Walocker

MITRE ATT&CK does not currently catalogue Walocker, 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: walocker executes PowerShell scripts to stage payloads and manipulate system behavior.

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

2. T1548.002 Bypass User Account Control Privilege Escalation

   What they do: walocker bypasses User Account Control checks to execute with elevated privileges.

   What that means: Adversaries may bypass UAC mechanisms to elevate process privileges on system.

3. T1685 Disable or Modify Tools Defense Impairment

   What they do: walocker disables security tools and event logging mechanisms to evade detection and analysis.

   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: walocker deletes Volume Shadow Copies and backup artifacts to eliminate recovery options.

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

5. T1083 File and Directory Discovery Discovery

   What they do: walocker scans file and directory structures to identify valuable 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.

6. T1485 Data Destruction Impact

   What they do: walocker performs targeted data destruction alongside encryption to increase pressure on victims.

   What that means: Adversaries may destroy data and files on specific systems or in large numbers on a network to interrupt availability to systems, services, and network resources.

7. T1486 Data Encrypted for Impact Impact

   What they do: walocker encrypts victim files using a custom ransomware payload to hold data hostage for ransom.

   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.

8. T1490 Inhibit System Recovery Impact

   What they do: walocker runs commands to inhibit system recovery processes after encryption to prevent restoration.

   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.