Smart Monitors: Never Miss a Threat That Matters

You're tracking a specific threat actor. Or monitoring for vulnerabilities in a particular product. Or watching for any mention of your organization in breach reports.

The problem? You'd have to check your threat feed constantly. Multiple times a day. Every day. Forever.

That's not sustainable. That's barely sane.

What if the threats came to you instead?

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The Problem with Manual Monitoring

Let's be honest about how most security teams track specific threats:

1. Open the feed every few hours
2. Search for your keywords
3. Hope you didn't miss anything while you were in meetings
4. Repeat indefinitely

It's exhausting. It's error-prone. And when something critical drops at 3 AM, you won't find out until 9 AM. By then, Twitter has moved on and you look like you're behind the curve.

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Smart Monitors

{P}eelSec Monitors flip the script. Instead of you searching for threats, threats find you.

How It Works

1. Create a monitor with keywords you care about
2. Set your notification preferences (email, in-app, or both)
3. Let it run in the background
4. Get alerted when matching threats appear

That's it. Set once, forget about it, get notified when it matters.

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Creating Your First Monitor

Step 1: Define Your Keywords

Navigate to Monitors in the sidebar. Click New Monitor.

Enter your search terms:

You can use multiple keywords. Use quotes for exact phrases. Combine with AND/OR logic.

Step 2: Choose Notification Method

• Email - Get an email when matches are found
• In-app - See notifications in the {P}eelSec sidebar
• Both - Belt and suspenders

For critical monitors, use both. For lower-priority tracking, in-app might be enough.

Step 3: Set Severity Threshold (Optional)

Only want to know about critical threats? Set a minimum severity level:

• Critical - Only the most severe threats
• High - Critical and high severity
• Medium - Most actionable intelligence
• All - Everything that matches

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Real-World Monitor Examples

The Product Vulnerability Tracker

Keywords: "Kubernetes" OR "K8s" OR "kubectl" Severity: High and above Notifications: Email

Get notified whenever a significant Kubernetes vulnerability is reported. Skip the noise of minor issues.

The Threat Actor Watcher

Keywords: "APT29" OR "Cozy Bear" OR "Midnight Blizzard" Severity: All Notifications: Both

Track a specific nation-state actor. Any mention triggers an alert. You want to know everything.

The Brand Monitor

Keywords: "YourCompany" OR "yourcompany.com" Severity: All Notifications: Email immediately

Are you mentioned in breach reports? Security news? Threat actor chatter? Find out immediately.

The Ransomware Watch

Keywords: "LockBit" OR "BlackCat" OR "ALPHV" OR "Cl0p" Severity: High and above Notifications: Both

Track the major ransomware groups. Know when they're active, who they're targeting, what tactics they're using.

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Monitor Dashboard

All your monitors live in one dashboard:

See at a glance:

• How many total matches each monitor has found
• Recent activity (last 24 hours)
• Monitor status (active, paused)

Click any monitor to see the matching articles.

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Email Digest Options

Getting too many emails? Configure digest mode:

Start with daily digests. Switch to immediate for critical monitors where speed matters.

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Advanced Matching

Boolean Logic

"Kubernetes" AND "RCE"

Only matches articles mentioning both.

"LockBit" OR "BlackCat"

Matches articles mentioning either.

"vulnerability" AND NOT "patched"

Find unpatched vulnerabilities.

Phrase Matching

"remote code execution"

Matches the exact phrase, not just individual words.

Severity Combinations

Keywords: "AWS"
Severity: Critical

Only critical AWS vulnerabilities.

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Team Monitors

For team accounts, monitors can be shared:

• Personal monitors - Only you see notifications
• Team monitors - All team members see notifications

Use team monitors for organizational concerns (brand monitoring, industry threats). Use personal monitors for individual research topics.

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The Math

Without monitors:

• Check feed 5x per day
• 10 minutes per check
• 50 minutes daily
• 4+ hours weekly

With monitors:

• Zero manual checking
• Notifications arrive automatically
• Review only matches (~5 minutes)
• 4+ hours weekly recovered

Plus: You never miss critical intel that drops overnight or during meetings.

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Best Practices

Start Specific

Begin with narrow monitors. "Kubernetes RCE" rather than just "Kubernetes". Refine based on results.

Use Severity Filters

Not everything needs immediate attention. Reserve email alerts for high-severity matches.

Review and Refine

Check your monitors monthly. Are they catching relevant intel? Too much noise? Adjust keywords accordingly.

Don't Over-Monitor

10 well-tuned monitors beat 50 noisy ones. Quality over quantity.

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Try It

1. Go to Monitors in the sidebar
2. Click New Monitor
3. Enter keywords for something you're tracking
4. Set notifications to email
5. Save

Then wait. When matching intel arrives, you'll know.

Because threat intelligence shouldn't require constant vigilance. Let the monitors watch. You focus on response.