F5Bot

Tool Description : A free monitoring tool that emails users whenever specific keywords appear on Reddit or Hacker News.

F5Bot

Quick Overview

URL

What it does

Monitors Reddit and Hacker News for keyword mentions and sends email alerts when matches are found.

How to use it

Set up keyword alerts, then receive email notifications whenever those terms appear in new posts or comments on supported platforms.

Cost

Free.

Account required

Yes (email-based setup).

Uses a standard session cookie.

Ownership

Operated as an independent monitoring service (individual developer, not formally associated with Reddit or Hacker News).

Use in Reporting

Useful for tracking emerging narratives, monitoring threat actor mentions, identifying leaks or discussion of brands, and capturing early signals of incidents across Reddit and Hacker News.

What does F5Bot do?

F5Bot continuously scans Reddit and Hacker News for user-defined keywords and sends instant email alerts when those terms appear in new content.

The lowdown: It acts as a lightweight OSINT monitoring tool for real-time awareness of public discussions.

How to Use:

1. Set up an account to enable alerts to be delivered to your inbox. Then add keywords such as usernames, organisations, domains or technical indicators of interest.

You can set flags to specify no alerts from Reddit or Hacker News, or to search the whole word only.

2. Review email alerts as they are triggered and investigate relevant Reddit or Hacker News posts for context and follow-up analysis.

Cost

Free
Partially Free
Paid

Data Processing

Account Required:

Cookies:

When we visited the site on 29 June 2026, we only noted a temporary session cookie.

Use in Reporting

F5Bot can support reporting by:

Detecting early mentions of threat actors, breaches or vulnerabilities.
Monitoring brand or organisation reputation in near real time.
Identifying emerging narratives or discussions on Reddit and Hacker News.
Capturing mentions of leaked data, infrastructure or malware indicators.
Supporting ongoing keyword-based intelligence collection during investigations.

The tool is particularly useful for early detection of conversations that may be relevant to investigations, such as mentions of threat actors, leaked data, vulnerabilities, or brand reputation issues. Because it relies on keyword matching, it is most effective when monitoring known aliases, infrastructure names or specific technical terms.

Capabilities

Limitations

Real-time keyword monitoring across Reddit and Hacker News.

Only covers Reddit and Hacker News (not the wider web or social platforms).

Email-based alert system for quick notification.

Relies purely on keyword matching, with no semantic understanding.

Simple setup with no technical configuration required.

Can generate false positives for common/ambiguous terms.

Supports continuous passive monitoring without manual searching.

No historical search or deep analytics beyond alerts.

Helps identify early-stage discussions before they spread widely.

Does not access private or restricted communities.

Summary

F5Bot is best used for early warning monitoring and ongoing intelligence collection rather than deep investigation or attribution. However, it doesn’t analyse sentiment or context deeply, so results require manual review.

Ownership

F5Bot is owned and operated by developer Lewis Van Winkle through his company, F5Bot LLC, since 2017. He is based in Iowa, USA.

Ethical Considerations

Only monitor publicly available content on Reddit and Hacker News.
Avoid excessive or intrusive keyword tracking that could impact user privacy.
Validate all alerts before including them in reporting or attribution assessments.
Be cautious when monitoring usernames or individuals to avoid misinterpretation.
Ensure compliance with organisational policies and data handling requirements.