Cloudflare Intelligence

Websitehttps://radar.cloudflare.com/
CategoryCloudflare Intelligence

Cloudflare operates one of the world's largest CDN, DNS, and reverse proxy networks, with data centers in 300+ cities and peering with thousands of networks. This gives them unique visibility into internet routing, traffic patterns, and security threats. We integrate three Cloudflare data sources to enrich our lookups on robtex.com, rtsak.com, and dns.ninja.

Source:Cloudflare Intelligence

Cloudflare IP Ranges

Cloudflare publishes the official IP address ranges used by their CDN and reverse proxy infrastructure. When a domain uses Cloudflare's proxy service (the "orange cloud"), its DNS records point to Cloudflare IPs rather than the origin server.

The published ranges (both IPv4 and IPv6 CIDR blocks) are used by:

  • Web servers — origin servers whitelist Cloudflare IPs to block direct access
  • Network operators — ISPs identify Cloudflare-proxied traffic for routing policy
  • Security tools — determine whether a domain hides its origin behind Cloudflare's proxy

When a domain resolves to a Cloudflare IP, reverse DNS returns Cloudflare's PTR records, not the target domain's. IP reputation for shared Cloudflare IPs reflects the entire edge node, not any individual website.

Cloudflare Radar BGP

Cloudflare Radar exposes BGP routing intelligence from AS13335, one of the most connected autonomous systems on the internet. Their massive peering footprint provides visibility that complements academic measurement projects like RouteViews and RIPE RIS:

  • BGP hijack detection — unauthorized origin changes for IP prefixes
  • Route leak detection — prefixes propagated beyond their intended scope
  • Routing anomaly alerts — sudden AS path changes, new more-specific announcements, connectivity disruptions
  • RPKI validation status — which prefixes have valid, invalid, or missing ROAs

What makes Cloudflare's BGP view distinctive is its operational relevance. Unlike passive measurement projects that simply observe routing, Cloudflare actively uses BGP data to route real traffic. Their anomaly detection is validated against actual traffic impact, not theoretical analysis.

Cloudflare Radar ASN Intelligence

Through the Radar platform, Cloudflare surfaces AS-level analytics derived from HTTP/HTTPS traffic across millions of websites:

  • Traffic volume and trends — relative traffic levels, outages, and growth per AS
  • Protocol adoption — HTTPS, HTTP/2, HTTP/3 (QUIC), IPv6 usage rates
  • Bot traffic percentage — automated vs human traffic based on Cloudflare's bot detection
  • Attack traffic — DDoS, credential stuffing, and other malicious traffic volume
  • Network type classification — residential ISP, hosting, enterprise, or mobile carrier

This data is unique because it comes from actual application-layer traffic, not routing tables. BGP tells you how traffic is routed; Cloudflare Radar tells you what traffic is actually flowing.

How We Use This Data

On robtex.com and rtsak.com, we combine all three Cloudflare data sources:

  • IP lookups — identify Cloudflare-proxied domains, explain shared-IP reverse DNS behavior
  • AS profiles — display traffic characteristics, bot percentage, attack signals alongside BGP routing data
  • Prefix analysis — cross-reference Cloudflare's routing health assessment with RouteViews and RIPE RIS data
  • Domain lookups on dns.ninja — flag Cloudflare-proxied domains to explain proxy behavior

When all vantage points (Cloudflare, RouteViews, RIPE RIS) report consistent routing for a prefix, that represents strong confidence. When they disagree, it highlights the importance of multi-source analysis.

FAQ

If a domain resolves to a Cloudflare IP, can I find the real origin server?
Not through DNS alone — that's the point of the proxy. Historical DNS records (passive DNS) may reveal the origin IP from before Cloudflare was enabled. Other techniques include checking unproxied subdomains (like mail servers), certificate transparency logs, or email headers.
Why is Cloudflare's BGP perspective unique compared to RouteViews or RIPE RIS?
RouteViews and RIPE RIS are passive collectors that receive routes from volunteer peers. Cloudflare is an active participant, peering because they need to deliver traffic. Their BGP sessions are production-critical, so anomaly detection is validated against real-world traffic impact.
How does Cloudflare know traffic patterns for ASes it doesn't directly peer with?
Cloudflare sees traffic from virtually every AS because their customers' websites receive visitors from everywhere. Aggregated across millions of sites and billions of requests, this provides comprehensive traffic profiles regardless of direct peering relationships.