TA0043 · RECONNAISSANCE
Active Scanning
Port scans, vulnerability scans, and wordlist-driven directory brute forcing against hosts the target owns.
Detect it with
Edge firewall denies from a single source across many ports; 404 floods in web server logs with scanner user-agents.
Why it matters on shift
Active Scanning is one of the concrete ways adversaries achieve reconnaissance. Recognising it in telemetry lets you name the technique in your ticket and pivot to what came before and after.
What to look for next
After reconnaissance, the next tactic is usually Resource Development. Search your telemetry for the transition before closing the ticket.
3 sub-techniques
How it shows up in practice
- T1595.001
Scanning IP Blocks
Adversaries may scan victim IP blocks to gather information that can be used during targeting. Public IP addresses may be allocated to organizations by block, or a range of sequential addresses.
- T1595.002
Vulnerability Scanning
Adversaries may scan victims for vulnerabilities that can be used during targeting.
- T1595.003
Wordlist Scanning
Adversaries may iteratively probe infrastructure using brute-forcing and crawling techniques.
Kill-chain context