Introduction
Threat hunting has traditionally been a manual, analyst-driven process — skilled SOC teams combing through logs and telemetry to uncover hidden adversaries. While effective, this approach often suffers from alert fatigue, limited scalability, and reactive workflows.
Enter risk-based threat hunting, powered by AI and advanced analytics. Instead of chasing every alert, analysts prioritize hunts based on risk context: business impact, exploitability, and active threat intelligence. At the forefront of this evolution is Stellar Cyber, whose AI-driven Open XDR platform enables SOCs to transition from reactive defense to proactive, risk-based hunting.
Why Risk-Based Hunting Matters
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Prioritization of High-Impact Threats Not all alerts are equal. By focusing on threats with the highest potential impact — such as exposed critical assets or ransomware activity — SOCs maximize their effectiveness.
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Correlation Across Attack Surfaces Stellar Cyber ingests telemetry from endpoints, networks, cloud apps, and IoT devices, stitching events into unified incidents. This cross-domain visibility reduces blind spots.
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AI-Enhanced Threat Scoring Stellar Cyber applies machine learning to assign risk scores, enabling analysts to focus on what truly matters rather than drowning in low-level noise.
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Faster Detection and Response Risk-based hunting accelerates the mean time to detect (MTTD) and respond (MTTR), improving SOC efficiency.
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Integration with Vulnerability Context By connecting with Tenable.io vulnerability data, Stellar Cyber aligns hunting activities with known weaknesses, ensuring that real exploitable risks get priority.
The Role of Stellar Cyber in Risk-Based Hunting
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Unified Threat Surface View: Stellar Cyber integrates logs, network traffic, and endpoint data into a single pane of glass.
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Automated Detection Playbooks: Pre-built AI-driven detections reduce reliance on manual hunting.
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Custom Threat Hunts: Analysts can create hunts based on MITRE ATT&CK techniques, enhanced with contextual AI scoring.
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Partnership with SentinelOne: Endpoint telemetry from SentinelOne further enriches Stellar Cyber’s correlation engine, strengthening detection of AI-driven malware.
The Malaysian Cybersecurity Context
Malaysia’s MyCERT threat reports consistently highlight advanced persistent threats (APTs), ransomware, and insider threats. Local businesses — particularly in finance, government, and critical infrastructure — cannot afford reactive-only defenses.
Bank Negara Malaysia’s RMiT guidelines already encourage proactive monitoring and advanced detection capabilities. Risk-based threat hunting aligns with these regulatory expectations while helping organizations strengthen resilience against both global and local threat actors.
Looking Ahead
As threat actors embrace AI and automation, traditional alert-driven hunting will fall short. SOCs must adapt by leveraging platforms like Stellar Cyber to automate correlation, enrich threat data, and prioritize based on real business risk.
Final Thoughts
Risk-based threat hunting represents the next leap forward in SOC operations. Rather than chasing endless alerts, SOC teams can now focus on the threats that pose the greatest danger.
With Stellar Cyber’s AI-driven XDR, integrated with Tenable.io vulnerability insights and SentinelOne endpoint protection, Exabytes empowers organizations to build proactive, intelligence-led threat hunting programs.
👉 Don’t waste valuable SOC resources chasing false alarms. Start with Exabytes eSecure and adopt risk-based threat hunting powered by Stellar Cyber to stay ahead of modern adversaries.
References
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Stellar Cyber. (2025). Risk-Based Threat Hunting with Open XDR. Retrieved from https://stellarcyber.ai/platform/capabilities-ai-siem/
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MITRE. (2025). ATT&CK Framework. Retrieved from https://attack.mitre.org/
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Tenable. (2025). Vulnerability Management and Prioritization. Retrieved from https://www.tenable.com/products/vulnerability-management
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SentinelOne. (2025). Endpoint Telemetry and Threat Detection. Retrieved from https://www.sentinelone.com/platform/edr/
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CyberSecurity Malaysia. (2024). Malaysia Cyber Threat Report. Retrieved from https://www.cybersecurity.my/en/knowledge_bank/threats/mycert/
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Bank Negara Malaysia. (2020). Risk Management in Technology (RMiT). Retrieved from https://www.bnm.gov.my/documents/20124/938039/rmit2020.pdf
