Attacks and malware
What is Initial access?
The first foothold an attacker gains in a target environment, for example through phishing, a stolen password or an exploited internet-facing system.
Initial access is the first foothold an attacker gains inside a target. It is the opening tactic in MITRE ATT&CK, covering techniques such as phishing, exploiting internet-facing applications, valid stolen accounts, supply chain compromise and malicious drive-by downloads.
Understanding how a group usually gets in is one of the most actionable parts of a threat profile, because it points directly at the defences to strengthen first.