Desolator

MITRE ATT&CK does not currently catalogue Desolator, 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: desolator executes malicious commands through PowerShell scripts on compromised hosts.

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

2. T1685 Disable or Modify Tools Defense Impairment

   What they do: desolator disables security tools by modifying system configurations and service behaviors.

   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.

3. T1070.004 File Deletion Stealth

   What they do: desolator deletes Volume Shadow Copies and backup directories to prevent restoration.

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

4. T1497.001 System Checks StealthDiscovery

   What they do: desolator performs system checks to detect and evade host-based monitoring tools.

   What that means: Adversaries may employ various system checks to detect and avoid virtualization and analysis environments.

5. T1003.001 LSASS Memory Credential Access

   What they do: desolator accesses LSASS memory to steal credentials for persistence and privilege escalation.

   What that means: Adversaries may attempt to access credential material stored in the process memory of the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS).

6. T1110 Brute Force Credential Access

   What they do: desolator brute-forces local accounts to gain initial access to victim systems.

   What that means: Adversaries may use brute force techniques to gain access to accounts when passwords are unknown or when password hashes are obtained.

7. T1057 Process Discovery Discovery

   What they do: desolator discovers running processes using native API calls to identify high-value targets.

   What that means: Adversaries may attempt to get information about running processes on a system.

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

   What they do: desolator moves laterally across SMB shares to encrypt networked file locations.

   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: desolator 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.

10. T1489 Service Stop Impact

    What they do: desolator 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.