ThreatExchange Privacy Controls

All submissions to the ThreatExchange API allow for limiting the visibility of any ThreatDescriptor objects. Currently, ThreatExchange supports three levels of visibility:

The desired privacy setting on an object is specified by the values at the time of a create or edit submission to the API. Privacy settings can also be changed retroactively for data you've already submitted.

Privacy settings are propagated as follows: Threat Exchange members can see an indicator if and only if they can see at least one associated descriptor.

Privacy Fields

There are two fields that combine to define the privacy on an object within ThreatExchange: privacy_type and privacy_members.

The privacy_type field can have one of the following values:

Name Description

HAS_PRIVACY_GROUP

The privacy group IDs specified in privacy_members can see the object, while the rest of the member community cannot.

HAS_WHITELIST

The App IDs specified in privacy_members can see the object, while the rest of the member community cannot.

VISIBLE

All members of ThreatExchange can see the object. This is the default, if no value is specified.

The privacy_members field is a comma-delimited list of App IDs of ThreatExchangeMembers or ThreatPrivacyGroups that are either given or not given access to the data, based on the value in privacy_type.

Setting Privacy: Examples

The following is an examples are submissions of a new malicious domain to ThreatExchange. In each example, we define which members of ThreatExchange are allowed to see the data.

Controlling visibility using the UI

Allowing all members access using the API

POST https://graph.facebook.com/v4.0/threat_descriptors?access_token=555|aSdF123GhK

indicator=evil-domain.biz
&type=DOMAIN
&threat_type=MALICIOUS_DOMAIN
&status=MALICIOUS
&description=This%20domain%20was%20hosting%20malware
&privacy_type=VISIBLE

Limiting privacy to a privacy group using the API

POST https://graph.facebook.com/v4.0/threat_descriptors?access_token=555|aSdF123GhK

indicator=evil-domain.biz
&type=DOMAIN
&threat_type=MALICIOUS_DOMAIN
&status=MALICIOUS
&description=This%20domain%20was%20hosting%20malware
&privacy_type=HAS_PRIVACY_GROUP
&privacy_members=123456789

Limiting privacy To select members using the API

POST https://graph.facebook.com/v4.0/threat_descriptors?access_token=555|aSdF123GhK

indicator=evil-domain.biz
&type=DOMAIN
&threat_type=MALICIOUS_DOMAIN
&status=MALICIOUS
&description=This%20domain%20was%20hosting%20malware
&privacy_type=HAS_WHITELIST
&privacy_members=123456789,9012345678

Limiting privacy to only your app using the API

POST https://graph.facebook.com/v4.0/threat_descriptors?access_token=555|aSdF123GhK

indicator=evil-domain.biz
&type=DOMAIN
&threat_type=MALICIOUS_DOMAIN
&status=MALICIOUS
&description=This%20domain%20was%20hosting%20malware
&privacy_type=HAS_WHITELIST
&privacy_members=555