written work, such as term papers, for plagiarism. http://www.bestessays.com http://www.superiorpapers.com
Child Abuse Content Worldwide illegal child sexual abuse content.
Cloud and Data Centers Platforms used to serve cloud infrastructure or data center hosting to support an organization's applications, services, or data processing. Due to the de-centralized nature of these domains and IP addresses, a more specific category cannot be applied based on content or ownership. azurewebsites.net s3.amazonaws.com
Computer Security Offering security products and services for corporate and home users. http://www.computersecurity.com http://www.symantec.com
Computers and Internet Information about computers and software, such as hardware, software, software support; information for software engineers, programming and networking; website design; the web and Internet in general; computer science; computer graphics and clipart. Freeware and Shareware is a separate category. http://www.xml.com http://www.w3.org
Conventions, Conferences and Trade Shows Seminars, trade shows, conventions and conferences themed around a particular industry, market, or common interest. May include information about acquiring tickets, registration, abstract or presentation proposal guidelines, workshops, sponsorship details, vendor or exhibitor information, and other marketing or promotional material. This category includes academic, professional, as well as pop-culture events, all of which tend to be a short-lived or annual event. thesmallbusinessexpo.com makerfaire.com
Cryptocurrency Online brokerages and websites that enable users to trade cryptocurrencies; information regarding cryptocurrencies including analysis, commentary, advice, performance indexes, and price charts. General information about cryptomining and mining businesses are included in this category but domains and IP addresses directly involved in mining activities are categorized as Cryptomining. coinbase.com coinsutra.com
Cryptomining Hosts that are actively participating in a cryptocurrency mining pool. give-me-coins.com slushpool.com
DIY Projects Guidance and information to create, improve, modify, decorate and repair something without the aid of experts or professionals. www.diy-tips.co.uk www.thisoldhouse.com
DNS-Tunneling Sites that provide DNS Tunneling as a service. These services can be for PC or mobile and create a VPN connection specifically over DNS to send traffic that may bypass corporate policies and inspection.
Dating Dating, online personals, matrimonial agencies. http://www.eharmony.com http://www.match.com
Digital Postcards Enabling sending of digital postcards and e-cards. www.hallmarkecards.com www.bluemountain.com
Dining and Drinking Eating and drinking establishments; restaurants, bars, taverns, and pubs; restaurant guides and reviews. www.zagat.com www.experiencethepub.com
Domain Faking TLS connections exhibiting no relation between the server IP address and the Server Name Indication (SNI) presented in the TLS handshake. This category represents the case of a TLS session presenting an SNI with a popular public domain, while the server IP address is not associated with the domain.
Dynamic DNS Provider Users may use dynamic DNS services to make certain applications or content accessible via the web from endpoints hosted on dynamically assigned IP addresses. Access is granted through a hostname on the domain owned by the dynamic DNS service. noip.com afraid.org
Dynamic and Residential IP addresses of broadband links that usually indicates users attempting to access their home network, for example for a remote session to a home computer. 109.60.192.55
Education Education-related, such as schools, colleges, universities, teaching materials, and teachers' resources; technical and vocational training; online training; education issues and policies; financial aid; school funding; standards and testing. http://www.education.com http://www.greatschools.org
Encrypted DNS Encrypted DNS requests using HTTPS (DoH), TLS (DoT), QUIC (DoQ), or similar technologies. These protocols are typically used as a layer of security and privacy by end-users, but the encryption hides the content and destination of the request, and the request is passed through a third-party. cloudflare-dns.com dns.google.com
Entertainment Details or discussion of films; music and bands; television; celebrities and fan websites; entertainment news; celebrity gossip; entertainment venues. Compare the Arts category. http://www.eonline.com http://www.ew.com
Extreme Material of a sexually violent or criminal nature; violence and violent behavior; tasteless, often gory photographs, such as autopsy photos; photos of crime scenes, crime and accident victims; excessive obscene material; shock websites. http://www.car-accidents.com http://www.crime-scene-photos.com
Fashion Clothing and fashion; hair salons; cosmetics; accessories; jewelry; perfume; pictures and text relating to body modification; tattoos and piercing; modeling agencies. Dermatological products are classified as Health and Nutrition. www.fashion.net www.styleseat.com
File Transfer Services File transfer services with the primary purpose of providing download services and hosted file sharing. www.sharefile.com www.wetransfer.com
Filter Avoidance Promoting and aiding undetectable and anonymous web usage, including cgi, php and glype anonymous proxy services. http://www.bypassschoolfilter.com http://www.filterbypass.com
Finance Primarily financial in nature, such as accounting practices and accountants, taxation, taxes, banking, insurance, investing, the national economy, personal finance involving insurance of all types, credit cards, retirement and estate planning, loans, mortgages. Stock and shares are classified as Online Trading. http://www.finance.yahoo.com http://www.bankofamerica.com
Freeware and Shareware Providing downloads of free and shareware software. www.freewarehome.com www.filehippo.com
Gambling Casinos and online gambling; bookmakers and odds; gambling advice; competitive racing in a gambling context; sports booking; sports gambling; services for spread betting on stocks and shares. Websites dealing with gambling addiction are classified as Health and Nutrition. Government-run lotteries are classified as Lotteries. http://www.888.com http://www.gambling.com
Games Various card games, board games, word games, and video games; combat games; sports games; downloadable games; game reviews; cheat sheets; computer games and Internet games, such as role-playing games. http://www.games.com http://www.shockwave.com
Generative AI Web sites whose primary purpose is to use artificial intelligence models to generate output in the form of text, audio, video, or images based on user-supplied prompts. Technologies which tangentially use generative AI as a part of their service are not included.
Government and Law Government websites; foreign relations; news and information relating to government and elections; information relating to the field of law, such as attorneys, law firms, law publications, legal reference material, courts, dockets, and legal associations; legislation and court decisions; civil rights issues; immigration; patents and copyrights; information relating to law enforcement and correctional systems; crime reporting, law enforcement, and crime statistics; military, such as the armed forces, military bases, military organizations; anti-terrorism. http://www.usa.gov http://www.law.com
Hacking Discussing ways to bypass the security of websites, software, and computers. http://www.hackthissite.org http://www.gohacking.com
Hate Speech Websites promoting hatred, intolerance, or discrimination on the basis of social group, color, religion, sexual orientation, disability, class, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity; sites promoting racism; sexism; racist theology; hate music; neo-Nazi organizations; supremacism; Holocaust denial. www.kkk.com www.aryanunity.com
Health and Medicine Health care; diseases and disabilities; medical care; hospitals; doctors; medicinal drugs; mental health; psychiatry; pharmacology; exercise and fitness; physical disabilities; vitamins and supplements; sex in the context of health (disease and health care); tobacco use, alcohol use, drug use, and gambling in the context of health (disease and health care). webmd.com health.com
Humor Jokes, sketches, comics and other humorous content. Adult humor likely to offend is classified as Adult. www.pun.me www.jokes.com
Hunting Hunting and Fishing Professional or sport hunting, gun clubs, and other hunting related sites. www.bulletsafaris.com mfha.org
Illegal Activities Promoting crime, such as stealing, fraud, illegally accessing telephone networks; computer viruses; terrorism, bombs, and anarchy; websites depicting murder and suicide as well as explaining ways to commit them. www.ekran.no pyrobin.com
Illegal Downloads Providing the ability to download software or other materials, serial numbers, key generators, and tools for bypassing software protection in violation of copyright agreements. Torrents are classified as Peer File Transfer. www.keygenninja.com www.rootscrack.com
Illegal Drugs Information about recreational drugs, drug paraphernalia, drug purchase and manufacture. www.shroomery.org www.planetsteroids.com
Infrastructure and Content Delivery Networks Content delivery infrastructure and dynamically generated content; websites that cannot be classified more specifically because they are secured or otherwise difficult to classify. http://www.akamai.net http://www.webstat.net
Internet Telephony Telephonic services using the Internet. www.skype.com www.getvoca.com
Internet of Things Domains used to monitor the general health, activity, or aid in the configuration of Internet of Things (IoT) and other network-aware electronics. Additionally these sites may provide software or firmware updates or allow remote access to administer the device. IoT exists in both consumer and professional segments, in products such as printers, televisions, thermostats, system monitoring, automation, and smart appliances. samsungotn.net transport.nest.com
Job Search Career advice; resume writing and interviewing skills; job placement services; job databanks; permanent and temporary employment agencies; employer websites. http://www.careerbuilder.com http://www.monster.com
Lingerie and Swimsuits Intimate apparel and swimwear, especially when modeled. http://www.swimsuits.com http://www.victoriassecret.com
Lotteries Sweepstakes, contests and state-sponsored lotteries. http://www.calottery.com http://www.flalottery.com
Lying DNS DNS servers that respond to popular domain name queries with incorrect IP addresses. This can be the case of either a legitimate but compromised DNS server or a malicious DNS server.
Military Military, such as the armed forces, military bases, military organizations, and anti-terrorism. www.goarmy.com www.todaysmilitary.com
Mobile Phones Short Message Services (SMS); ringtones and mobile phone downloads. Cellular carrier websites are included in the Business and Industry category. http://www.textanywhere.com/ http://www.zedge.net
Museums Museums and exhibits, both online and physical, dedicated to preserving information regarding subjects that could be of general interest or highly specialized. Subjects could range from art, history, science, or be of cultural importance. ushmm.org museodelasmomiasdeguanajuato.negocio.site
Nature and Conservation Sites related to natural resources; ecology and conservation; forests; wilderness; plants; flowers; forest conservation; forest, wilderness, and forestry practices; forest management (reforestation, forest protection, conservation, harvesting, forest health, thinning, and prescribed burning); agricultural practices (agriculture, gardening, horticulture, landscaping, planting, weed control, irrigation, pruning, and harvesting); pollution issues (air quality, hazardous waste, pollution prevention, recycling, waste management, water quality, and the environmental cleanup industry). nature.org thepottedgarden.co.uk
News News; headlines; newspapers; television stations; magazines; weather; ski conditions. http://www.cnn.com news.bbc.co.uk
Non-governmental Organizations Non-governmental organizations such as clubs, lobbies, communities, non-profit organizations and labor unions. http://www.panda.org http://www.unions.org
Non-sexual Nudity Nudism and nudity; naturism; nudist camps; artistic nudes. www.1001fessesproject.com www.naturistsociety.com
Not Actionable Sites that have been analyzed but are unreachable, have no data, or are too dynamic to be assigned a more specific category.
Online Communities Affinity groups; special interest groups; web newsgroups; message boards. Excludes websites classified as Professional Networking or Social Networking. www.reddit.com www.stackexchange.com
Online Document Sharing and Collaboration Cloud-based software used to create, convert, or edit documents. Collaboration and sharing features may be available with access permissions typically configured by the author. Documents may be stored online or available to download. pastebin.com docs.google.com
Online Meetings Online meetings, desktop sharing, remote access, and other tools that facilitate multi-location collaboration. www.join.me www.teamviewer.com
Online Storage and Backup Offsite and peer-to-peer storage for backup, sharing, and hosting. http://www.adrive.com http://www.dropbox.com
Online Trading Online brokerages; websites that enable the user to trade stocks online; information relating to the stock market, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, brokers, stock analysis and commentary, stock screens, stock charts, IPOs, stock splits. Services for spread betting on stocks and shares are classified as Gambling. Other financial services are classified as Finance. www.tdameritrade.com www.etrade.com
Organizational Email Websites used to access business email (often via Outlook Web Access). mail.zoho.com webmail.edmc.edu
Paranormal UFOs, ghosts, cryptid, telekenesis, urban legends, and myths. www.ghoststudy.com www.ufocasebook.com
Parked Domains Websites that monetize traffic from the domain using paid listings from an ad network, or are owned by 'squatters' hoping to sell the domain name for a profit. These also include fake search websites which return paid ad links. www.domainzaar.com www.cricketbuzz.com
Peer File Transfer Peer-to-peer file request websites. This does not track the file transfers themselves. www.bittorrent.com www.torrentdownloads.me
Personal Sites Websites about and from private individuals; personal homepage servers; websites with personal contents; personal blogs with no particular theme. www.blogmaverick.com www.stallman.org
Personal VPN Virtual private network (VPN) sites or tools that are typically for personal use, and, may or may not be approved for corporate usage. www.openvpn.net www.torvpn.com
Photo Search and Images Facilitating the storing and searching for, images, photographs, and clip-art. http://www.flickr.com http://www.photobucket.com
Politics Websites of politicians; political parties; news and information on politics, elections, democracy, and voting. www.politics.com www.gp.org
Pornography Sexually explicit text or depictions. Includes explicit anime and cartoons; general explicit depictions; other fetish material; explicit chat rooms; sex simulators; strip poker; adult movies; lewd art; web-based explicit email. http://www.redtube.com http://www.youporn.com
Private IP Addresses as Host Private IP addresses which are used as the host part of a URL. Private IP addresses are meant for internal use behind border routers only, so they are not publicly routable.
Professional Networking Social networking for the purpose of career or professional development. See also Social Networking. http://www.linkedin.com http://www.europeanpwn.net
Real Estate Information that would support the search for real estate; office and commercial space; real estate listings, such as rentals, apartments, and homes; house building. http://www.realtor.com http://www.zillow.com
Recipes and Food Sites dedicated to sharing or discussing information about cooking, recipes, and food or non-alcoholic beverages; cultural aspects of cuisine and food; diet descriptions and adherence tips, general nutrition information about foods. Use and instruction on cooking appliances and utensils. Food celebrity, lifestyle, and enthusiast blogs. allrecipes.com seriouseats.com
Reference City and state guides; maps, time; reference sources; dictionaries; libraries. http://www.wikipedia.org http://www.yellowpages.com
Regional Restricted Sites (Germany) URLs that are restricted in Germany due to content which may be unlawful as determined by the regional government.
Regional Restricted Sites (Great Britain) URLs that are restricted in Great Britain due to content which may be unlawful as determined by the regional government.
Regional Restricted Sites (Italy) URLs that are restricted in Italy due to content which may be unlawful as determined by the regional government.
Regional Restricted Sites (Poland) URLs that are restricted in Poland due to content which may be unlawful as determined by the regional government. betsafe62.com tornadobet69.com
Religion Religious content, information about religions; religious communities. http://www.religionfacts.com http://www.religioustolerance.org
SaaS and B2B Web portals for online business services; online meetings. http://www.netsuite.com http://www.salesforce.com
Safe for Kids Directed at, and specifically approved for, young children. www.discoverykids.com www.nickjr.com
Science and Technology Science and technology, such as aerospace, electronics, engineering, mathematics, and other similar subjects; space exploration; meteorology; geography; environment; energy (fossil, nuclear, renewable); communications (telephones, telecommunications). http://www.physorg.com http://www.science.gov
Search Engines and Portals Search engines and other initial points of access to information on the Internet. http://www.bing.com http://www.google.com
Sex Education Factual websites dealing with sex; sexual health; contraception; pregnancy. http://www.avert.org http://www.scarleteen.com
Shopping Bartering; online purchasing; coupons and free offers; general office supplies; online catalogs; online malls. http://www.amazon.com http://www.shopping.com
Social Networking Social networking. See also Professional Networking. http://www.facebook.com http://www.twitter.com
Social Science Sciences and history related to society; archaeology; anthropology; cultural studies; history; linguistics; geography; philosophy; psychology; women's studies. http://www.archaeology.org http://www.anthropology.net
Society and Culture Family and relationships; ethnicity; social organizations; genealogy; seniors; child-care. www.childcareaware.org www.familysearch.org
Software Updates Websites that host updates for software packages. www.softwarepatch.com www.windowsupdate.com
Sports and Recreation All sports, professional and amateur; recreational activities; fishing; fantasy sports; public parks; amusement parks; water parks; theme parks; zoos and aquariums; spas. http://www.espn.com http://www.recreation.gov
Streaming Audio Real-time streaming audio content including Internet radio and audio feeds. http://www.live-radio.net http://www.shoutcast.com
Streaming Video Real-time streaming video including Internet television, web casts, and video sharing. http://www.hulu.com http://www.youtube.com
Terrorism and Violent Extremism Terrorist or extremist websites that promote death or violence as part of their ideology. Sites may contain graphic or disturbing images, videos, and text. Some sites may not advocate terrorism but share first-hand material of a violent nature.
Tobacco Pro-tobacco websites; tobacco manufacturers; pipes and smoking products (not marketed for illegal drug use). Tobacco addiction is classified as Health and Nutrition. http://www.bat.com http://www.tobacco.org
Transportation Personal transportation; information about cars and motorcycles; shopping for new and used cars and motorcycles; car clubs; boats, airplanes, recreational vehicles (RVs), and other similar items. Note, car and motorcycle racing is classified as Sports and Recreation. http://www.cars.com http://www.motorcycles.com
Travel Business and personal travel; travel information; travel resources; travel agents; vacation packages; cruises; lodging and accommodation; travel transportation; flight booking; airfares; car rental; vacation homes. http://www.expedia.com http://www.lonelyplanet.com
URL Shorteners Domains used to shorten long URLs, brand URLs, or may obscure the final destination of a hyperlink. bit.ly tinyurl.com
Weapons Information relating to the purchase or use of conventional weapons such as gun sellers, gun auctions, gun classified ads, gun accessories, gun shows, and gun training; general information about guns; other weapons and graphic hunting sites may be included. Government military websites are classified as Government and Law. http://www.coldsteel.com http://www.gunbroker.com
Web Cache and Archives Cached or archived web content often stored for preservation or to decrease load times. archive.org webcache.googleusercontent.com
Web Hosting Website hosting; bandwidth services. http://www.bluehost.com http://www.godaddy.com
Web Page Translation Translation of web pages between languages. babelfish.com translate.google.com
Web-based Email Public web-based email services. Websites enabling individuals to access their company or organizations email service are classified as Organizational Email. mail.yahoo.com outlook.com
Category Description
Bogon Bogons are IP Addresses that are known to belong to reserved IP address spaces that is supposedly unallocated or undelagated. Sites in this category are bogons that are known to be sending traffic.
Botnets Known to participate in a Bot network. These include Command and Control (CNC, C2) Servers and sites that deliver or receive data as part of the malicious transaction (bots, zombies).
Cryptojacking Websites with embedded scripts to mine cryptocurrency which use the visitor's web browser. The script may belong to the owner of the web site, or injected by a malicious third-party, and is used as a method of generating revenue.
DNS Tunneling Sites that provide DNS Tunneling as a service. These services can be for PC or mobile and create a VPN connection specifically over DNS to send traffic that may bypass corporate policies and inspection.
Domain Generated Algorithm Domains that are extracted from malware that employ algorithms that generate domains for potential use in future malicious activities such as hosting malware or as an exfiltration destination.
Dynamic DNS Sites that are hosting dynamic DNS services. Attackers can use this technology as an evasion technique against IP blacklisting.
Ebanking Fraud Known to engage in fraudulent activities that relate to electronic banking.
Exploits Sites that are known to host or aide in exploits, drive-by-downloads and other activities that identifies and compromises vulnerable systems.
Graymail Bulk mail with subjective desirability.
High Risk Sites and Locations Domains and hostnames that match against the OpenDNS predictive security algorithms from security graph.
Indicators of Compromise (IOC) Hosts that have been observed to engage in Indicators of Compromise.
Linkshare Websites that share copyrighted files without permission. The web site may be compromised, or otherwise involved in illegal file sharing.
Malicious Sites Sites exhibiting malicious behavior that do not necessarily fit into another, more granular, threat category.
Malware Malicious file (attached or linked).
Mobile Threats Threats that are designed to infect or adversely affect mobile devices such as phones and tablets.
Newly Seen Domains Domains that have recently been registered, or not yet seen via telemetry. The behavior of these URLs has not been observed enough to establish the appropriate reputation. Spammers and malicious actors may rely on newly registered, or previously unused domains to disguise their activities, and avoid interdiction due to low reputation. Some legitimate URLs may briefly appear in this threat category as they become visible.
Open HTTP Proxy Hosts that are known to run Open Web Proxies and offer anonymous web browsing services.
Open Mail Relay Commonly used by Spam and Phishing attackers, sites in this category are hosts that are known to offer anonymous email relaying services.
P2P Malware Node Sites that use Peer-to-Peer sharing as a method to carry out malware related activities.
Phishing Collection of credentials (link).
Poor Sender Reputation Email sender has poor reputation.
Potential DNS Rebinding Public DNS entries that resolve to your network space. These are sometimes associated with DNS rebinding attacks, which allow malicious scripts to access your internal network resources.
Scam Social engineering (conversational).
Spam Junk and other threats.
Spoofing Falsified identity information used to masquerade as a trusted person or organization.
Spyware and Adware Sites that are known to contain, serve, or support Spyware and Adware activities.
TOR Exit Nodes Hosts known to offer exit node services for the Tor Anonymizer network.
This is a default list of categories provided by Talos. Cisco products may have different entries in their reporting interfaces, depending on individual product capabilities.