T1593 — Search Open Websites/Domains

# T1593 - Search Open Websites/Domains

## SOC Recommendation
Investigate Search Open Websites/Domains activity in the context of Reconnaissance: confirm scope, affected host/identity, and whether it matches expected administrative behaviour before deciding this is benign.

## D3FEND Mappings
| D3FEND Technique | Relationship | Practical SOC Action |
|---|---|---|
| Network Traffic Analysis | Detect | Monitor for Network Traffic Analysis indicators relevant to this technique. |

## Investigation Steps
1. Review Defender for Endpoint / Defender XDR alerts and timeline for the affected host or identity.
2. Check Sentinel analytics rules and incidents correlated with this technique.
3. Review Entra ID sign-in and audit logs if the technique involves an identity or cloud resource.

## Evidence to Collect
- Host or resource affected
- Account or identity involved
- Timestamp of the activity
- Related process, file, or network artifact
- Any preceding or follow-on alerts

## Response Actions
| Action | Risk | Automation Safe | Approval Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contain the affected host or account | Medium | No | Yes |
| Collect and preserve evidence | Low | Yes | No |

## KQL
```kql
let firstRec = FortyTwoCrunchAPIProtection
| where TimeGenerated >= ago(5m) 
| project-away NonBlockingMode, SourcePort, DestinationPort, Query, ApiId, RequestHeader, ResponseHeader, Errors, EventType, Uuid
| where UriPath has "/api/properties?page=" and Status == 200;
let rateLimitCount = (toscalar(firstRec | count));
let recCount = iff((rateLimitCount > 100), 1, 0);
firstRec | top recCount by Timestamp desc;
```
```kql
// High severity - Social and Public Exposure - Confidential Files Information Exposure
let timeFrame = 5m;
CyfirmaSPEConfidentialFilesAlerts_CL
| where severity == 'Critical' and TimeGenerated between (ago(timeFrame) .. now())
| extend
    Description=description,
    FirstSeen=first_seen,
    LastSeen=last_seen,
    RiskScore=risk_score,
    AlertUID=alert_uid,
    UID=uid,
    AssetType=asset_type,
    AssetValue=signature,
    Impact=impact,
    Recommendation=recommendation,
    ProviderName='CYFIRMA',
    ProductName='DeCYFIR/DeTCT',
    AlertTitle=Alert_title
| project
    TimeGenerated,
    Description,
    RiskScore,
    FirstSeen,
    LastSeen,
    AlertUID,
    UID,
    AssetType,
    AssetValue,
    Impact,
    Recommendation,
    ProductName,
    ProviderName,
    AlertTitle
```
```kql
// High severity - Social and Public Exposure - Social Media Threats Activity Detected
let timeFrame = 5m;
CyfirmaSPESocialThreatAlerts_CL
| where severity == 'Critical' and TimeGenerated between (ago(timeFrame) .. now())
| extend
    Description=description,
    FirstSeen=first_seen,
    LastSeen=last_seen,
    RiskScore=risk_score,
    AlertUID=alert_uid,
    UID=uid,
    AssetType=asset_type,
    AssetValue=signature,
    Source=source,
    Impact=impact,
    Recommendation=recommendation,
    ProviderName='CYFIRMA',
    ProductName='DeCYFIR/DeTCT',
    AlertTitle=Alert_title
| project
    TimeGenerated,
    Description,
    RiskScore,
    FirstSeen,
    LastSeen,
    AlertUID,
    UID,
    AssetType,
    AssetValue,
    Source,
    Impact,
    Recommendation,
    ProductName,
    ProviderName,
    AlertTitle
```

## Escalation Criteria
- Search Open Websites/Domains activity observed on a privileged account or critical system.
- Activity follows or precedes other suspicious behaviour in the same investigation.
- Automated triage cannot confidently rule out malicious intent.

## False Positive Considerations
- Legitimate administrative or maintenance activity matching this pattern.
- Approved security testing or red team exercise.
- Known benign software producing similar telemetry.

Generated by SOC Response Atlas by Basyrix.

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• /api/techniques/T1593.json
• /api/recommendations/T1593.json
• /api/d3fend/T1593.json
• /api/mappings/T1593.json
• /api/confluence/T1593.md

Example curl:

curl https://atlas.basyrix.com/api/recommendations/T1593.json

Response:

{
  "technique_id": "T1593",
  "name": "Search Open Websites/Domains",
  "priority": "high",
  "status": "draft",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "last_reviewed": "2026-07-23",
  "generated_by": "SOC Response Atlas by Basyrix",
  "tactics": [
    "Reconnaissance"
  ],
  "platforms": [
    "PRE"
  ],
  "summary": "Adversaries may search freely available websites and/or domains for information about victims that can be used during targeting. Information about victims may be available in various online sites, such as social media, new sites, or those hosting information about business operations such as hiring or requested/rewarded contracts. Adversaries may search in different online sites depending on what information they seek to gather...",
  "soc_recommendation": "Investigate Search Open Websites/Domains activity in the context of Reconnaissance: confirm scope, affected host/identity, and whether it matches expected administrative behaviour before deciding this is benign.",
  "d3fend_mappings": [
    {
      "id": "D3-NTA",
      "name": "Network Traffic Analysis",
      "relationship": "detect",
      "practical_action": "Monitor for Network Traffic Analysis indicators relevant to this technique.",
      "tooling": [
        "Sentinel",
        "Defender for Endpoint"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "investigation_steps": {
    "microsoft": [
      "Review Defender for Endpoint / Defender XDR alerts and timeline for the affected host or identity.",
      "Check Sentinel analytics rules and incidents correlated with this technique.",
      "Review Entra ID sign-in and audit logs if the technique involves an identity or cloud resource."
    ],
    "generic": [
      "Confirm whether the observed search open websites/domains activity matches expected administrative or application behaviour.",
      "Identify the host, account, or resource where the activity occurred and its business criticality.",
      "Check for related alerts before and after this activity to reconstruct the broader intrusion timeline.",
      "Real detection reference: \"API - API Scraping\" -- 42Crunch API protection against API scraping'"
    ]
  },
  "evidence_to_collect": [
    "Host or resource affected",
    "Account or identity involved",
    "Timestamp of the activity",
    "Related process, file, or network artifact",
    "Any preceding or follow-on alerts"
  ],
  "response_actions": [
    {
      "name": "Contain the affected host or account",
      "category": "Containment",
      "risk": "Medium",
      "automation_safe": false,
      "approval_required": true,
      "tool": "Defender for Endpoint / Entra ID",
      "notes": "Requires approval -- confirm malicious intent before isolating a host or disabling an account."
    },
    {
      "name": "Collect and preserve evidence",
      "category": "Investigation",
      "risk": "Low",
      "automation_safe": true,
      "approval_required": false,
      "tool": "Defender for Endpoint",
      "notes": "Safe -- read-only evidence collection."
    }
  ],
  "queries": {
    "kql": [
      {
        "name": "d944d564-b6fa-470d-b5ab-41b341878c5e — API - API Scraping",
        "description": "42Crunch API protection against API scraping' (Source: Microsoft's official Azure-Sentinel Detections (MIT licensed).)",
        "query": "let firstRec = FortyTwoCrunchAPIProtection\n| where TimeGenerated >= ago(5m) \n| project-away NonBlockingMode, SourcePort, DestinationPort, Query, ApiId, RequestHeader, ResponseHeader, Errors, EventType, Uuid\n| where UriPath has \"/api/properties?page=\" and Status == 200;\nlet rateLimitCount = (toscalar(firstRec | count));\nlet recCount = iff((rateLimitCount > 100), 1, 0);\nfirstRec | top recCount by Timestamp desc;"
      },
      {
        "name": "67e9c4aa-a2fa-4e4e-9272-1a8da41475c6 — CYFIRMA - Social and Public Exposure - Confidential Files Information Exposure Rule",
        "description": "\"This rule detects high-severity alerts from CYFIRMA regarding exposure of confidential files or forms linked to internal or client-related information, publicly accessible on platforms. These exposures could lead to data leakage, compliance violations, or targeted attacks.\" (Source: Microsoft's official Azure-Sentinel Detections (MIT licensed).)",
        "query": "// High severity - Social and Public Exposure - Confidential Files Information Exposure\nlet timeFrame = 5m;\nCyfirmaSPEConfidentialFilesAlerts_CL\n| where severity == 'Critical' and TimeGenerated between (ago(timeFrame) .. now())\n| extend\n    Description=description,\n    FirstSeen=first_seen,\n    LastSeen=last_seen,\n    RiskScore=risk_score,\n    AlertUID=alert_uid,\n    UID=uid,\n    AssetType=asset_type,\n    AssetValue=signature,\n    Impact=impact,\n    Recommendation=recommendation,\n    ProviderName='CYFIRMA',\n    ProductName='DeCYFIR/DeTCT',\n    AlertTitle=Alert_title\n| project\n    TimeGenerated,\n    Description,\n    RiskScore,\n    FirstSeen,\n    LastSeen,\n    AlertUID,\n    UID,\n    AssetType,\n    AssetValue,\n    Impact,\n    Recommendation,\n    ProductName,\n    ProviderName,\n    AlertTitle"
      },
      {
        "name": "4fe04459-13f1-4ff7-9b7c-f9be0c2aad6d — CYFIRMA - Social and Public Exposure -  Social Media Threats  Activity Detected Rule",
        "description": "\"This rule detects high-severity social threat alerts from CYFIRMA related to impersonation, fake profiles, or malicious activities on social platforms that may target executives, brands, or employees. These threats can result in reputational damage, phishing, or social engineering attacks. Immediate investigation and takedown are recommended to minimize risk.\" (Source: Microsoft's official Azure-Sentinel Detections (MIT licensed).)",
        "query": "// High severity - Social and Public Exposure - Social Media Threats Activity Detected\nlet timeFrame = 5m;\nCyfirmaSPESocialThreatAlerts_CL\n| where severity == 'Critical' and TimeGenerated between (ago(timeFrame) .. now())\n| extend\n    Description=description,\n    FirstSeen=first_seen,\n    LastSeen=last_seen,\n    RiskScore=risk_score,\n    AlertUID=alert_uid,\n    UID=uid,\n    AssetType=asset_type,\n    AssetValue=signature,\n    Source=source,\n    Impact=impact,\n    Recommendation=recommendation,\n    ProviderName='CYFIRMA',\n    ProductName='DeCYFIR/DeTCT',\n    AlertTitle=Alert_title\n| project\n    TimeGenerated,\n    Description,\n    RiskScore,\n    FirstSeen,\n    LastSeen,\n    AlertUID,\n    UID,\n    AssetType,\n    AssetValue,\n    Source,\n    Impact,\n    Recommendation,\n    ProductName,\n    ProviderName,\n    AlertTitle"
      }
    ],
    "spl": [],
    "esql": []
  },
  "automation": {
    "safe": [
      "Add recommendation as Sentinel incident comment.",
      "Run enrichment queries.",
      "Create ServiceNow SecOps task."
    ],
    "approval_required": [
      "Contain or disable the affected host/account.",
      "Any change to production configuration."
    ]
  },
  "escalation_criteria": [
    "Search Open Websites/Domains activity observed on a privileged account or critical system.",
    "Activity follows or precedes other suspicious behaviour in the same investigation.",
    "Automated triage cannot confidently rule out malicious intent."
  ],
  "false_positive_considerations": [
    "Legitimate administrative or maintenance activity matching this pattern.",
    "Approved security testing or red team exercise.",
    "Known benign software producing similar telemetry."
  ],
  "confluence": {
    "title": "T1593 - Search Open Websites/Domains Response Guidance",
    "labels": [
      "mitre",
      "attack",
      "d3fend",
      "secops",
      "basyrix"
    ],
    "sections": [
      "summary",
      "d3fend_mappings",
      "investigation_steps",
      "response_actions",
      "queries",
      "automation",
      "escalation_criteria",
      "false_positive_considerations"
    ]
  }
}