T1566

Phishing

Initial Access

Description

Adversaries may send phishing messages to gain access to victim systems. All forms of phishing are electronically delivered social engineering. Phishing can be targeted, known as spearphishing. In spearphishing, a specific individual, company, or industry will be targeted by the adversary. More generally, adversaries can conduct non-targeted phishing, such as in mass malware spam campaigns.Adversaries may send victims emails containing malicious attachments or links, typically to execute malicious code on victim systems. Phishing may also be conducted via third-party services, like social media platforms. Phishing may also involve social engineering techniques, such as posing as a trusted source, as well as evasive techniques such as removing or manipulating emails or metadata/headers from compromised accounts being abused to send messages (e.g., [Email Hiding Rules](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1564/008)).(Citation: Microsoft OAuth Spam 2022)(Citation: Palo Alto Unit 42 VBA Infostealer 2014) Another way to accomplish this is by [Email Spoofing](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1684/002)(Citation: Proofpoint-spoof) the identity of the sender, which can be used to fool both the human recipient as well as automated security tools,(Citation: cyberproof-double-bounce) or by including the intended target as a party to an existing email thread that includes malicious files or links (i.e., "thread hijacking").(Citation: phishing-krebs)Victims may also receive phishin…

Platforms

Identity ProviderLinuxmacOSOffice SuiteSaaSWindows

Mitigations

M1047 — Audit
M1031 — Network Intrusion Prevention
M1054 — Software Configuration
M1021 — Restrict Web-Based Content
M1049 — Antivirus/Antimalware
M1017 — User Training

Look up any technique

Use our free MITRE ATT&CK lookup tool, or browse the full ATT&CK matrix.

Our coverage

Source: MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise matrix. View on attack.mitre.org →