Cipherforce

MITRE ATT&CK does not currently catalogue Cipherforce, 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: cipherforce uses PowerShell scripts to execute malicious commands and spread payloads across compromised systems.

   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: cipherforce modifies Registry Run Keys to ensure persistence after reboot.

   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: cipherforce disables antivirus tools by terminating security processes and modifying system configurations to evade detection.

   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. T1070.004 File Deletion Stealth

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

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

5. T1018 Remote System Discovery Discovery

   What they do: cipherforce performs remote system discovery to map the victim network before deploying ransomware.

   What that means: Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of other systems by IP address, hostname, or other logical identifier on a network that may be used for Lateral Movement from the current system.

6. T1135 Network Share Discovery Discovery

   What they do: cipherforce discovers network shares using SMB enumeration to identify additional victims for lateral movement.

   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.

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

   What they do: cipherforce leverages SMB/Windows Admin Shares for lateral movement between networked hosts.

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

8. T1567.002 Exfiltration to Cloud Storage Exfiltration

   What they do: cipherforce exfiltrates sensitive data before encryption to increase leverage and pressure victims.

   What that means: Adversaries may exfiltrate data to a cloud storage service rather than over their primary command and control channel.

9. T1486 Data Encrypted for Impact Impact

   What they do: cipherforce encrypts victim files using strong symmetric encryption to maximize disruption and ransom demand.

   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. T1490 Inhibit System Recovery Impact

    What they do: cipherforce calls system recovery inhibitors to block restore processes and harden impact.

    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.