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ATT&CK techniqueCredential Access

T1552.004 Private Keys

Credential AccessEnterpriseSub-technique

As of 2026-10-05, T1552.004 (Private Keys) appears in 75 tracked threats, first reported 2026-02-16 and most recently 2026-10-02, with linked actors including TeamPCP, ShinyHunters, APT38; it most often appears alongside T1005 (Data from Local System).

Tracked threats
7544 critical, 27 high, 3 medium
First seen
2026-02-16
Last seen
2026-10-02
Threat actors
19In the threats using it
Detection rules
206Blue tier and above

Data as of:

Activity timeline

T1552.004 first appeared in tracked threats on and was most recently reported on . The busiest month was 2026-07 with 19 reports, and 75 of the 75 threats were reported in the twelve months to 2026-10.

How adversaries use it

T1552.004 Private Keys is catalogued by MITRE ATT&CK under the Credential Access tactic in the Enterprise matrix, as a sub-technique of T1552 Unsecured Credentials. Threadlinqs maps 75 of 2623 tracked threats (2.9%) to it; by severity that is 44 critical, 27 high, 3 medium.

Threats that use T1552.004 most often also use T1005 Data from Local System (52 threats), T1071.001 Web Protocols (48 threats), T1552.001 Credentials In Files (47 threats), T1082 System Information Discovery (37 threats), T1041 Exfiltration Over C2 Channel (31 threats). These are the techniques an intrusion set tends to chain with it, so they are the natural next places to look when it is observed.

19 tracked threat actors appear in the threats that use T1552.004; the most frequent are TeamPCP (8), ShinyHunters (3), APT38 (2), Andariel (2), Lazarus Group (2).

Mitigations

MITRE ATT&CK lists 4 mitigations for T1552.004.

Data sources

Telemetry that can reveal T1552.004, per MITRE ATT&CK.

  • Command — Command Execution
  • File — File Access

Threat actors using it

Tracked threats

The 30 most recent of 75 tracked threats that use T1552.004.

Detection coverage

Threadlinqs maintains 206 detection rules mapped to T1552.004 (SPL 72, KQL 72, Sigma 60, other 2). Rule content is available to Blue tier accounts and above; this page shows counts only.

206 detection rules (SPL/KQL/Sigma) · Blue and above. Compare plans

Parent technique

T1552 Unsecured Credentials — 551 tracked threats at the technique level.