Malicious Forced BitLocker Encryption for Extortion (via process_creation)

ATT&CK techniques

Impact

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact
- T1486Data Encrypted for Impact

What it detects

This rule detects forced BitLocker volume encryption via manage-bde or the Enable-BitLocker cmdlet, the impact stage of the printer-and-BitLocker extortion scheme that encrypts victim disks for ransom. Attackers weaponize the built-in BitLocker feature to lock out victims without deploying custom ransomware, so unexpected encryption activity warrants investigation.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1486 — drag to rearrange

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Malicious Hunters International Ransomware Encryptor Execution via Distinctive CLI Flags (via process_creation)

Malicious Forced BitLocker Encryption for Extortion (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1486 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.

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