Macaw

MITRE ATT&CK does not currently catalogue Macaw, 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: macaw executes PowerShell scripts to stage ransomware payloads and manipulate system processes.

   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: macaw modifies registry run keys to ensure persistence of its ransomware components 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: macaw disables security tools and event logging mechanisms to evade detection and hinder incident response.

   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: macaw executes file deletion routines to remove Volume Shadow Copies and backup artifacts.

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

5. T1057 Process Discovery Discovery

   What they do: macaw uses process discovery to identify critical system processes for targeting during encryption operations.

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

6. T1083 File and Directory Discovery Discovery

   What they do: macaw performs file and directory discovery to locate sensitive data and configuration files for encryption.

   What that means: Adversaries may enumerate files and directories or may search in specific locations of a host or network share for certain information within a file system.

7. T1567.002 Exfiltration to Cloud Storage Exfiltration

   What they do: macaw exfiltrates stolen victim data via encrypted channels to enable double extortion tactics.

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

8. T1486 Data Encrypted for Impact Impact

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

   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.

9. T1490 Inhibit System Recovery Impact

   What they do: macaw invokes system recovery inhibition commands to prevent automatic restoration of encrypted files.

   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.