Ethics

MITRE ATT&CK does not currently catalogue Ethics, so this is our assessment of the techniques it uses, drawn from public reporting. The techniques themselves, and every "what that means" definition below, come from MITRE ATT&CK v19.2. Confidence: low. Treat it as orientation, not attribution.

1. T1059.001 PowerShell Execution

   What they do: Ethics executes malicious payloads via PowerShell to stage ransomware components across victim systems.

   What that means: Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.

2. T1569.002 Service Execution Execution

   What they do: Ethics executes ransomware binaries through Windows service mechanisms to ensure persistence.

   What that means: Adversaries may abuse the Windows service control manager to execute malicious commands or payloads.

3. T1685 Disable or Modify Tools Defense Impairment

   What they do: Ethics disables security tools by terminating antivirus processes and modifying Windows Defender settings.

   What that means: Adversaries may disable, degrade, or tamper with security tools or applications (e.g., endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools, intrusion detection systems (IDS), antivirus, logging agents, sensors, etc.) to impair or reduce visibility of defensive capabilities.

4. T1070.004 File Deletion Stealth

   What they do: Ethics deletes Volume Shadow Copies and backup directories to prevent data recovery after encryption.

   What that means: Adversaries may delete files left behind by the actions of their intrusion activity.

5. T1083 File and Directory Discovery Discovery

   What they do: Ethics uses file and directory discovery to enumerate critical data paths and shadow copies before encryption.

   What that means: Adversaries may enumerate files and directories or may search in specific locations of a host or network share for certain information within a file system.

6. T1486 Data Encrypted for Impact Impact

   What they do: Ethics encrypts victim files using strong symmetric cryptography, targeting finance, legal, and insurance documents.

   What that means: Adversaries may encrypt data on target systems or on large numbers of systems in a network to interrupt availability to system and network resources.

7. T1490 Inhibit System Recovery Impact

   What they do: Ethics inhibits system recovery by corrupting restore points and disabling backup service restoration.

   What that means: Adversaries may delete or remove built-in data and turn off services designed to aid in the recovery of a corrupted system to prevent recovery.

8. T1491.001 Internal Defacement Impact

   What they do: Ethics performs internal defacement by replacing victim files with ransom notes and contact information.

   What that means: An adversary may deface systems internal to an organization in an attempt to intimidate or mislead users, thus discrediting the integrity of the systems.