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WEBPROXY-9005

high

Repeated Blocked Requests to a Domain Followed by a Successful One

Detects the same domain being blocked several times in a row for the same client and then successfully reached - the proxy-visible signature of malware retrying a blocked callback domain until a policy exception, category re-classification, or DNS/domain-fronting change lets the connection through.

Detection logic

{
  "detection_type": "sequence",
  "groupby": "domain",
  "timeframe_minutes": 15
}

Log source: category=web_proxy · Event ID(s): proxy_request

Required log fields

  • action
  • domain
  • src_ip
  • timestamp

Enabling this in your environment

Where: n/a - cross-action correlation within one log source

Log both allowed and blocked actions with a consistent domain field across both, so the two sides of this sequence can be correlated from the same proxy log stream.

Mirrors FW-7004's blocked-then-allowed pattern at the application layer instead of the network layer - useful when the organization's egress control is enforced primarily by the proxy rather than the firewall.

False positives

  • A user or admin who requested and received a legitimate policy exception for a previously miscategorized business domain
  • A domain that was blocked due to a transient category-feed error and corrected shortly after

References