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ATT&CK techniqueInitial Access

T1566.002 Spearphishing Link

Initial AccessEnterpriseSub-technique

As of 2026-10-05, T1566.002 (Spearphishing Link) appears in 308 tracked threats, first reported 2026-01-27 and most recently 2026-10-04, with linked actors including APT38, Sapphire Sleet, Stardust Chollima; it most often appears alongside T1071.001 (Web Protocols).

Tracked threats
30833 critical, 219 high, 53 medium, 2 low
First seen
2026-01-27
Last seen
2026-10-04
Threat actors
101In the threats using it
Detection rules
827Blue tier and above

Data as of:

Activity timeline

T1566.002 first appeared in tracked threats on and was most recently reported on . The busiest month was 2026-07 with 96 reports, and 308 of the 308 threats were reported in the twelve months to 2026-10.

How adversaries use it

T1566.002 Spearphishing Link is catalogued by MITRE ATT&CK under the Initial Access tactic in the Enterprise matrix, as a sub-technique of T1566 Phishing. Threadlinqs maps 308 of 2623 tracked threats (11.7%) to it; by severity that is 33 critical, 219 high, 53 medium, 2 low.

Threats that use T1566.002 most often also use T1071.001 Web Protocols (178 threats), T1204.001 Malicious Link (156 threats), T1204.002 Malicious File (149 threats), T1027 Obfuscated Files or Information (145 threats), T1583.001 Domains (140 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.

101 tracked threat actors appear in the threats that use T1566.002; the most frequent are APT38 (11), Sapphire Sleet (8), Stardust Chollima (8), Andariel (6), Lazarus Group (6).

Mitigations

MITRE ATT&CK lists 5 mitigations for T1566.002.

Data sources

Telemetry that can reveal T1566.002, per MITRE ATT&CK.

  • Application Log — Application Log Content
  • Network Traffic — Network Traffic Content, Network Traffic Flow

Threat actors using it

Tracked threats

The 30 most recent of 308 tracked threats that use T1566.002.

Detection coverage

Threadlinqs maintains 827 detection rules mapped to T1566.002 (SPL 299, KQL 244, Sigma 284). Rule content is available to Blue tier accounts and above; this page shows counts only.

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

Parent technique

T1566 Phishing — 641 tracked threats at the technique level.