Malicious Inhibit System Recovery via Backup and Shadow Copy Deletion (via process_creation)

PremiumReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
process_creation
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-09-10
Updated
2026-09-10

ATT&CK techniques

Impact
  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Cred Access

  9. Discovery

  10. Lateral Movement

  11. Collection

  12. C2

  13. Exfiltration

What it detects

This rule detects deletion of volume shadow copies and backup catalogs and disabling of recovery via native tools, a destructive precursor observed in Phobos ransomware affiliate activity. Removing recovery options prevents victims from restoring data without paying, increasing the impact of the subsequent encryption.

Related detections9 linkedT1490 — drag to rearrange
Malicious Shadow Copy Deletion via vssadmin
Malicious Shadow Copy and Backup Catalog Deletion (via process_creation)
Malicious Boot Recovery Disabled via Bcdedit (via process_creation)
Suspicious Symbolic Link Evaluation Enabled via fsutil by RansomHub Ransomware
Suspicious Volume Shadow Copy Deletion via PowerShell WMI by Akira Ransomware
VSS Backup Deletion or Resize (via process_creation)
Malicious Boot Recovery Tampering via Bcdedit (via process_creation)
Malicious Inhibition of System Recovery via Shadow Copy or Backup Deletion (via process_creation)
Malicious Windows Native Backup Deletion (via process_creation)
Malicious Inhibit System Recovery via Backup and Shadow Copy Deletion (via process_creation)
Pivot detection · T1490 · 9 related

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