Holyghost

MITRE ATT&CK does not currently catalogue Holyghost, 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: holyghost uses PowerShell to execute malicious commands and deploy 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: holyghost adds malicious 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: holyghost disables or modifies security tools like antivirus software to evade detection during infection.

   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: holyghost deletes Volume Shadow Copies and backup files via vssadmin to prevent recovery.

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

5. T1003.001 LSASS Memory Credential Access

   What they do: holyghost dumps LSASS memory using tools like Mimikatz to steal credentials for lateral access.

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

6. T1049 System Network Connections Discovery Discovery

   What they do: holyghost queries system network connections to identify active hosts and potential targets.

   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: holyghost performs network share discovery to identify accessible file shares for lateral movement and data targeting.

   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: holyghost 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).

9. T1486 Data Encrypted for Impact Impact

   What they do: holyghost encrypts victim files using strong symmetric encryption to maximize impact 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: holyghost runs commands to inhibit system recovery processes and disrupt victim remediation.

    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.