AML.T0052
Phishing

MITRE source definition

Adversaries may send phishing messages to gain access to victim systems. All forms of phishing are electronically delivered social engineering. Phishing can be targeted, known as spearphishing. In spearphishing, a specific individual, company, or industry will be targeted by the adversary. More generally, adversaries can conduct non-targeted phishing, such as in mass malware spam campaigns.

Generative AI, including LLMs that generate synthetic text, visual deepfakes of faces, and audio deepfakes of speech (See [Generate Deepfakes](/techniques/AML.T0088)), is enabling adversaries to scale targeted phishing campaigns (See [Spearphishing via Social Engineering LLM](/techniques/AML.T0052.000)). LLMs can interact with users via text conversations and can be programmed with a system prompt to phish for sensitive information. Deepfakes can also be used in [Impersonation](/techniques/AML.T0073) as an aid to phishing.

Source modified 2026-05-27. Reproduced from the pinned ATLAS release; inline technique links resolve to local reference pages.

Parent, sub-techniques and ATT&CK references

• AML.T0052.000 Spearphishing via Social Engineering LLM
• AML.T0052.001 Deepfake-Assisted Phishing
• T1566 Phishing — explicit ATLAS ATT&CK reference

Source-backed defensive context

MITRE mitigations

• AML.M0018 User Training
• AML.M0034 Deepfake Detection

MITRE case studies

• AML.CS0032 Attempted Evasion of ML Phishing Webpage Detection System · Incident
• AML.CS0044 LAMEHUG: Malware Leveraging Dynamic AI-Generated Commands · Incident

These are explicit source relationships, not independently reproduced incidents or validated detection coverage.

Simulation and telemetry boundary

This is a technique reference page, not a runnable simulation. No ATLAS-specific telemetry mapping, local attack execution or detector validation is asserted. MITRE maturity describes its source evidence, not a 1200km lab result.

For broader context—not technique-specific control mappings—see AI Security, AI Security Course, and detection-validation methodology.

Provenance and attribution

Immutable MITRE ATLAS source · Import provenance · Attribution and transformation notice · Apache License 2.0

Copyright 2021-2026 MITRE. Source text and explicit relationships are retained; navigation, formatting and local links are provided by 1200km.

No explicit relationship in this pinned source.