# Threat Hunting in 2026: Methods, Tools & 4 Best Practices ## What Is Threat Hunting? Threat hunting is a proactive cybersecurity practice where security teams search for and isolate advanced cyber threats that have bypassed traditional security measures. It involves actively searching for malicious activity within a network, rather than just responding to alerts from security systems. This approach aims to reduce the "dwell time"—the time a threat remains undetected—and improve overall security posture. Key aspects of threat hunting include: - **Proactive and iterative**: Threat hunting isn’t just about reacting to incidents. It’s a continuous process of searching for threats that might be hiding in the network. - **Focus on unknown threats**: Threat hunters look for anomalies, suspicious patterns, and indicators of compromise (IOCs) that might indicate a hidden attack. - **Human-led analysis**: While threat hunting utilizes tools and technologies, it also relies heavily on the skills and experience of human security analysts to analyze data and identify potential threats. - **Data-driven approach**: Threat hunters use a variety of data sources, including logs, network traffic, and endpoint data, to build a comprehensive picture of the network and identify potential threats. Types of threat hunting include: - **Structured hunting**: Follows a formal methodology based on known threats and hypotheses, often mapped to frameworks like Mitre ATT&CK. - **Unstructured hunting**: Relies on analyst intuition and exploration to identify anomalies and suspicious behavior without a predefined hypothesis. - **Situational or entity-driven hunting**: Focuses on specific high-risk entities or recent events, such as a new vulnerability or insider threat, to guide investigation priorities. Tools and technologies used for threat hunting include: - **External Attack Surface Management (EASM)**: Scans for exposed internet-facing assets and vulnerabilities attackers could exploit. - **Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)**: Centralizes log data and enables querying and correlation to detect anomalies. - **Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)**: Provides detailed endpoint telemetry and supports real-time threat investigation and response. - **Managed Detection and Response (MDR)**: Offers outsourced expert-led threat hunting and response services for organizations with limited in-house capabilities. - **Security analytics**: Uses machine learning and behavioral analysis to surface hidden threats by identifying deviations from baseline behavior. ## Why Is Threat Hunting Important in the Current Threat Environment? Threat hunting addresses a critical gap in conventional security operations. Most security tools—such as intrusion detection systems (IDS), antivirus, and SIEM platforms—are reactive, relying on known indicators of compromise (IOCs) or predefined rules to trigger alerts. Threat actors who use custom malware, stolen credentials, or "living off the land" techniques can often bypass these tools undetected. Proactive threat hunting adds a layer of proactive defense by enabling detection of: - **Unknown threats**: Techniques that haven’t been cataloged in threat intelligence databases or antivirus signatures. - **Lateral movement**: Activity where attackers navigate internally across a network after initial access. - **Insider threats**: Malicious or negligent insiders whose activity may not match known external threat patterns. - **Dwell time reduction**: Threat hunters help reduce the time attackers remain in the system undetected. Threat hunting improves incident detection rates, accelerates response times, and strengthens an organization’s overall cybersecurity posture. ## Threat Hunting vs. Threat Intelligence **Threat intelligence** involves the collection and analysis of information about known and emerging cyber threats. It provides context, such as attacker tactics, indicators of compromise, and recent exploits, which organizations use to inform their defenses and threat hunts. **Threat hunting** is the hands-on process of searching within an organization’s own environment for evidence of threats, often leveraging threat intelligence as a guide. ## Types of Threat Hunting There are three primary approaches to threat hunting: structured, unstructured, and event-driven. ### 1. Structured Hunting A methodical approach that relies on predefined hypotheses or frameworks, often based on threat intelligence, known attack patterns, or models such as the miter ATT&CK framework. Analysts follow a systematic process to test these hypotheses. ### 2. Unstructured Hunting A more exploratory process, often driven by an analyst’s intuition, where hunters analyze data to identify anomalies or behaviors that warrant further investigation. ### 3. Situational or Entity-Driven Hunting Focuses on specific events, users, devices, or systems that represent increased risk due to recent changes or context. ## Tips from the Expert **Rob Gurzeev, CEO and Co-Founder** In my experience, here are tips that can help you better excel at threat hunting in 2025: 1. **Incorporate attack path mapping with threat hunt findings**. 2. **Integrate deception technologies to feed hunting hypotheses**. 3. **Hunt for silent misconfigurations as latent breach enablers**. 4. **Apply temporal anomaly baselining across different threat hunting windows**. 5. **Correlate external threat actor infrastructure with internal telemetry**. ## The Threat Hunting Lifecycle Threat hunting typically follows a structured process, which includes: ### 1. Planning and Preparation Setting clear objectives and establishing the scope and desired outcomes for a successful threat hunt. ### 2. Data Preparation Collecting, aggregating, and normalizing the diverse sets of security data required for threat hunting. ### 3. Execution and Investigation Analysts begin actively searching through the prepared data to test hypotheses or probe for anomalies. ### 4. Response The focus is on containment, eradication, and mitigation of identified threats. ### 5. Reporting and Feedback Captures knowledge and ensures continuous improvement through thorough documentation of each hunt’s findings, methods, and outcomes. ## What Triggers a Threat Hunting Exercise? Two common triggers organizations use are threat intelligence and security hypotheses. ### Intel-Based Hunts Founded on current threat intelligence to build focused searches for matching events within organizational data. ### Hypothesis-Based Hunts Revolves around the formation of behavioral hypotheses based on experience, knowledge of attacker tactics, or observed anomalies. ### Hybrid Approaches Combines elements from multiple hunting methodologies to maximize coverage and adapt to complex environments. ## Common Threat Hunting Frameworks ### 1. PEAK (Prepare, Execute, and Act with Knowledge) Developed by Splunk to help organizations mature their hunting programs through three main phases: Prepare, Execute, and Act with Knowledge. ### 2. Open Threat Hunting Framework (OTHF) A community-driven project providing a standardized approach to organizing threat hunting activities. ### 3. Mitre ATT&CK A knowledge base that catalogs adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) observed in real-world cyberattacks. ### 4. Cyber Kill Chain Outlines the typical stages of a cyberattack, allowing hunters to structure their investigations accordingly. ## Threat Hunting Tools and Technologies ### External Attack Surface Management (EASM) Focuses on identifying and monitoring all internet-facing assets that could expose an organization to external threats. ### Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Aggregate and analyze security event data from across the enterprise to provide centralized visibility and detection capabilities vital for threat hunting. ### Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) Monitor endpoint devices for malicious activity and capture detailed telemetry. ### Managed Detection and Response (MDR) Provides outsourced threat hunting, detection, and response capabilities managed by external experts. ### Security Analytics Leverages big data and advanced analytics to identify threats that evade signature-based tools. ## 4 Best Practices for Effective Threat Hunting ### 1. Establish a Repeatable Process Build a repeatable process to ensure consistent quality and efficiency in threat hunting activities. ### 2. Document Findings and Refine Techniques Thorough documentation of hunt objectives, methodologies, findings, and outcomes. ### 3. Continuously Train and Upskill Hunters Ongoing threat hunting training via certifications, hands-on labs, and collaborative exercises. ### 4. Regularly Measure and Optimize Performance Establish metrics that track success, efficiency, and areas for growth.