- Tactics
- Reconnaissance
- Platforms
- PRE
- Reference
- attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1589
Description
Adversaries may gather information about the victim’s identity that can be used during targeting. Information about identities may include a variety of details, including personal data (ex: employee names, email addresses, security question responses, etc.) as well as sensitive details such as credentials or multi-factor authentication (MFA) configurations.
Adversaries may gather this information in various ways, such as direct elicitation via Phishing for Information. Information about users could also be enumerated via other active means (i.e. Active Scanning) such as probing and analyzing responses from authentication services that may reveal valid usernames in a system or permitted MFA /methods associated with those usernames.(Citation: GrimBlog UsernameEnum)(Citation: Obsidian SSPR Abuse 2023) Information about victims may also be exposed to adversaries via online or other accessible data sets (ex: Social Media or Search Victim-Owned Websites).(Citation: OPM Leak)(Citation: Register Deloitte)(Citation: Register Uber)(Citation: Detectify Slack Tokens)(Citation: Forbes GitHub Creds)(Citation: GitHub truffleHog)(Citation: GitHub Gitrob)(Citation: CNET Leaks)
Gathering this information may reveal opportunities for other forms of reconnaissance (ex: Search Open Websites/Domains or Phishing for Information), establishing operational resources (ex: Compromise Accounts), and/or initial access (ex: Phishing or Valid Accounts).
Sub-techniques
How GTK Cyber trains on this
GTK Cyber's hands-on training programs cover detection engineering across the MITRE ATT&CK framework, including the Reconnaissance tactic this technique falls under. Our practitioner-led courses focus on building real detections, not just memorizing technique IDs.
Related techniques
- T1590 — Gather Victim Network Information
- T1591 — Gather Victim Org Information
- T1592 — Gather Victim Host Information
- T1593 — Search Open Websites/Domains
- T1594 — Search Victim-Owned Websites
- T1595 — Active Scanning
- T1596 — Search Open Technical Databases
- T1597 — Search Closed Sources
- T1598 — Phishing for Information
- T1681 — Search Threat Vendor Data
- T1682 — Query Public AI Services