Malicious Volume Shadow Copy Deletion via Vssadmin or WMIC (via process_creation)
- Product
- windows
- Category
- process_creation
- Author
- HuntRule
- Published
- 2026-10-04
- Updated
- 2026-10-04
ATT&CK techniques
ImpactRecon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
What it detects
This rule detects deletion of Volume Shadow Copies through vssadmin or wmic. Ransomware removes shadow copies so that victims cannot roll back encrypted files from local snapshots, maximizing pressure to pay. Programmatic shadow copy deletion is a well-established impact behavior seen immediately before or during encryption.
Reporting behind it
- intel471.comhttps://www.intel471.com/blog/hunting-ransomware-inhibiting-system-backup-or-recovery
- attack.mitre.orghttps://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1490/
- huntress.comhttps://www.huntress.com/blog/blackcat-ransomware-affiliate-ttps
- unit42.paloaltonetworks.comhttps://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/the-gentlemen-ransomware/
- intel471.comhttps://www.intel471.com/blog/update-black-basta-ransomware-and-threat-group
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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