Meow

MITRE ATT&CK does not currently catalogue Meow, 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: meow executes PowerShell scripts to stage payloads and perform initial reconnaissance 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: meow leverages registry run keys to maintain persistence across reboots on infected endpoints.

   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: meow disables antivirus tools and modifies security software configurations to evade detection during execution.

   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. T1027.013 Encrypted/Encoded File Stealth

   What they do: meow encrypts and encodes victim files with custom symmetric cryptography before demanding payment.

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

5. T1070.004 File Deletion Stealth

   What they do: meow 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.

6. T1003.001 LSASS Memory Credential Access

   What they do: meow accesses LSASS memory to steal credentials for lateral movement 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).

7. T1135 Network Share Discovery Discovery

   What they do: meow scans network shares using native tools to identify victim directories and expand 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.

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

   What they do: meow uses SMB/Windows Admin Shares to propagate ransomware binaries across networked servers.

   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: meow encrypts victim files using custom ransomware binaries targeting communication and marketing data sectors.

   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. T1491.001 Internal Defacement Impact

    What they do: meow displays internal defacement messages and ransom notes on victim systems to pressure recovery.

    What that means: An adversary may deface systems internal to an organization in an attempt to intimidate or mislead users, thus discrediting the integrity of the systems.