Astroteam

MITRE ATT&CK does not currently catalogue Astroteam, so this is our assessment of the techniques it uses, drawn from public reporting. The techniques themselves, and every "what that means" definition below, come from MITRE ATT&CK v19.2. Confidence: low. Treat it as orientation, not attribution.

1. T1059.001 PowerShell Execution

   What they do: astroteam executes malicious commands through PowerShell to stage payloads and manipulate system behavior.

   What that means: Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.

2. T1547.001 Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder PersistencePrivilege Escalation

   What they do: astroteam persists via registry run keys to ensure recurring execution after reboots.

   What that means: Adversaries may achieve persistence by adding a program to a startup folder or referencing it with a Registry run key.

3. T1685 Disable or Modify Tools Defense Impairment

   What they do: astroteam disables host-based defenses like antivirus tools to prevent detection and removal.

   What that means: Adversaries may disable, degrade, or tamper with security tools or applications (e.g., endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools, intrusion detection systems (IDS), antivirus, logging agents, sensors, etc.) to impair or reduce visibility of defensive capabilities.

4. T1027.002 Software Packing Stealth

   What they do: astroteam packs its malware binaries to evade static signature-based detection.

   What that means: Adversaries may perform software packing or virtual machine software protection to conceal their code.

5. T1070.004 File Deletion Stealth

   What they do: astroteam deletes Volume Shadow Copies and backup artifacts to eliminate recovery options.

   What that means: Adversaries may delete files left behind by the actions of their intrusion activity.

6. T1083 File and Directory Discovery Discovery

   What they do: astroteam scans file and directory structures to identify sensitive data for encryption.

   What that means: Adversaries may enumerate files and directories or may search in specific locations of a host or network share for certain information within a file system.

7. T1021.002 SMB/Windows Admin Shares Lateral Movement

   What they do: astroteam moves laterally across Windows SMB shares to compromise additional systems.

   What that means: Adversaries may use Valid Accounts to interact with a remote network share using Server Message Block (SMB).

8. T1486 Data Encrypted for Impact Impact

   What they do: astroteam encrypts victim files using a custom ransomware payload to hold data hostage.

   What that means: Adversaries may encrypt data on target systems or on large numbers of systems in a network to interrupt availability to system and network resources.

9. T1489 Service Stop Impact

   What they do: astroteam stops critical Windows services via command scripts to disrupt recovery processes.

   What that means: Adversaries may stop or disable services on a system to render those services unavailable to legitimate users.

10. T1490 Inhibit System Recovery Impact

    What they do: astroteam applies system recovery barriers through encrypted payloads to hinder restoration.

    What that means: Adversaries may delete or remove built-in data and turn off services designed to aid in the recovery of a corrupted system to prevent recovery.