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AI-Powered Threat Detection

Protect your APIs with intelligent threat detection. KnoxCall’s AI engine analyzes request patterns in real-time to identify suspicious activity, potential attacks, and security anomalies before they cause damage.

What is AI Threat Detection?

Traditional security relies on manual rules and fixed thresholds. AI Threat Detection uses machine learning to:
  • 🧠 Learn normal behavior for your APIs
  • 🚨 Detect anomalies automatically
  • 🎯 Identify attack patterns (SQL injection, XSS, brute force)
  • 🔮 Predict threats before they escalate
  • 📊 Adapt continuously as your traffic evolves

How It Works

1. Baseline Learning

KnoxCall AI learns your normal traffic patterns:
Week 1: Learning Phase
├─ Normal request volume: 1,000-5,000/hour
├─ Common endpoints: /api/users, /api/orders
├─ Typical latency: 50-200ms
├─ Standard error rate: 1-2%
└─ Geographic distribution: 60% US, 30% EU, 10% APAC

2. Anomaly Detection

AI compares real-time traffic against baseline:
Current Activity:
├─ Request volume: 50,000/hour ⚠️ (10x normal)
├─ New endpoint: /api/admin/delete-all ⚠️
├─ Latency: 5,000ms ⚠️ (10x normal)
├─ Error rate: 45% ⚠️ (23x normal)
└─ Location: Russia ⚠️ (never seen before)

AI Assessment: 🚨 HIGH THREAT PROBABILITY

3. Threat Classification

AI categorizes threats by type:
🔴 Critical: Active attack in progress
🟠 High: Suspicious pattern detected
🟡 Medium: Unusual activity
🟢 Low: Minor anomaly

4. Automated Response

Based on threat level, KnoxCall can:
  • Alert admins via email/Slack/SMS
  • Rate limit suspicious IPs
  • Block confirmed attacks
  • Log detailed forensics
  • Generate security reports

Detected Threat Types

1. Brute Force Attacks

Pattern:
IP: 192.168.1.100
Request: POST /api/login
Status: 401 Unauthorized
Frequency: 1,000 attempts in 5 minutes
AI Detection:
  • Rapid successive failures
  • Same IP, different credentials
  • Exponential retry pattern
Response:
  • Block IP after 10 failed attempts
  • Rate limit: 1 request/minute
  • Alert security team

2. SQL Injection Attempts

Pattern:
GET /api/users?id=1' OR '1'='1
GET /api/search?q=admin'--
POST /api/data {"name": "test'; DROP TABLE users;--"}
AI Detection:
  • SQL keywords in parameters
  • Quote and comment patterns
  • UNION, DROP, SELECT in unexpected places
Response:
  • Block request immediately
  • Log full payload
  • Alert with OWASP category

3. API Abuse / Scraping

Pattern:
IP: 203.0.113.50
Requests: 10,000 in 10 minutes
Endpoints: /api/products/1, /api/products/2, ... /api/products/10000
User-Agent: python-requests/2.28.0
AI Detection:
  • Sequential ID enumeration
  • Suspicious user agent
  • No typical browsing pattern
  • Ignores rate limit headers
Response:
  • Rate limit aggressively
  • Require CAPTCHA
  • Block after threshold

4. Credential Stuffing

Pattern:
1000 login attempts with:
- Different usernames
- Different passwords
- Same IP or distributed botnet
- Known leaked credential combinations
AI Detection:
  • Cross-reference with breach databases
  • Unusual geographic distribution
  • Coordinated timing
  • Low success rate
Response:
  • Block IP ranges
  • Require 2FA
  • Force password reset

5. DDoS Attacks

Pattern:
Sudden traffic spike:
- Normal: 1,000 req/min
- Attack: 100,000 req/min
- From: 10,000 unique IPs
- Target: Single endpoint
AI Detection:
  • Abnormal traffic volume
  • Distributed sources
  • Identical request patterns
  • Low latency variance (bots)
Response:
  • Activate DDoS mitigation
  • Enable challenge response
  • Rate limit globally
  • Contact CDN/ISP

6. Account Takeover Attempts

Pattern:
User login from:
- New device
- New location (5,000 miles away)
- Within 5 minutes of previous login
- Different user agent
AI Detection:
  • Impossible travel
  • Device fingerprint mismatch
  • Unusual access patterns
  • Credential change attempts
Response:
  • Require additional verification
  • Lock account temporarily
  • Alert user via email
  • Log forensic details

AI Features

Behavioral Analysis

Track individual client behavior:
Client: mobile-app-ios
Normal Behavior:
├─ Active: 9 AM - 9 PM EST
├─ Endpoints: /api/feed, /api/profile, /api/posts
├─ Frequency: 10-50 requests/hour
├─ Locations: US, Canada
└─ Success rate: 98%

Anomaly Detected:
├─ Time: 3 AM EST ⚠️
├─ Endpoint: /api/admin/users ⚠️
├─ Frequency: 500 requests/minute ⚠️
├─ Location: Unknown VPN ⚠️
└─ Success rate: 20% ⚠️

Threat Level: 🔴 CRITICAL

Pattern Recognition

Identify complex attack patterns:
Attack Pattern: Advanced Persistent Threat (APT)
├─ Phase 1: Reconnaissance (scanning endpoints)
├─ Phase 2: Exploitation (SQL injection attempts)
├─ Phase 3: Privilege escalation (admin API calls)
└─ Phase 4: Data exfiltration (bulk downloads)

AI detected all 4 phases and blocked at Phase 2

Predictive Alerts

Get warnings before attacks happen:
🔮 Predictive Alert: Potential Attack
├─ Confidence: 85%
├─ Type: Brute force attack
├─ Target: /api/login
├─ Predicted timing: Next 30 minutes
└─ Recommended action: Enable rate limiting

Configuration

Step 1: Enable AI Threat Detection

  1. Navigate to SecurityAI Threat Detection
  2. Toggle Enable AI Detection to ON
  3. Choose sensitivity level:
Low: Only critical threats
Medium: High and critical threats (recommended)
High: All anomalies

Step 2: Configure Response Actions

Set automated responses:
Critical Threats:
  - Block IP immediately
  - Send SMS alert
  - Log to SIEM

High Threats:
  - Rate limit to 10 req/min
  - Send email alert
  - Monitor for 1 hour

Medium Threats:
  - Log and monitor
  - Send daily summary

Low Threats:
  - Log only

Step 3: Define Protected Routes

Choose which routes to protect:
Route: payment-api
AI Protection: Maximum
Response: Block on threat

Route: public-api
AI Protection: Medium
Response: Rate limit on threat

Route: internal-tools
AI Protection: Low
Response: Alert only

Security Dashboard

Threat Overview

Real-time threat monitoring:
🟢 System Status: SECURE
📊 Threats Detected (24h): 47
🚫 Attacks Blocked: 38
⚠️ Active Investigations: 2

Threat Feed

Live feed of detected threats:
[12:45:32] 🔴 CRITICAL: SQL Injection blocked
  IP: 203.0.113.100
  Route: /api/search
  Payload: admin'--
  Action: Blocked

[12:42:15] 🟠 HIGH: Brute force detected
  IP: 198.51.100.50
  Route: /api/login
  Attempts: 50 in 2 minutes
  Action: Rate limited

[12:38:04] 🟡 MEDIUM: Unusual traffic pattern
  Client: mobile-app-android
  Volume: 5x normal
  Action: Monitoring

Threat Map

Geographic visualization of threats:
       🔴 5 attacks
      (Europe)

    🟠 12 threats
    (North America)

       🟡 3 anomalies
       (Asia Pacific)

Integration with External Tools

SIEM Integration

Send threat data to your SIEM:
Configure Splunk HTTP Event Collector
Send threats as JSON events
Create dashboards and alerts

Webhook Notifications

Send threats to custom endpoints:
POST https://your-security-system.com/threats
{
  "threat_id": "thr_abc123",
  "severity": "critical",
  "type": "sql_injection",
  "ip": "203.0.113.100",
  "route": "/api/search",
  "timestamp": "2025-01-20T15:30:00Z",
  "details": {
    "payload": "admin'--",
    "action_taken": "blocked"
  }
}

Machine Learning Models

KnoxCall uses multiple ML models:

1. Anomaly Detection Model

Algorithm: Isolation Forest Training: Continuous on your traffic Features: 50+ traffic characteristics Accuracy: 95%+ true positive rate

2. Threat Classification Model

Algorithm: Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) Training: 10M+ labeled attack samples Output: Threat type and confidence Accuracy: 98% classification accuracy

3. Pattern Recognition Model

Algorithm: LSTM Neural Network Purpose: Detect multi-stage attacks Window: Analyzes 1-hour sequences Accuracy: 92% attack chain detection

Best Practices

1. Start with Learning Mode

Let AI learn for 1-2 weeks before enforcing:
Week 1-2: Learning mode (alerts only)
Week 3+: Enforcement mode (block threats)

2. Review False Positives

Check alerts weekly:
False Positive Rate: < 1%
Review: Weekly
Action: Whitelist legitimate patterns

3. Tune Sensitivity

Adjust based on your risk tolerance:
High Security: High sensitivity
Balanced: Medium sensitivity (default)
Performance Critical: Low sensitivity

4. Combine with Other Security

AI works best alongside:
  • ✅ Rate limiting
  • ✅ IP whitelisting
  • ✅ Request signing
  • ✅ WAF rules

5. Monitor and Adjust

Review AI performance monthly:
Metrics to track:
- Detection rate
- False positive rate
- Response time
- Blocked threats

Troubleshooting

High false positive rate

Solutions:
  • Lower sensitivity
  • Whitelist known-good IPs
  • Add legitimate patterns to training

Attacks getting through

Solutions:
  • Increase sensitivity
  • Enable additional security layers
  • Update threat intelligence feeds

Performance impact

Solutions:
  • Enable sampling (analyze 10% of traffic)
  • Use async threat detection
  • Upgrade to higher tier

Next Steps


📊 Statistics

  • Level: advanced
  • Time: 20 minutes

🏷️ Tags

security, ai, ml, threat-detection, protection