ANY.RUN<p>🚨 How to Spot <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/Ransomware" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Ransomware</span></a> Activity Early with TI Lookup <br>Malware can leave your SOC blind unless you proactively hunt its behavior. Ransomware is a good example. </p><p>⚠️ Typically it only encrypts files without removing backups or logs. When it starts executing commands to hide activity and disrupt recovery, the impact becomes far more serious, leading to downtime, data loss, and business disruption. </p><p>If your SOC is familiar with these techniques and monitors them in advance, response will be faster and more effective. Let’s see how TI Lookup can be used to reveal these behaviors and close monitoring gaps. </p><p>👨💻 We started with a basic TI Lookup query for ransomware-related commands: threatName:"ransomware" AND commandLine:".exe *" <br>To refine the search, we gradually excluded irrelevant results: <a href="https://intelligence.any.run/analysis/lookup?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=spot_ransomware_early&utm_content=linktoti&utm_term=200825#%257B%2522query%2522:%2522threatName:%255C%2522ransomware%255C%2522%2520AND%2520commandLine:%255C%2522.exe%2520*%255C%2522%2520NOT%2520commandLine:%255C%2522conhost.exe%255C%2522%2520NOT%2520commandLine:%255C%2522%2520-Embedding%255C%2522%2520NOT%2520commandLine:%255C%2522svchost.exe%2520-k%2520NetworkService%255C%2522%2520NOT%2520commandLine:%255C%2522DllHost.exe%2520%255C%2522%2522,%2522dateRange%2522:180%257D" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">intelligence.any.run/analysis/</span><span class="invisible">lookup?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=spot_ransomware_early&utm_content=linktoti&utm_term=200825#%257B%2522query%2522:%2522threatName:%255C%2522ransomware%255C%2522%2520AND%2520commandLine:%255C%2522.exe%2520*%255C%2522%2520NOT%2520commandLine:%255C%2522conhost.exe%255C%2522%2520NOT%2520commandLine:%255C%2522%2520-Embedding%255C%2522%2520NOT%2520commandLine:%255C%2522svchost.exe%2520-k%2520NetworkService%255C%2522%2520NOT%2520commandLine:%255C%2522DllHost.exe%2520%255C%2522%2522,%2522dateRange%2522:180%257D</span></a> <br>🎯 This search query uncovers far more than <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/IOCs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>IOCs</span></a>. It reveals attacker techniques that can enrich detection logic across your entire environment. </p><p>Let’s break down the commands ransomware uses to hide its tracks and block system recovery.<br>👾 See execution on a live system and download an actionable report: <a href="https://app.any.run/tasks/0f5784ac-bb52-46d5-8c14-616a4e34e336/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=spot_ransomware_early&utm_content=linktoservice&utm_term=200825" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">app.any.run/tasks/0f5784ac-bb5</span><span class="invisible">2-46d5-8c14-616a4e34e336/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=spot_ransomware_early&utm_content=linktoservice&utm_term=200825</span></a> </p><p>In this case, we observed ransomware leveraging a set of Windows utilities to erase traces and block recovery: <br>wevtutil.exe: Clearing event logs (Setup, Security, System, Application) and disabling security logging, effectively erasing traces of malicious activity and complicating analysis. <br>🔍 <a href="https://intelligence.any.run/analysis/lookup?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=spot_ransomware_early&utm_content=linktoti&utm_term=200825#%7B%2522query%2522:%2522commandLine:%255C%2522wevtutil*%2520cl%255C%2522%2520OR%2520commandLine:%255C%2522wevtutil*%2520sl%255C%2522%2522,%2522dateRange%2522:180%7D" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">intelligence.any.run/analysis/</span><span class="invisible">lookup?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=spot_ransomware_early&utm_content=linktoti&utm_term=200825#%7B%2522query%2522:%2522commandLine:%255C%2522wevtutil*%2520cl%255C%2522%2520OR%2520commandLine:%255C%2522wevtutil*%2520sl%255C%2522%2522,%2522dateRange%2522:180%7D</span></a> </p><p>bcdedit.exe: Changing boot configuration, allowing the system to ignore startup errors, and disabling Windows recovery environment to ensure persistence. <br>🔍 <a href="https://intelligence.any.run/analysis/lookup?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=spot_ransomware_early&utm_content=linktoti&utm_term=200825#%7B%2522query%2522:%2522commandLine:%255C%2522bcdedit*%2520/set%255C%2522%2522,%2522dateRange%2522:180%7D%20" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">intelligence.any.run/analysis/</span><span class="invisible">lookup?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=spot_ransomware_early&utm_content=linktoti&utm_term=200825#%7B%2522query%2522:%2522commandLine:%255C%2522bcdedit*%2520/set%255C%2522%2522,%2522dateRange%2522:180%7D%20</span></a> </p><p>fsutil.exe: Deleting the USN (Update Sequence Number) journal to remove records of file changes. <br>🔍 <a href="https://intelligence.any.run/analysis/lookup?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=spot_ransomware_early&utm_content=linktoti&utm_term=200825#%7B%2522query%2522:%2522commandLine:%255C%2522fsutil*deletejournal%255C%2522%2522,%2522dateRange%2522:180%7D%20" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">intelligence.any.run/analysis/</span><span class="invisible">lookup?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=spot_ransomware_early&utm_content=linktoti&utm_term=200825#%7B%2522query%2522:%2522commandLine:%255C%2522fsutil*deletejournal%255C%2522%2522,%2522dateRange%2522:180%7D%20</span></a> </p><p>cipher.exe: Overwriting free disk space to make deleted or unencrypted files unrecoverable. <br>🔍 <a href="https://intelligence.any.run/analysis/lookup?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=spot_ransomware_early&utm_content=linktoti&utm_term=200825#%7B%2522query%2522:%2522commandLine:%255C%2522cipher*/w:C%255C%2522%2522,%2522dateRange%2522:180%7D%20" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">intelligence.any.run/analysis/</span><span class="invisible">lookup?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=spot_ransomware_early&utm_content=linktoti&utm_term=200825#%7B%2522query%2522:%2522commandLine:%255C%2522cipher*/w:C%255C%2522%2522,%2522dateRange%2522:180%7D%20</span></a> </p><p>wbadmin.exe: Deleting backup catalogs, making built-in Windows backups and shadow copies unavailable. <br>🔍 <a href="https://intelligence.any.run/analysis/lookup?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=spot_ransomware_early&utm_content=linktoti&utm_term=200825#%7B%2522query%2522:%2522commandLine:%255C%2522wbadmin*delete%2520catalog%255C%2522%2522,%2522dateRange%2522:180%7D" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">intelligence.any.run/analysis/</span><span class="invisible">lookup?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=spot_ransomware_early&utm_content=linktoti&utm_term=200825#%7B%2522query%2522:%2522commandLine:%255C%2522wbadmin*delete%2520catalog%255C%2522%2522,%2522dateRange%2522:180%7D</span></a> </p><p>schtasks.exe: Disabling System Restore tasks, preventing the creation of automatic restore points. <br>🔍 <a href="https://intelligence.any.run/analysis/lookup?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=spot_ransomware_early&utm_content=linktoti&utm_term=200825#%7B%2522query%2522:%2522commandLine:%255C%2522schtasks*/Change%255C%2522%2522,%2522dateRange%2522:180%7D" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">intelligence.any.run/analysis/</span><span class="invisible">lookup?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=spot_ransomware_early&utm_content=linktoti&utm_term=200825#%7B%2522query%2522:%2522commandLine:%255C%2522schtasks*/Change%255C%2522%2522,%2522dateRange%2522:180%7D</span></a> </p><p>👨💻 Early visibility into techniques strengthens resilience. What can you do now?<br>Use TI Lookup to expand threat visibility with live attack data and enrich IOCs & behavioral rules with insights from real-world samples. </p><p>🎯 <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/MITRE" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>MITRE</span></a> ATT&CK Techniques <br>Data Encrypted for Impact (T1486) <br>Inhibit System Recovery (T1490) <br>Indicator Removal (T1070) </p><p>Strengthen resilience and protect critical assets through proactive security with <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/ANYRUN" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ANYRUN</span></a> 🚀 </p><p><a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/cybersecurity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>cybersecurity</span></a> <a href="https://infosec.exchange/tags/infosec" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>infosec</span></a></p>