By Oren Todoros. Last updated: October 13, 2026

Cyber threats increasingly reach companies from outside the systems they directly control. A phishing site can imitate your login page, a lookalike domain can target customers, and a fake social account can impersonate an executive without ever breaching your network.

That is why threat hunting has become relevant beyond traditional internal security monitoring. BrandShield threat hunters focus on the external side of the problem, investigating phishing sites, impersonation accounts, malicious ads, rogue domains, and other activity that can put customers, employees, and brands at risk.

**Cyber threats are events, conditions, or malicious activity that can harm an organization’s systems, operations, assets, people, or reputation.** The [National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)](https://csrc.nist.gov/glossary/term/cyber_threat) defines a cyber threat as a circumstance or event with the potential to adversely affect an organization through unauthorized access, disclosure, modification, disruption, or other harmful activity.

To understand what external threat hunting looks like in practice, we spoke with Or Mauber, a BrandShield threat-hunting team leader who had been with the company for 18 months at the time of the original interview.

Her answers reveal something that dashboards alone do not show: finding a threat is only the start. Someone still needs to investigate it, determine the risk, understand how it connects to other activity, and decide what should happen next.

## Key Takeaways

– Threat hunting involves investigation, prioritization, validation, and enforcement, not just detection.
– External cybersecurity focuses on threats such as phishing sites, lookalike domains, impersonation accounts, malicious ads, and rogue social profiles outside the corporate network.
– A company’s business activity can change its threat profile, including product launches, new executives, IPOs, and expansion into new markets.
– Automation can accelerate discovery, but human judgment remains important for validating findings and handling enforcement.
– The strongest threat-hunting programs keep security, legal, brand protection, and other relevant teams aligned.

## What Does a Cyber Threat Hunter Actually Do?

Threat hunting is often described as finding malicious activity that automated controls have missed. However, the workflow depends heavily on where the hunter operates.

Traditional threat hunters often investigate endpoints, networks, logs, and internal systems. BrandShield’s threat hunters work across the external attack surface, where the problem may be a phishing website, impersonation account, lookalike domain, rogue app, or malicious advertisement.

That distinction matters. Your firewall cannot remove a fake Instagram profile, and endpoint protection will not take down a cloned website hosted by a third party.

For BrandShield’s team, detection therefore leads into investigation and enforcement.

### What does a typical day entail?

Or explained:

> “I start my day with a quick overview of the cyber threat hunting system, covering all the latest updates. Sometimes, the system indicates that a specific issue, like a new live phishing attack or a new impersonation, requires immediate attention.”

From there, the work moves between investigation, communication, and enforcement.

> “I devote a great deal of my day to client meetings where we discuss recent trends to keep everyone in the loop. Finally, I always set aside time for enforcement work which includes taking down websites, monitoring social media accounts, analyzing ad content, and more.”

Or Mauber, Threat Hunting Team Leader, BrandShield

The workflow shows why external cybersecurity is not just another monitoring function. A detection may require evidence collection, platform reporting, registrar or hosting escalation, account takedown, or further investigation into connected assets.

## How Do Threat Hunters Prioritize Cyber Threats?

Not every finding deserves the same response.

One of the hardest parts of threat hunting is deciding what needs immediate action and what can wait. A live phishing page collecting credentials carries a different level of risk from a dormant lookalike domain with no active content.

The same is true for impersonation. A fake profile with no audience may require monitoring, while an account actively contacting employees or customers can demand immediate enforcement.

The mistake teams often make is treating every alert equally. More alerts do not automatically mean better security. What matters is whether your team can identify the findings most likely to cause harm.

### How do you divide your attention between detection and takedown?

At the time of the interview, Or said enforcement represented a significant part of her workload:

> “Enforcement takes up about 60% of my time. Issues may arise in multiple areas, depending on the client’s field of work and business conduct.”

Or Mauber, Threat Hunting Team Leader, BrandShield

That percentage reflects Or’s workload at the time of the original interview, rather than a benchmark for every threat hunter.

Her broader point remains important. The work does not end when a system flags suspicious activity.

For external threats, your team still needs to decide whether the asset is malicious, preserve the right evidence, determine the enforcement route, and track the result.

## Why Does a Company’s Threat Profile Change?

**A company’s cyber threat profile changes when its visibility, leadership, products, markets, or digital footprint change.**

Attackers follow attention.

A new executive may become the target of impersonation. A product launch may attract counterfeit listings or fake advertisements. Expansion into cryptocurrency or another high-risk sector can expose a company to different phishing and impersonation tactics.

Or explained that the hunting strategy has to adjust with the company:

> “Company changes lead to strategy adjustments.”

She also noted that new leadership can change the impersonation risk because criminals may try to exploit a period when employees are still learning how a new executive communicates.

Product launches create a different problem. Fraudulent ads, copycat stores, counterfeit listings, and social posts may appear around increased consumer interest.

For your team, this means the threat-hunting strategy should not remain static. Monitoring should follow changes in the business.

## Does Every Organization Need a Different Threat-Hunting Strategy?

Yes. A useful threat-hunting program should reflect the organization’s actual exposure rather than applying the same monitoring rules to every customer.

Or described looking beyond broad channel categories:

> “I look beyond the division of websites, apps, or social networks and examine personal C-level accounts, content, business goals, and more.”

Or Mauber, Threat Hunting Team Leader, BrandShield

That approach matters because a financial institution, fashion brand, gaming company, and cryptocurrency business do not face exactly the same external risks.

Your monitoring priorities should reflect the assets attackers are most likely to copy and the channels they are most likely to use.

For example:

1. **Financial services:** phishing pages, lookalike domains, fake login portals, executive impersonation.
2. **Retail and fashion:** counterfeit listings, fake stores, seller networks, fraudulent ads.
3. **Technology companies:** support impersonation, phishing, rogue apps, executive accounts.
4. **Gaming:** fake rewards, phishing sites, account theft, social impersonation, rogue apps.
5. **Crypto:** executive impersonation, fake investment promotions, phishing, social scams, lookalike domains.

The channels differ, but the underlying process remains similar: discover, validate, prioritize, investigate, and act.

## How Does External Cybersecurity Fit Into Threat Hunting?

**External cybersecurity focuses on cyber threats that exist beyond an organization’s own network, endpoints, and cloud environment.**

That includes infrastructure and identities the company does not control but that attackers can use against its customers, employees, or reputation.

Examples include:

– Phishing websites
– Lookalike and typosquatted domains
– Executive impersonation
– Fake social media accounts
– Malicious paid ads
– Rogue mobile apps
– Fake customer-support profiles
– Cloned websites
– Dark web activity linked to the organization

This is a different visibility problem from internal security.

The FBI’s [2025 Internet Crime Report](https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2025_IC3Report.pdf) recorded **191,561 phishing and spoofing complaints in 2025**. That figure does not represent all phishing activity, but it illustrates the scale of externally delivered attacks reported to U.S. authorities.

More recently, the FBI warned in July 2026 about criminals [impersonating the Internet Crime Complaint Center itself](https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2026/PSA260720). The campaign used spoofed websites and AI-generated videos to make fraudulent activity appear legitimate.

For security teams, this creates a clear challenge. The malicious asset may sit entirely outside your infrastructure, while the damage still lands on your organization or its customers.

BrandShield’s [External Cybersecurity](https://www.brandshield.com/products/external-cybersecurity/) offering focuses on finding and addressing these types of external risks.

## How Much of Threat Hunting Can Be Automated?

Automation can handle large parts of discovery and analysis, but it does not remove the need for human judgment.

Threat-hunting systems can scan domains, websites, social platforms, ads, apps, and other sources much faster than a person can. They can also surface patterns, prioritize findings, and connect related assets.

However, a system still needs context.

A domain that resembles your company could belong to a legitimate partner. A reseller may be authorized in one market but not another. A social profile using an executive’s name could be genuine, parody, dormant, or actively malicious.

That is why validation remains important.

Or described the balance this way:

> “With our threat hunting tools, many actions are automated, but specific quick fixes may still be done manually. Automation helps us stay on top of everything and move much faster.”

Or Mauber, Threat Hunting Team Leader, BrandShield

The practical goal is not to eliminate human involvement. It is to use automation where scale matters and people where context matters.

## What Makes a Good Threat Hunter?

Threat hunting requires curiosity, persistence, attention to detail, and the ability to change direction when the evidence changes.

John Collins, then an analyst at Gartner, described that mindset in an interview with [TechTarget](https://www.techtarget.com/cybersecurity/feature/How-to-become-a-threat-hunter):

> “Threat hunters are like explorers and adventurers on a digital frontier.”

John Collins, Analyst at Gartner

That description fits the investigative nature of the work.

Or highlighted several traits that matter in practice:

– **Determination.** A threat may disappear from one platform and reappear on another.
– **Curiosity.** One suspicious domain or account can lead to a wider network.
– **Attention to detail.** Small differences in domains, branding, infrastructure, or account behavior can change an assessment.
– **Prioritization.** Not every finding creates the same level of customer or business risk.
– **Communication.** Legal, security, brand protection, PR, and customer teams may all need to understand what is happening.
– **Adaptability.** Trademark infringement, phishing, impersonation, and counterfeit activity require different responses.

Strong threat hunters also know when not to act.

A false positive can waste time or create unnecessary enforcement work, so confidence and evidence matter.

## Why Does Team Communication Matter?

External cyber threats rarely stay within one department.

A phishing site may start as a security problem but quickly generate customer-support cases. Executive impersonation can involve legal, communications, and leadership teams. Counterfeit or trademark abuse often brings ecommerce and IP teams into the same investigation.

Or emphasized that information sharing was an important part of leading her team:

> “I strongly believe that keeping everyone informed is critical, even if certain members are not involved in a particular project.”

Or Mauber, Threat Hunting Team Leader, BrandShield

That principle also applies on the customer side.

Your response becomes faster when teams agree in advance on escalation paths, evidence requirements, approved domains, executive identities, trademarks, and who can authorize enforcement.

## What Should Companies Do First?

If you are strengthening your external threat-hunting program, start with the assets attackers are most likely to misuse.

A practical first pass should include:

1. **Document your official domains and key variations.**
2. **Maintain an accurate trademark and brand-asset inventory.**
3. **Identify executives and public-facing employees most likely to be impersonated.**
4. **List official social profiles, mobile apps, support channels, and ecommerce stores.**
5. **Define which threat types require urgent escalation.**
6. **Establish an evidence and takedown workflow before an incident occurs.**
7. **Track recurring domains, profiles, sellers, and infrastructure to identify repeat operators.**

Or made a similar point in the original interview, recommending that companies keep trademarks and registration details properly documented.

That groundwork matters because enforcement becomes harder when teams first need to determine whether an asset, account, or trademark is legitimate during an active incident.

## A Threat Hunter’s View From the Field

One example Or recalled involved a manager at a large U.S. cryptocurrency company who was dealing with fake social pages, phishing activity, and other external risks.

She described BrandShield operating across several platforms and carrying out hundreds of takedowns.

Because the original customer was not publicly named, we should treat this as Or’s account from the original interview rather than a published customer case study.

The example still illustrates an important part of external threat hunting: attackers rarely respect channel boundaries.

The same person or brand can be impersonated through a domain, social account, advertisement, website, or messaging platform. If your investigation stops with the first asset, you may miss the campaign behind it.

## Where BrandShield Fits

BrandShield combines external threat discovery with investigation, prioritization, human validation, and enforcement.

Its [External Cybersecurity](https://www.brandshield.com/products/external-cybersecurity/) capabilities address phishing, malicious websites, domain abuse, executive impersonation, fake social accounts, rogue apps, paid-ad scams, and other external risks.

For threats that span several assets, [AI.ClusterX](https://www.brandshield.com/solutions/al-clusterx-threat-clustering-solution/) is designed to connect related domains, profiles, ads, listings, websites, and other infrastructure so teams can investigate the wider operation.

You can also read more about how attackers use lookalike infrastructure in our guide to [website spoofing detection and takedown](https://www.brandshield.com/blog/website-spoofing-detection-take-down/).

The goal is not simply to generate more alerts.

It is to give your team enough context to decide what matters, understand how the activity connects, and act on verified cyber threats before they spread further.

## FAQ: Cyber Threats and Threat Hunting

### What is cyber threat hunting?

Cyber threat hunting is a proactive process of searching for malicious or suspicious activity that may not have been identified through standard automated controls. The exact workflow depends on whether the team is investigating internal systems or the external attack surface.

### What are examples of external cyber threats?

External cyber threats include phishing websites, lookalike domains, executive impersonation, fake social accounts, malicious ads, rogue apps, and cloned websites. These assets can target your customers or employees without compromising your internal network first.

### Is threat hunting fully automated?

No. Automation helps teams search and analyze large volumes of data, but human validation remains important. Investigators still need to understand context, confirm malicious activity, preserve evidence, and determine the correct response.

### What is the difference between threat hunting and threat monitoring?

Monitoring continuously watches for known signals or suspicious activity. Threat hunting goes further by investigating findings, testing assumptions, looking for connections, and searching for activity that may otherwise remain hidden.

### Why does external cybersecurity matter?

External cybersecurity gives organizations visibility into malicious activity that exists outside systems they directly control. This matters because attackers can impersonate a company, executive, domain, or service without first breaching the corporate network.

## Final Thoughts

Threat hunting is investigative work.

The tools matter, but so do judgment, context, communication, and the ability to follow a weak signal until the wider operation becomes visible.

That is especially true for external cybersecurity. Phishing pages, lookalike domains, impersonation accounts, malicious ads, and rogue apps may all exist beyond your network, but the consequences can still reach your employees, customers, and brand.

The strongest programs therefore do more than detect cyber threats.

They determine which risks matter, connect related activity, and give teams a practical route from discovery to enforcement.