Blackmatter

MITRE ATT&CK does not currently catalogue Blackmatter, 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: medium. Treat it as orientation, not attribution.

1. T1059.001 PowerShell Execution

   What they do: blackmatter executes PowerShell commands to run payload scripts and perform initial system modifications.

   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: blackmatter adds malicious registry run keys to maintain persistence across 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: blackmatter disables antivirus and monitoring tools using registry and service manipulation to ensure persistence.

   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. T1027.013 Encrypted/Encoded File Stealth

   What they do: blackmatter encrypts and encodes its own payload files to evade static detection.

   What that means: Adversaries may encrypt or encode files to obfuscate strings, bytes, and other specific patterns to impede detection.

5. T1070.004 File Deletion Stealth

   What they do: blackmatter deletes Volume Shadow Copies and backup locations via command-line tools to prevent recovery.

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

6. T1049 System Network Connections Discovery Discovery

   What they do: blackmatter queries system network connections to identify hosts for targeted encryption.

   What that means: Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of network connections to or from the compromised system they are currently accessing or from remote systems by querying for information over the network.

7. T1135 Network Share Discovery Discovery

   What they do: blackmatter uses network share discovery to locate victim file shares and staging directories for encryption targets.

   What that means: Adversaries may look for folders and drives shared on remote systems as a means of identifying sources of information to gather as a precursor for Collection and to identify potential systems of interest for Lateral Movement.

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

   What they do: blackmatter moves laterally through SMB/Windows Admin 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).

9. T1486 Data Encrypted for Impact Impact

   What they do: blackmatter encrypts victim files and backups using its ransomware payload to maximize impact.

   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.

10. T1491.001 Internal Defacement Impact

    What they do: blackmatter performs internal defacement by replacing victim files with ransom notes and altered content.

    What that means: An adversary may deface systems internal to an organization in an attempt to intimidate or mislead users, thus discrediting the integrity of the systems.

Software Blackmatter has been seen using, grouped by what it is used for. Legitimate administration tools appear here because these actors routinely abuse them — presence in this list is not itself malicious.

Tool data from Ransomware Tool Matrix by BushidoUK, licensed CC BY 4.0. Grouped by purpose and matched to this group by Breach House.

Crowdsourced payment data from Ransomwhere, licensed CC BY 4.0. Figures are what has been reported and attributed to this family, not a confirmed total. Cite as: Cable, Jack. (2024). Ransomwhere: A Crowdsourced Ransomware Payment Dataset (1.1.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6512122

The note this group leaves on a compromised machine. Click a filename to read it.

~+                                       
               *       +
         '     BLACK        |
     ()    .-.,='``'=.    - o -         
           '=/_       \     |           
        *   |  '=._    |                
             \     `=./`,        '    
          .   '=.__.=' `='      *
 +             Matter        +
      O      *        '       .

>>> What happens?
   Your network is encrypted, and currently not operational. 
   We need only money, after payment we will give you a decryptor for the entire network and you will restore all the data.

>>> What guarantees? 
   We are not a politically motivated group and we do not need anything other than your money. 
   If you pay, we will provide you the programs for decryption and we will delete your data. 
   If we do not give you decrypters or we do not delete your data, no one will pay us in the future, this does not comply with our goals. 
   We always keep our promises.

>>> How to contact with us? 
   1. Download and install TOR Browser (https://www.torproject.org/).
   2. Open http://supp24yy6a66hwszu2piygicgwzdtbwftb76htfj7vnip3getgqnzxid.onion/[snip].
  
>>> Warning! Recovery recommendations.  
   We strongly recommend you to do not MODIFY or REPAIR your files, that will damage them.

Ransom-note text from RansomLook, licensed CC BY 4.0.