Sub-technique of T1561 Disk Wipe.View on attack.mitre.org
Adversaries may erase the contents of storage devices on specific systems or in large numbers in a network to interrupt availability to system and network resources.
Adversaries may partially or completely overwrite the contents of a storage device rendering the data irrecoverable through the storage interface. Instead of wiping specific disk structures or files, adversaries with destructive intent may wipe arbitrary portions of disk content. To wipe disk content, adversaries may acquire direct access to the hard drive in order to overwrite arbitrarily sized portions of disk with random data. Adversaries have also been observed leveraging third-party drivers like RawDisk to directly access disk content. This behavior is distinct from Data Destruction because sections of the disk are erased instead of individual files.
To maximize impact on the target organization in operations where network-wide availability interruption is the goal, malware used for wiping disk content may have worm-like features to propagate across a network by leveraging additional techniques like Valid Accounts, OS Credential Dumping, and SMB/Windows Admin Shares.
Rules on DetectionCode tagged with T1561.001.
| Rule | Level | Log source |
|---|---|---|
| Cisco File Deletion | medium | cisco / NULL |
| Rule | Type | Risk | Data source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft Intune Bulk Wipe | TTP | NULL | Azure Monitor Activity |
| Used by | Procedure example |
|---|---|
| GroupGamaredon Group | Gamaredon Group has used tools to delete files and folders from victims' desktops and profiles. |
| GroupLazarus Group | Lazarus Group has used malware like WhiskeyAlfa to overwrite the first 64MB of every drive with a mix of static and random buffers. A similar process is then used to wipe content in logical drives and, finally, attempt to wipe every byte of every sector on every drive. WhiskeyBravo can be used to overwrite the first 4.9MB of physical drives. WhiskeyDelta can overwrite the first 132MB or 1.5MB of each drive with random data from heap memory. |
| GroupVOID MANTICORE | VOID MANTICORE has utilized a disk wiping utility to facilitate destructive actions on victim servers. VOID MANTICORE has also utilized legitimate remote disk wiping commands. |
| Used by | Procedure example |
|---|---|
| MalwareAcidPour | AcidPour includes functionality to overwrite victim devices with the content of a buffer to wipe disk content. |
| MalwareAcidRain | AcidRain iterates over device file identifiers on the target, opens the device file, and either overwrites the file or calls various IOCTLS commands to erase it. |
| MalwareApostle | Apostle searches for files on available drives based on a list of extensions hard-coded into the sample for follow-on wipe activity. |
| MalwareBlackCat | BlackCat has the ability to wipe VM snapshots on compromised networks. |
| Toolcipher.exe | cipher.exe can be used to overwrite deleted data in specified folders. |
| MalwareDarkGate | DarkGate has deleted all files in the Mozilla directory using the following command: `/c del /q /f /s C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\firefox*`. |
| MalwareDEADWOOD | DEADWOOD deletes files following overwriting them with random data. |
| MalwareHermeticWiper | HermeticWiper has the ability to corrupt disk partitions and obtain raw disk access to destroy data. |
| Used by | Procedure example |
|---|---|
| CampaignAPT28 Nearest Neighbor Campaign | During APT28 Nearest Neighbor Campaign, APT28 used the native Microsoft utility cipher.exe to securely wipe files and folders – overwriting the deleted data using |
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