t1585-establish-accounts

name	T1585_establish-accounts
description	Adversaries may create and cultivate accounts with services that can be used during targeting.
category	information-gathering
version	18.1
author	cyberstrike-official
tags	["mitre-attack","enterprise","t1585","resource-development","pre"]
technique_id	T1585
tactic	resource-development
all_tactics	["resource-development"]
platforms	["PRE"]
mitre_url	https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1585
tech_stack	["pre"]
cwe_ids	[]
chains_with	["T1585.001","T1585.002","T1585.003"]
prerequisites	[]
severity_boost	{"T1585.001":"Chain with T1585.001 for deeper attack path","T1585.002":"Chain with T1585.002 for deeper attack path","T1585.003":"Chain with T1585.003 for deeper attack path"}

T1585 Establish Accounts

High-Level Description

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.

Kill Chain Phase

• Resource Development (TA0042)

Platforms: PRE

What to Check

• Identify if Establish Accounts technique is applicable to target environment
• Check PRE systems for indicators of Establish Accounts
• Verify mitigations are bypassed or absent (1 known mitigations)
• Assess detection coverage (1 detection strategies)

How to Test

Manual Testing

1. Identify Attack Surface: Determine if the target environment is susceptible to Establish Accounts by examining the target platforms (PRE).

2. Assess Existing Defenses: Review whether mitigations for T1585 are in place. If defenses are absent or misconfigured, this technique may be exploitable.

3. Execute Test: Use tools and methods described in the MITRE ATT&CK page and external references below.

Note: No Atomic Red Team tests available for this technique. See Atomic Red Team GitHub for updates.