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What is the Golden Source List?

This article explains what a Golden Source List is, how to compile it and how it works in QuoIntelligence's tools.

The Golden Source List is your organization’s tailored set of critical identifiers — domains, keywords, and other unique data points — used by QuoIntelligence’s tools to improve detection accuracy and reduce false positives.

By filtering out noise from irrelevant alerts, the Golden Source List ensures our monitoring focuses on genuine threats to your brand, infrastructure, and people.

Components of the Golden Source List

1. Domains – Protecting Digital Assets and Email Infrastructure

Domains are monitored for two primary purposes:

  • Credential Exposure Monitoring – If a domain has an active MX (Mail Exchange) record, we monitor for leaked credentials (e.g., john.doe@yourdomain.com) on dark web and underground sources.

  • Impersonation Monitoring – Detect misuse of your legitimate domains in phishing kits, spoofed content, or malicious infrastructure.

Guidelines:

  • Submit only domains owned and operated by your organization.

  • Indicate which domains have MX records (used for email).

  • Submit root domains only (e.g., yourdomain.com). Subdomains and full URLs are not required.

2. Keywords – Protecting Brand Identity

Keywords are used to detect potential domain impersonation threats, such as phishing or typosquatting.

  • What to include: Distinctive brand identifiers — company names, product names, abbreviations — that are unique to your organization.

  • How they’re used:

    • Detect newly registered domains mimicking your brand.

    • Extract additional relevant terms from your submitted domains to catch look-alike variations.

  • Guidelines:

    • Avoid generic terms (“bank”, “tech”) to minimize false positives.

    • Redundant keywords are automatically filtered (e.g., if “acmecorp” is covered, “myacmecorp” is not needed).

    • Keywords are not for general industry terms or competitor tracking — they focus solely on your brand identity.

3. Other Golden Source Elements

  • IP Addresses – Specific to your infrastructure.

  • VIP Data – Names, profiles, and PII of key executives.

  • Credit Card BIN Codes – First six digits of corporate cards.

  • Brand Names & Trademarks – Including registered variations.

  • Unique Project Names – Internal or external.

  • Critical Technologies – Used for targeted alerts on relevant vulnerabilities.

How the Golden Source List Works

  1. Compilation – During onboarding, your Customer Success Manager (CSM) helps identify the domains, keywords, and other critical terms unique to your organization.

  2. Pattern-Matching & Analysis – Our systems and analysts use your list to filter false positives and focus on genuine threats.

  3. Ongoing Review – Reviewed in regular meetings and updated as your organization evolves.

Updating Your Golden Source List

You can update your list anytime by:

  • Submitting a Request for Support (RFI)

  • Sending an encrypted or password-protected file to your CSM

⚠ Security Note: Mercury is the most secure way to transfer your Golden Source List. If sending by email, always protect the file with a password and share the password separately with your CSM.