Section9

MITRE ATT&CK does not currently catalogue Section9, 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. T1078.003 Local Accounts Initial AccessPersistencePrivilege EscalationStealth

   What they do: Section9 exploits valid local accounts harvested during discovery to escalate privileges and spread.

   What that means: Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of a local account as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion.

2. T1059.001 PowerShell Execution

   What they do: Section9 executes malicious payloads via PowerShell scripts injected into compromised hosts.

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

3. T1112 Modify Registry PersistenceDefense Impairment

   What they do: Section9 modifies Windows Registry Run keys to maintain persistence across reboots.

   What that means: Adversaries may interact with the Windows Registry as part of a variety of other techniques to aid in defense evasion, persistence, and execution.

4. T1685 Disable or Modify Tools Defense Impairment

   What they do: Section9 disables antivirus tools by terminating security processes and modifying service configurations.

   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.

5. T1685.005 Clear Windows Event Logs Defense Impairment

   What they do: Section9 clears Windows Event Logs using built-in tools to erase forensic evidence of intrusion.

   What that means: Adversaries may clear Windows Event Logs to hide the activity of an intrusion.

6. T1070.004 File Deletion Stealth

   What they do: Section9 deletes Volume Shadow Copies and backup files via vssadmin and system commands to prevent recovery.

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

7. T1049 System Network Connections Discovery Discovery

   What they do: Section9 discovers system network connections to identify hosts for targeted encryption campaigns.

   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.

8. T1135 Network Share Discovery Discovery

   What they do: Section9 uses network share discovery to locate victim storage paths for encryption targets.

   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.

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

   What they do: Section9 moves laterally across SMB/Windows Admin Shares to encrypt additional networked systems.

   What that means: Adversaries may use Valid Accounts to interact with a remote network share using Server Message Block (SMB).

10. T1486 Data Encrypted for Impact Impact

    What they do: Section9 encrypts victim files using custom ransomware binaries targeting user directories and databases.

    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.

11. T1490 Inhibit System Recovery Impact

    What they do: Section9 inhibits system recovery by corrupting restore points and disabling backup services.

    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.

12. T1491.001 Internal Defacement Impact

    What they do: Section9 performs internal defacement by replacing victim files with ransom notes and altered content.

    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.