Redirect Chain Analysis
The process of tracing and evaluating every hop in a URL's redirect path to identify cloaking, evasion, or malicious intermediate destinations.
Overview
Modern phishing campaigns rarely send users directly to the final phishing page. Instead, they use multi-hop redirect chains that pass through several intermediate domains before reaching the credential harvesting site. These chains serve multiple purposes: they obscure the final destination from scanners, distribute detection signatures across multiple URLs, and use legitimate services as intermediate hops to appear trustworthy. Redirect chain analysis traces the complete path from the initial URL to the final landing page, evaluating each hop for known malicious infrastructure, open redirect abuse, cloaking behavior, and suspicious hosting patterns. This analysis is essential for catching phishing attacks that would appear benign if only the first or last hop were inspected.
Real-World Examples
- ▸Tracing a shortened URL through three intermediate domains to a fake login page
- ▸Detecting cloaking where a redirect chain shows benign content to scanners but phishing to real users
- ▸Identifying an open redirect on a legitimate site used as a hop in a phishing chain
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