Suspicious Secure Deletion of Free Space via Cipher (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
- T1485Data Destruction

What it detects

This rule detects cipher.exe run with the /w wipe switch, which overwrites free disk space and is abused to destroy recoverable data or securely erase attacker artifacts. Data destruction via cipher is an impact and anti-forensic technique tracked in the Red Canary Threat Detection Report. Detecting this invocation surfaces deliberate data wiping.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1485 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious Self-Deleting Batch Script Execution Consistent with Agonizing Serpens Wiper Cleanup

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Malicious S3 Bucket Deletion During Bling Libra Extortion

Malicious DYNOWIPER PowerShell Loader Execution (via ps_script)

Suspicious S3 Lifecycle Policy Set for Rapid Object Deletion

Malicious PathWiper Loader Script Execution from Windows Temp via WScript

Suspicious Free Space Wipe via cipher.exe

Suspicious sha256sum.exe Execution from Windows Temp Directory

HamsaUpdate Wiper Trigger via F5UPDATER ConfirmDeleteFiles Argument (via process_creation)

Suspicious Secure Deletion of Free Space via Cipher (via process_creation)

Pivot detection · T1485 · 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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