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Validation disclaimer: TTP overlap, actor similarity, generated summaries, and coverage findings are investigation leads, not attribution proof or operational validation without analyst review.

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T1561 · impact · 0 actors · 4 correlated reports

Disk Wipe

Adversaries may wipe or corrupt raw disk data on specific systems or in large numbers in a network to interrupt availability to system and network resources. With direct write access to a disk, adversaries may attempt to overwrite portions of disk data. Adversaries may opt to wipe arbitrary portions of disk data and/or wipe disk structures like the master boot record (MBR). A complete wipe of all disk sectors may be attempted. To maximize impact on the target organization in operations where network-wide availability interruption is the goal, malware used for wiping disks may have worm-like features to propagate across a network by leveraging additional techniques like Valid Accounts, OS Credential Dumping, and SMB/Windows Admin Shares. On network devices, adversaries may wipe configuration files and other data from the device using Network Device CLI commands such as `erase`.

Open detection, hunting, mitigation, and evidence workspace

Detection logic

Look for attempts to read/write to sensitive locations like the partition boot sector, master boot record, disk partition table, or BIOS parameter block/superblock. Monitor for direct access read/write attempts using the \\\\.\\ notation. Monitor for unusual kernel driver installation activity.

Observed actors

Correlated CTI and IR reports

Cyber Knowledge context

Use these routes to move from the ATT&CK behavior into explanation, implementation, evidence handling, validation, and defensive operations. Relevance is generated from explicit identifiers/names and governed topic mappings; it is not attribution evidence.

MITRE mitigations

M1053 · Data Backup

Data Backup involves taking and securely storing backups of data from end-user systems and critical servers. It ensures that data remains available in the event of system compromise, ransomware attacks, or other disruptions. Backup processes should include hardening backup systems, implementing secure storage solutions, and keeping backups isolated from the corporate network to prevent compromise during active incidents. This mitigation can be implemented through the following measures: Regular Backup Scheduling: - Use Case: Ensure timely and consistent backups of critical data. - Implementation: Schedule daily incremental backups and weekly full backups for all critical servers and systems. Immutable Backups: - Use Case: Protect backups from modification or deletion, even by attackers. - Implementation: Use write-once-read-many (WORM) storage for backups, preventing ransomware from enc…

MITRE mitigation source

MITRE detection strategies and analytics

DET0137 · Detection Strategy for Disk Wipe via Direct Disk Access and Destructive Commands
  • AN0384 · Analytic 0384 — Unusual direct disk access attempts (e.g., use of \\.\PhysicalDrive notation), abnormal writes to MBR/boot sectors, and installation of kernel drivers that grant raw disk access. Correlate anomalous process creation with disk modification attempts and driver loads.
  • AN0385 · Analytic 0385 — Processes invoking destructive commands (dd, shred, wipe) with raw device targets (e.g., /dev/sda, /dev/nvme0n1). Detect direct writes to disk partitions and abnormal superblock or bootloader modifications. Correlate shell execution with subsequent block device I/O.
  • AN0386 · Analytic 0386 — Abnormal invocation of diskutil, asr, or low-level APIs (IOKit) to erase/partition drives. Correlate process execution with unified log entries showing destructive disk operations.
  • AN0387 · Analytic 0387 — Execution of destructive CLI commands such as 'erase startup-config', 'erase flash:' or 'format disk' on routers/switches. Detect privilege level escalation preceding destructive commands.
MITRE detection source

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