H3XAOperational intelligence
Live analytical pictureEvidence before assessment
TypeTechnique
External ID—
First seen2026-08-14
Last seen2026-08-14

Confidence

—

Adversaries may search freely available technical databases for information about victims that can be used during targeting. Information about victims may be available in online databases and repositories, such as registrations of domains/certificates as well as public collections of network data/artifacts gathered from traffic and/or scans.(Citation: WHOIS)(Citation: DNS Dumpster)(Citation: Circl Passive DNS)(Citation: Medium SSL Cert)(Citation: SSLShopper Lookup)(Citation: DigitalShadows CDN)(Citation: Shodan) Adversaries may search in different open databases depending on what information they seek to gather. Information from these sources may reveal opportunities for other forms of reconnaissance (ex: [Phishing for Information](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1598) or [Search Open Websites/Domains](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1593)), establishing operational resources (ex: [Acquire Infrastructure](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1583) or [Compromise Infrastructure](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1584)), and/or initial access (ex: [External Remote Services](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1133) or [Trusted Relationship](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1199)).

8 recorded

Relationships

mitigatesMitigation
subtechnique-of
from CDNs
Technique
subtechnique-ofTechnique
subtechnique-ofTechnique
subtechnique-ofTechnique
subtechnique-of
from WHOIS
Technique
uses
from APT28
Group
uses
from Kimsuky
Group
8 external

References

mitre-attack
T1596
open
Circl Passive DNS
https://www.circl.lu/services/passive-dns/
open
DNS Dumpster
https://dnsdumpster.com/
open
Medium SSL Cert
https://medium.com/@menakajain/export-download-ssl-certificate-from-server-site-url-bcfc41ea46a2
open
WHOIS
https://who.is/
open
Shodan
https://shodan.io
open
SSLShopper Lookup
https://www.sslshopper.com/ssl-checker.html
open
DigitalShadows CDN
https://www.digitalshadows.com/blog-and-research/content-delivery-networks-cdns-can-leave-you-exposed-how-you-might-be-affected-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/
open