Phishing for Information

Adversaries may send phishing messages to elicit sensitive information that can be used during targeting. Phishing for information is an attempt to trick targets into divulging information, frequently credentials or other actionable information. Phishing for information is different from Phishing in that the objective is gathering data from the victim rather than executing malicious code.

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 credential harvesting campaigns.

Adversaries may also try to obtain information directly through the exchange of emails, instant messages, or other electronic conversation means.[1][2][3][4][5] Phishing for information frequently involves social engineering techniques, such as posing as a source with a reason to collect information (ex: Establish Accounts or Compromise Accounts) and/or sending multiple, seemingly urgent messages.

ID: T1598
Sub-techniques:  T1598.001, T1598.002, T1598.003
Tactic: Reconnaissance
Platforms: PRE
Data Sources: Application Log: Application Log Content, Network Traffic: Network Traffic Content, Network Traffic: Network Traffic Flow
Contributors: Philip Winther; Robert Simmons, @MalwareUtkonos; Sebastian Salla, McAfee
Version: 1.1
Created: 02 October 2020
Last Modified: 15 April 2021

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
G0007 APT28

APT28 has used spearphishing to compromise credentials.[6]


ZIRCONIUM targeted presidential campaign staffers with credential phishing e-mails.[7]


ID Mitigation Description
M1054 Software Configuration

Use anti-spoofing and email authentication mechanisms to filter messages based on validity checks of the sender domain (using SPF) and integrity of messages (using DKIM). Enabling these mechanisms within an organization (through policies such as DMARC) may enable recipients (intra-org and cross domain) to perform similar message filtering and validation.[8][9]

M1017 User Training

Users can be trained to identify social engineering techniques and spearphishing attempts.


Depending on the specific method of phishing, the detections can vary. Monitor for suspicious email activity, such as numerous accounts receiving messages from a single unusual/unknown sender. Filtering based on DKIM+SPF or header analysis can help detect when the email sender is spoofed.[8][9]

When it comes to following links, monitor for references to uncategorized or known-bad sites. URL inspection within email (including expanding shortened links) can also help detect links leading to known malicious sites.

Monitor social media traffic for suspicious activity, including messages requesting information as well as abnormal file or data transfers (especially those involving unknown, or otherwise suspicious accounts).