Coldlock

MITRE ATT&CK does not currently catalogue Coldlock, 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: coldlock executes PowerShell scripts to run malicious commands and spread payloads across victim systems.

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

2. T1106 Native API Execution

   What they do: coldlock leverages native API calls to interact with system functions for execution and evasion.

   What that means: Adversaries may interact with the native OS application programming interface (API) to execute behaviors.

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

   What they do: coldlock modifies registry run keys to ensure malware execution upon system startup for persistence.

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

4. T1685 Disable or Modify Tools Defense Impairment

   What they do: coldlock disables security tools and monitoring utilities to hinder incident response and 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.

5. T1027.013 Encrypted/Encoded File Stealth

   What they do: coldlock encrypts and encodes victim files with its custom ransomware algorithm before demanding payment.

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

6. T1070.004 File Deletion Stealth

   What they do: coldlock deletes Volume Shadow Copies and backup files to prevent recovery from restore points.

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

7. T1486 Data Encrypted for Impact Impact

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

   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.

8. T1490 Inhibit System Recovery Impact

   What they do: coldlock inhibits system recovery processes by terminating restore services and disabling recovery mechanisms.

   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.