Volume Shadow Copy Deletion via vssadmin or wmic

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 through vssadmin or wmic, an anti-recovery step performed by Phobos ransomware deployed by the 8Base group. Removing shadow copies prevents victims from restoring encrypted files without paying. This inhibit-recovery behavior almost always precedes or accompanies ransomware encryption.

Related detections9 linkedT1490 — drag to rearrange
Malicious Inhibit System Recovery via Backup and Shadow Copy Deletion (via process_creation)
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)
Volume Shadow Copy Deletion via vssadmin or wmic
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.