M ManySignal

Guide · ManySignal

Phishing Response Guide

Phishing is the highest-volume incident category most SOCs handle and the one where automation pays back fastest. This guide covers the full pipeline: user report intake, IOC extraction, mailbox rule audit, credential compromise check, and containment — with real automation targets and false-positive controls.

SA Sofia Andersson — Principal Security Researcher, ManySignal
12 min read Published Jul 11, 2026 Download PDF
01

Intake: report-to-triage in under 60 seconds

Every enterprise needs a report phishing button in the M365 or Google Workspace toolbar. The reported message hits ManySignal's phishing intake connector which extracts headers, links, attachments, and the reporting user, then opens a case with the triage agent scored.

The triage agent runs the phishing question set: sender reputation, URL reputation, domain age, DMARC pass/fail, attachment hash lookup, similarity to known campaigns. Every question resolves in seconds; the verdict lands in under a minute for 90% of reports.

02

IOC extraction and enrichment

Extract URLs, sender addresses, IP addresses, and attachment hashes. Look them up against your threat-intel feeds (VirusTotal, PhishTank, in-house denylists). ManySignal's enrichment resolver ships with connectors to all major TI feeds; add your own via the universal HTTP action.

Domain age from WHOIS is one of the most predictive signals — phishing kits usually run on domains registered in the last 30 days. Any URL against a domain <30 days old gets a high suspicion weight even without a TI match.

03

Impact scoping via the entity graph

Once a message is confirmed malicious, the entity graph resolves: how many other users received it, who clicked, who entered credentials on the linked page. This is the single highest-value automation in phishing response — the manual version takes hours.

For clicks, correlate with authentication events in the following window: a compromised credential shows as an authn_success from an unusual ASN shortly after the click. That correlation fires an identity-takeover response workflow.

# detections/phishing/credential_after_click.yaml
key: phishing.credential_after_click
type: correlation
where:
  class_uid: 4001
  category: email
correlate:
  window: 30m
  group_by: identity_id
  sequence: [phishing_click, authn_success]
behavioural:
  dimensions: [geographic, device]
  min_joint_score: 60
04

Containment: mailbox rules + credential rotation

Two containment actions handle 80% of phishing incidents: (1) delete any suspicious mailbox rule created after the click, (2) revoke active sessions + require MFA re-enrol for the affected identity.

Both actions are approve-gated by default because they interrupt the user's workflow. On high-confidence verdicts (>85) with human confirmation of 'not me', escalate to autonomous — speed matters more than approvals when credentials are actively burning.

  • Auto-delete mailbox rules created within 60min of confirmed click
  • Revoke sessions on 'not me' human confirmation
  • Notify manager on any credential rotation
  • Auto-block sender domain tenant-wide if 3+ users received the same message
05

Metrics that matter

Report-to-verdict time (target: <2min), report-to-containment time (target: <10min for confirmed), false-positive rate (should be <15%), and click-to-detect time (how long between the user clicking and ManySignal detecting the compromise — target <5min).

Key takeaways

  • Automate intake with a report-phishing button; case opens in <60s.
  • Domain age <30d is one of the highest-signal features.
  • Entity graph resolves 'who else clicked' in seconds — this is where hours are saved.
  • Two actions cover 80%: delete mailbox rule + revoke sessions.
  • Target: report-to-verdict <2min, report-to-containment <10min for confirmed.

Further reading

Frequently asked questions

What is Phishing Response Guide in an agentic SOC?

Phishing Response Guide is part of ManySignal's agentic SOC and MDR platform, where AI agents detect, triage, investigate, and respond to threats with human-governed autonomy.

How does ManySignal handle phishing response guide?

ManySignal grounds phishing response guide in a temporal entity graph and behavioural baselines, so every verdict is backed by auditable evidence rather than opaque scores.

Can ManySignal replace my SOAR or MDR for phishing response guide?

Yes. ManySignal combines detection, triage, investigation, response, and reporting in one platform, and can operate as your MDR or augment an existing SOC team.

How is autonomy governed?

Through an autonomy ladder: recommend-only, approve-gated, and autonomous modes per action class, with dry-run previews, blast-radius limits, and a one-click tenant kill switch.

How fast is time to value?

Declarative connectors and shipped detections typically produce AI agent verdicts on live alerts within days, not quarters — no parsing projects or playbook-building phase.

Is ManySignal available as a managed service?

Yes. Consume ManySignal as MDR with 24/7 coverage and monthly reporting, run it as your in-house agentic SOC, or use it as the platform behind your own MDR practice.

How does ManySignal license the platform?

Pricing scales with protected assets and autonomy tier, not per-GB ingestion or per-alert volume. Starter, Growth, and Enterprise plans are available; MDR providers receive volume discounts for multi-tenant deployments.

Where does our data reside?

By default in AWS us-east-1. Enterprise tenants can pin data to specific AWS regions, deploy self-hosted on their own Kubernetes cluster, or use customer-managed encryption keys (CMK) to retain cryptographic control.

What does the evidence trail contain?

Each verdict stores the full question set, per-question agent answers, confidence weights, source event references, entity graph snapshots, and operator attestation — preserved immutably for the retention period chosen at contract time.

How does ManySignal handle a false-positive alert?

The triage agent auto-closes findings it assesses as false positives with a documented rationale — which rule fired, why the evidence fails to support escalation, and the entity baseline that informed the decision. Auto-closure rates typically reach 85–95% within 90 days as baselines mature.

Continue reading

See the agentic SOC in action

Watch AI agents work a real alert queue — verdicts, evidence, and confidence scores included. In-house SOC or MDR, your call.