Qlocker

MITRE ATT&CK does not currently catalogue Qlocker, 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: qlocker uses PowerShell scripts to execute malicious commands and spread 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: qlocker modifies registry run keys to ensure malware execution upon system reboot 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.

3. T1685 Disable or Modify Tools Defense Impairment

   What they do: qlocker disables security tools like antivirus software and monitoring agents 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. T1027.002 Software Packing Stealth

   What they do: qlocker packs its malware binaries to evade static analysis and signature-based detection.

   What that means: Adversaries may perform software packing or virtual machine software protection to conceal their code.

5. T1070.004 File Deletion Stealth

   What they do: qlocker deletes Volume Shadow Copies and backup files 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: qlocker accesses LSASS memory to steal credentials for privilege escalation and lateral movement.

   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: qlocker performs network share discovery to identify accessible SMB shares for lateral movement and victim 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: qlocker exploits SMB/Windows Admin Shares to move laterally 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: qlocker encrypts victim files and data 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: qlocker calls system recovery inhibition commands to prevent automatic restoration from backups or snapshots.

    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.

+10 more wallets not shown (the 12 largest by amount received are listed).

Crowdsourced payment data from Ransomwhere, licensed CC BY 4.0. Figures are what has been reported and attributed to this family, not a confirmed total. Cite as: Cable, Jack. (2024). Ransomwhere: A Crowdsourced Ransomware Payment Dataset (1.1.0) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6512122

The note this group leaves on a compromised machine. Click a filename to read it.

!!! All your files have been encrypted !!!

All your files were encrypted using a private and unique key generated for the computer. This key is stored in our server and the only way to receive your key and decrypt your files is making a Bitcoin payment.

To purchase your key and decrypt your files, please follow these steps:

1. Dowload the Tor Browser at "https://www.torproject.org/". If you need help, please Google for "access onion page".

2. Visit the following pages with the Tor Browser:

gvka2m4qt5fod2fltkjmdk4gxh5oxemhpgmnmtjptms6fkgfzdd62tad.onion

3. Enter your Client Key:

[snip]

Ransom-note text from RansomLook, licensed CC BY 4.0.