Technique with 3 sub-techniques.View on attack.mitre.org
Adversaries may create and cultivate accounts with services that can be used during targeting. Adversaries can create accounts that can be used to build a persona to further operations. Persona development consists of the development of public information, presence, history and appropriate affiliations. This development could be applied to social media, website, or other publicly available information that could be referenced and scrutinized for legitimacy over the course of an operation using that persona or identity.
For operations incorporating social engineering, the utilization of an online persona may be important. These personas may be fictitious or impersonate real people. The persona may exist on a single site or across multiple sites (ex: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google, GitHub, Docker Hub, etc.). Establishing a persona may require development of additional documentation to make them seem real. This could include filling out profile information, developing social networks, or incorporating photos.
Establishing accounts can also include the creation of accounts with email providers, which may be directly leveraged for Phishing for Information or Phishing. In addition, establishing accounts may allow adversaries to abuse free services, such as registering for trial periods to Acquire Infrastructure for malicious purposes.
Rules on DetectionCode tagged with T1585 or one of its sub-techniques.
None recorded.
| Used by | Procedure example |
|---|---|
| GroupAPT17 | APT17 has created and cultivated profile pages in Microsoft TechNet. To make profile pages appear more legitimate, APT17 has created biographical sections and posted in forum threads. |
| GroupContagious Interview | Contagious Interview has created and maintained personas on code repositories to distribute malicious payloads. ESET Contagious Interview BeaverTail InvisibleFerret February 2025Sentinel One Contagious Interview ClickFix September 2025Socket BeaverTail XORIndex HexEval Contagious Interview July 2025Socket Contagious Interview NPM April 2025Socket HexEval BeaverTail Contagious Interview June 2025Validin Contagious Interview North Korea ClickFix January 2025 |
| GroupEmber Bear | Ember Bear has created accounts on dark web forums to obtain various tools and malware. |
| GroupFox Kitten | Fox Kitten has created KeyBase accounts to communicate with ransomware victims. |
| GroupKimsuky | Kimsuky has leveraged stolen PII to create accounts. |
| Used by | Procedure example |
|---|---|
| CampaignSalesforce Data Exfiltration | During Salesforce Data Exfiltration, threat actors created Salesforce trial accounts to register their malicious applications. |
Data from MITRE ATT&CK® (Enterprise). ATT&CK® is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation.
