Cortex vs Sigma
GitHub Stats
About Cortex
Cortex is a powerful observable analysis and active response engine that pairs with TheHive to supercharge incident response workflows. It provides a unified API for running analyzers against observables - IP addresses, file hashes, domain names, URLs, email addresses, and more - using over 100 built-in analyzers that query services like VirusTotal, Shodan, PassiveTotal, MISP, MaxMind, AbuseIPDB, and many others. Analysts can submit observables individually or in bulk and receive structured reports with taxonomy-based classifications. Cortex also supports responders for active response actions like blocking IPs on firewalls, disabling user accounts, or quarantining endpoints. Its REST API and TheHive integration allow organizations to automate the tedious parts of IOC analysis while keeping analysts in control of decision-making.
About Sigma
Sigma is a generic and open signature format for SIEM systems, analogous to what YARA is for files and Snort is for network traffic. Sigma rules describe log events in a YAML-based format that is independent of any specific SIEM product. Using the sigma-cli converter (pySigma), rules can be translated into native query languages for Splunk (SPL), Elasticsearch (Lucene/KQL), Microsoft Sentinel, QRadar, CrowdStrike, Carbon Black, Grep, and over 30 other backends. The Sigma rule repository contains thousands of community-contributed detection rules covering MITRE ATT&CK techniques, common malware behaviors, lateral movement, persistence mechanisms, and suspicious system activity. Security teams use Sigma to write detection logic once and deploy it across their entire detection infrastructure, regardless of which SIEM products they use. The format is maintained by the SigmaHQ project and has become the de facto standard for shareable detection rules.
Platform Support
Tags
Cortex only
Sigma only