MITRE ATT&CK Technique
Reconnaissance T1589.002
Description

Adversaries may gather email addresses that can be used during targeting. Even if internal instances exist, organizations may have public-facing email infrastructure and addresses for employees. Adversaries may easily gather email addresses, since they may be readily available and exposed via online or other accessible data sets (ex: [Social Media](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1593/001) or [Search Victim-Owned Websites](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1594)).(Citation: HackersArise Email)(Citation: CNET Leaks) Email addresses could also be enumerated via more active means (i.e. [Active Scanning](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1595)), such as probing and analyzing responses from authentication services that may reveal valid usernames in a system.(Citation: GrimBlog UsernameEnum) For example, adversaries may be able to enumerate email addresses in Office 365 environments by querying a variety of publicly available API endpoints, such as autodiscover and GetCredentialType.(Citation: GitHub Office 365 User Enumeration)(Citation: Azure Active Directory Reconnaisance) Gathering this information may reveal opportunities for other forms of reconnaissance (ex: [Search Open Websites/Domains](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1593) or [Phishing for Information](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1598)), establishing operational resources (ex: [Email Accounts](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1586/002)), and/or initial access (ex: [Phishing](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1566) or [Brute Force](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1110) via [External Remote Services](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1133)).

Supported Platforms
PRE
Created

April 29, 2026

Last Updated

April 29, 2026

STIX Data
{'created': '2020-10-02T14:56:24.866Z',
 'created_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
 'description': 'Adversaries may gather email addresses that can be used '
                'during targeting. Even if internal instances exist, '
                'organizations may have public-facing email infrastructure and '
                'addresses for employees.\n'
                '\n'
                'Adversaries may easily gather email addresses, since they may '
                'be readily available and exposed via online or other '
                'accessible data sets (ex: [Social '
                'Media](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1593/001) or '
                '[Search Victim-Owned '
                'Websites](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1594)).(Citation: '
                'HackersArise Email)(Citation: CNET Leaks) Email addresses '
                'could also be enumerated via more active means (i.e. [Active '
                'Scanning](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1595)), such '
                'as probing and analyzing responses from authentication '
                'services that may reveal valid usernames in a '
                'system.(Citation: GrimBlog UsernameEnum) For example, '
                'adversaries may be able to enumerate email addresses in '
                'Office 365 environments by querying a variety of publicly '
                'available API endpoints, such as autodiscover and '
                'GetCredentialType.(Citation: GitHub Office 365 User '
                'Enumeration)(Citation: Azure Active Directory Reconnaisance)\n'
                '\n'
                'Gathering this information may reveal opportunities for other '
                'forms of reconnaissance (ex: [Search Open '
                'Websites/Domains](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1593) '
                'or [Phishing for '
                'Information](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1598)), '
                'establishing operational resources (ex: [Email '
                'Accounts](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1586/002)), '
                'and/or initial access (ex: '
                '[Phishing](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1566) or '
                '[Brute Force](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1110) via '
                '[External Remote '
                'Services](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1133)).',
 'external_references': [{'external_id': 'T1589.002',
                          'source_name': 'mitre-attack',
                          'url': 'https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1589/002'},
                         {'description': 'Dr. Nestori Syynimaa. (2020, June '
                                         '13). Just looking: Azure Active '
                                         'Directory reconnaissance as an '
                                         'outsider. Retrieved May 27, 2022.',
                          'source_name': 'Azure Active Directory Reconnaisance',
                          'url': 'https://o365blog.com/post/just-looking/'},
                         {'description': 'gremwell. (2020, March 24). Office '
                                         '365 User Enumeration. Retrieved May '
                                         '27, 2022.',
                          'source_name': 'GitHub Office 365 User Enumeration',
                          'url': 'https://github.com/gremwell/o365enum'},
                         {'description': 'GrimHacker. (2017, July 24). '
                                         'Office365 ActiveSync Username '
                                         'Enumeration. Retrieved December 9, '
                                         '2021.',
                          'source_name': 'GrimBlog UsernameEnum',
                          'url': 'https://grimhacker.com/2017/07/24/office365-activesync-username-enumeration/'},
                         {'description': 'Hackers Arise. (n.d.). Email '
                                         'Scraping and Maltego. Retrieved '
                                         'October 20, 2020.',
                          'source_name': 'HackersArise Email',
                          'url': 'https://www.hackers-arise.com/email-scraping-and-maltego'},
                         {'description': 'Ng, A. (2019, January 17). Massive '
                                         'breach leaks 773 million email '
                                         'addresses, 21 million passwords. '
                                         'Retrieved October 20, 2020.',
                          'source_name': 'CNET Leaks',
                          'url': 'https://www.cnet.com/news/massive-breach-leaks-773-million-emails-21-million-passwords/'}],
 'id': 'attack-pattern--69f897fd-12a9-4c89-ad6a-46d2f3c38262',
 'kill_chain_phases': [{'kill_chain_name': 'mitre-attack',
                        'phase_name': 'reconnaissance'}],
 'modified': '2025-10-24T17:48:54.336Z',
 'name': 'Email Addresses',
 'object_marking_refs': ['marking-definition--fa42a846-8d90-4e51-bc29-71d5b4802168'],
 'revoked': False,
 'spec_version': '2.1',
 'type': 'attack-pattern',
 'x_mitre_attack_spec_version': '3.2.0',
 'x_mitre_contributors': ['Jannie Li, Microsoft Threat Intelligence\u202f'
                          'Center\u202f(MSTIC)'],
 'x_mitre_deprecated': False,
 'x_mitre_detection': '',
 'x_mitre_domains': ['enterprise-attack'],
 'x_mitre_is_subtechnique': True,
 'x_mitre_modified_by_ref': 'identity--c78cb6e5-0c4b-4611-8297-d1b8b55e40b5',
 'x_mitre_platforms': ['PRE'],
 'x_mitre_version': '1.3'}
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