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T1561.001 Disk Content Wipe

Adversaries may erase the contents of storage devices on specific systems or in large numbers in a network to interrupt availability to system and network resources.

Adversaries may partially or completely overwrite the contents of a storage device rendering the data irrecoverable through the storage interface.321 Instead of wiping specific disk structures or files, adversaries with destructive intent may wipe arbitrary portions of disk content. To wipe disk content, adversaries may acquire direct access to the hard drive in order to overwrite arbitrarily sized portions of disk with random data.2 Adversaries have also been observed leveraging third-party drivers like RawDisk to directly access disk content.32 This behavior is distinct from Data Destruction because sections of the disk are erased instead of individual files.

To maximize impact on the target organization in operations where network-wide availability interruption is the goal, malware used for wiping disk content 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.2

Item Value
ID T1561.001
Sub-techniques T1561.001, T1561.002
Tactics TA0040
Platforms Linux, Network Devices, Windows, macOS
Version 1.2
Created 20 February 2020
Last Modified 24 October 2025

Procedure Examples

ID Name Description
S1167 AcidPour AcidPour includes functionality to overwrite victim devices with the content of a buffer to wipe disk content.13
S1125 AcidRain AcidRain iterates over device file identifiers on the target, opens the device file, and either overwrites the file or calls various IOCTLS commands to erase it.8
S1133 Apostle Apostle searches for files on available drives based on a list of extensions hard-coded into the sample for follow-on wipe activity.7
C0051 APT28 Nearest Neighbor Campaign During APT28 Nearest Neighbor Campaign, APT28 used the native Microsoft utility cipher.exe to securely wipe files and folders – overwriting the deleted data using cmd.exe /c cipher /W:C.6
S1068 BlackCat BlackCat has the ability to wipe VM snapshots on compromised networks.1918
S1205 cipher.exe cipher.exe can be used to overwrite deleted data in specified folders.6
S1111 DarkGate DarkGate has deleted all files in the Mozilla directory using the following command: /c del /q /f /s C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\firefox*.20
S1134 DEADWOOD DEADWOOD deletes files following overwriting them with random data.7
G0047 Gamaredon Group Gamaredon Group has used tools to delete files and folders from victims’ desktops and profiles.21
S0697 HermeticWiper HermeticWiper has the ability to corrupt disk partitions and obtain raw disk access to destroy data.1716
G0032 Lazarus Group Lazarus Group has used malware like WhiskeyAlfa to overwrite the first 64MB of every drive with a mix of static and random buffers. A similar process is then used to wipe content in logical drives and, finally, attempt to wipe every byte of every sector on every drive. WhiskeyBravo can be used to overwrite the first 4.9MB of physical drives. WhiskeyDelta can overwrite the first 132MB or 1.5MB of each drive with random data from heap memory.2
S0576 MegaCortex MegaCortex can wipe deleted data from all drives using cipher.exe.12
S0364 RawDisk RawDisk has been used to directly access the hard disk to help overwrite arbitrarily sized portions of disk content.2
S0380 StoneDrill StoneDrill can wipe the accessible physical or logical drives of the infected machine.15
S1010 VPNFilter VPNFilter has the capability to wipe a portion of an infected device’s firmware.14
S0689 WhisperGate WhisperGate can overwrite sectors of a victim host’s hard drive at periodic offsets.10911

Mitigations

ID Mitigation Description
M1053 Data Backup Consider implementing IT disaster recovery plans that contain procedures for taking regular data backups that can be used to restore organizational data.5 Ensure backups are stored off system and is protected from common methods adversaries may use to gain access and destroy the backups to prevent recovery.

References

  1. Department of Justice. (2018, September 6). Criminal Complaint - United States of America v. PARK JIN HYOK. Retrieved March 29, 2019. ↩

  2. Novetta Threat Research Group. (2016, February 24). Operation Blockbuster: Destructive Malware Report. Retrieved November 17, 2024. ↩↩↩↩↩↩

  3. Novetta Threat Research Group. (2016, February 24). Operation Blockbuster: Unraveling the Long Thread of the Sony Attack. Retrieved February 25, 2016. ↩↩

  4. Russinovich, M. & Garnier, T. (2017, May 22). Sysmon v6.20. Retrieved December 13, 2017. ↩

  5. Ready.gov. (n.d.). IT Disaster Recovery Plan. Retrieved March 15, 2019. ↩

  6. Koessel, Sean. Adair, Steven. Lancaster, Tom. (2024, November 22). The Nearest Neighbor Attack: How A Russian APT Weaponized Nearby Wi-Fi Networks for Covert Access. Retrieved February 25, 2025. ↩↩

  7. Amitai Ben & Shushan Ehrlich. (2021, May). From Wiper to Ransomware: The Evolution of Agrius. Retrieved May 21, 2024. ↩↩

  8. Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade and Max van Amerongen, SentinelOne. (2022, March 31). AcidRain | A Modem Wiper Rains Down on Europe. Retrieved March 25, 2024. ↩

  9. Biasini, N. et al.. (2022, January 21). Ukraine Campaign Delivers Defacement and Wipers, in Continued Escalation. Retrieved March 14, 2022. ↩

  10. Crowdstrike. (2022, January 19). Technical Analysis of the WhisperGate Malicious Bootloader. Retrieved March 10, 2022. ↩

  11. S2W. (2022, January 18). Analysis of Destructive Malware (WhisperGate) targeting Ukraine. Retrieved March 14, 2022. ↩

  12. Del Fierro, C. Kessem, L.. (2020, January 8). From Mega to Giga: Cross-Version Comparison of Top MegaCortex Modifications. Retrieved February 15, 2021. ↩

  13. Juan Andrés Guerrero-Saade & Tom Hegel. (2024, March 21). AcidPour | New Embedded Wiper Variant of AcidRain Appears in Ukraine. Retrieved November 25, 2024. ↩

  14. Tung, Liam. (2018, May 29). FBI to all router users: Reboot now to neuter Russia’s VPNFilter malware. Retrieved March 7, 2024. ↩

  15. Security Response attack Investigation Team. (2019, March 27). Elfin: Relentless Espionage Group Targets Multiple Organizations in Saudi Arabia and U.S.. Retrieved April 10, 2019. ↩

  16. Guerrero-Saade, J. (2022, February 23). HermeticWiper | New Destructive Malware Used In Cyber Attacks on Ukraine. Retrieved March 25, 2022. ↩

  17. Thomas, W. et al. (2022, February 25). CrowdStrike Falcon Protects from New Wiper Malware Used in Ukraine Cyberattacks. Retrieved March 25, 2022. ↩

  18. Brandt, Andrew. (2022, July 14). BlackCat ransomware attacks not merely a byproduct of bad luck. Retrieved December 20, 2022. ↩

  19. Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence. (2022, June 13). The many lives of BlackCat ransomware. Retrieved December 20, 2022. ↩

  20. McGraw, T. (2024, December 4). Black Basta Ransomware Campaign Drops Zbot, DarkGate, and Custom Malware. Retrieved December 9, 2024. ↩

  21. CERT-EE. (2021, January 27). Gamaredon Infection: From Dropper to Entry. Retrieved February 17, 2022. ↩