Suspicious Lock Screen Image Path Modification via Registry

PremiumReviewedSigma · Medium · v1
Product
windows
Category
registry_set
Author
HuntRule
Published
2026-05-18
Updated
2026-08-28

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 modification of the Windows lock screen image path registry value, a personalization change Qilin ransomware applied to display its ransom messaging. While policy tooling can set this value, an unexpected change alongside other intrusion signals indicates ransomware defacement.

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Malicious DEVMAN Ransomware Encrypted File and Note Artifacts
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Malicious BitLocker Abuse for Ransomware via PowerShell (via ps_script)
Suspicious Lock Screen Image Path Modification via Registry
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.