KillDisk
KillDisk is destructive malware, commonly described as a disk/file wiper, that has been closely associated with the BlackEnergy intrusion set and the Russian GRU-linked Sandworm/Seashell Blizzard/TeleBots activity. In the December 2015 Ukraine electric power grid attack, BlackEnergy was used to steal credentials and gain access, while KillDisk was deployed on Windows systems to wipe files, corrupt the master boot record, and render infected computers unbootable or inoperable. Multiple sources in the content state it was used at the conclusion of the intrusion to hinder restoration and operator recovery rather than being the direct mechanism that opened breakers. The same reporting links KillDisk to attacks on Ukrainian government and critical infrastructure, including the Ministry of Finance and State Treasury Service, and to later attacks against high-value financial targets in Ukraine in December 2016. ESET also reported a Linux variant of KillDisk linked to attacks on core infrastructure in Ukraine and later used against Ukrainian financial targets, and another variant was observed hitting financial institutions in Latin America. The malware is described as erasing selected files, damaging files, corrupting the MBR, and overwriting the first sector of the MBR with 0x00, making systems unbootable. The content also notes a ransomware-capable variant that encrypts files with AES and protects the AES key with RSA-1028. KillDisk appears in reporting and indictments tied to Sandworm GRU Unit 74455, including U.S. government attribution for destructive operations in Ukraine, and is repeatedly referenced alongside BlackEnergy, Industroyer, and NotPetya as part of Sandworm’s destructive toolkit.
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Groups observed using it
2 distinct threat actors attributed by public researchers. Open in Mallory to see the full evidence chain and overlapping campaigns.
These GRU hackers and their co-conspirators engaged in computer intrusions and attacks... including: KillDisk and Industroyer, which each caused blackouts in Ukraine... Ukrainian Government & Critical Infrastructure: December 2015 through December 2016 destructive malware attacks against Ukraine’s electric power grid, Ministry of Finance, and State Treasury Service, using malware known as BlackEnergy, Industroyer, and KillDisk.
The final payload is a RAT module, with TCP communications and its commands indexed by 32-bit integers, cf. KillDisk in Central America.
Techniques & procedures
19 distinct techniques documented for this family, organized by ATT&CK tactic.
Initial Access
2 techniques
Initial Access
Execution
2 techniques
Execution
Astaroth uses the LoadLibraryExW() function to load additional modules. Attor's dispatcher can execute additional plugins by loading the respective DLLs. ... LightSpy's main executable and module .dylib binaries are loaded using ... dlopen() ... dlsym() ... RotaJakiro uses ... .so files ... using dlopen() and dlsym().
...uses the LoadLibraryExW() function to load additional modules... execute additional plugins by loading the respective DLLs... loaded and executed DLLs in memory during runtime... loads a dynamic library (.dylib file) using dlopen() and obtains a function pointer... using dlopen() and dlsym()... calls LoadLibrary then executes exports from a DLL.
Persistence
1 technique
Persistence
Stealth
6 techniques
Stealth
The content repeatedly describes malware and threat actors using obfuscated code, encrypted strings, Base64/XOR/RC4/AES encoding, VMProtect/ConfuserEx/SmartAssembly, stack strings, control-flow flattening, opaque predicates, and hidden payloads to evade analysis and detection.
APT41 used VMProtected binaries in multiple intrusions. BackdoorDiplomacy has obfuscated tools and malware it uses with VMProtect. KillDisk uses VMProtect to make reverse engineering the malware more difficult. Turian can use VMProtect for obfuscation.
"created using Nullsoft Scriptable Install System (NSIS)... purposely named it 'MBR Killer.'"
“APT28 has cleared event logs, including by using the commands wevtutil cl System and wevtutil cl Security …” / “APT38 clears Window Event logs and Sysmon logs …” / “BlackCat can clear Windows event logs using wevtutil.exe …” / “NotPetya uses wevtutil to clear the Windows event logs …”
Examples include "Cryptoistic can scan a directory to identify files for deletion" and "KillDisk has used the FindNextFile command as part of its file deletion process."
...uses the LoadLibraryExW() function to load additional modules... execute additional plugins by loading the respective DLLs... loaded and executed DLLs in memory during runtime... loads a dynamic library (.dylib file) using dlopen() and obtains a function pointer... using dlopen() and dlsym()... calls LoadLibrary then executes exports from a DLL.
Discovery
3 techniques
Discovery
The content repeatedly describes malware and threat actors obtaining lists of running processes, using utilities such as tasklist, ps, WMI, Get-Process, CreateToolhelp32Snapshot, EnumProcesses, and similar APIs/commands to enumerate active processes on victim systems.
"admin@338 actors used the following commands after exploiting a machine with LOWBALL malware to obtain information about the OS: ver >> %temp%\download systeminfo >> %temp%\download"; "ADVSTORESHELL can run Systeminfo to gather information about the victim."; "Kimsuky has enumerated drives, OS type, OS version, and other information using a script or the 'systeminfo' command."
The content repeatedly describes malware and threat actors listing files and directories, enumerating drives, searching for files by extension/name/path, retrieving file metadata, and browsing file systems (for example: "APT28 has used Forfiles to locate PDF, Excel, and Word documents during collection" and "cmd can be used to find files and directories with native functionality such as dir commands").
Command and Control
1 technique
Command and Control
BlackEnergy is a modular backdoor that can be used for several purposes, like espionage and downloading of destructive components... BlackEnergy used its modular architecture that supports several plugins to download and keep running both a variant of Dropbear SSH backdoor and a new destructive plugin called KillDisk.
Impact
6 techniques
Impact
Overwrites all ICS configuration files across the hard drives and all mapped network drives specifically targeting ABB PCM600 configuration files in this sample
Ukrainian Government & Critical Infrastructure: December 2015 through December 2016 destructive malware attacks against Ukraine’s electric power grid, Ministry of Finance, and State Treasury Service, using malware known as BlackEnergy, Industroyer, and KillDisk
The attackers didn’t just open breakers. They deployed KillDisk malware to prevent system restoration.
"AcidPour includes functionality to reboot the victim system following wiping actions..."; "AcidRain reboots the target system once the various wiping processes are complete"; "Apostle reboots the victim machine following wiping"; "APT37 ... issue the command shutdown /r /t 1 to reboot a system after wiping its MBR"; "APT38 ... BOOTWRECK ... initiate a system reboot after wiping the victim's MBR"; "Black Basta ... used ShellExecuteA to shut down and restart"; "DarkGate ... used the shutdown command"; "HermeticWiper can initiate a system shutdown"; "NotPetya will reboot the system one hour after infection"; "Shamoon will reboot the infected system once the wiping functionality has been completed"; "WhisperGate can shutdown ... through ... ExitWindowsEx"
IOCs tracked for this family
2 indicators attributed across vendor reports, sandbox runs, and researcher write-ups. Full values are available in Mallory.
File hashes (MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256) from samples and reports.
Recent activity
44 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
Destructive wiper used alongside the Ukraine 2015 BlackEnergy intrusion.
Destructive wiper family previously used in Sandworm-linked campaigns.
Data-wiping malware deployed in the 2015 Ukraine power grid incident, contributing to operational disruption and outages.
Destructive malware used to hinder recovery and prevent system restoration following disruptive operations against power infrastructure.
The version that knows your environment.
Match every observed IP, domain, and hash against your live telemetry.
Named campaigns wielding this family, with evidence pinned to each claim.
CVEs this family uses for access and lateral movement.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Every documented technique, ranked by evidence weight.
Reddit, Mastodon, and CTI community discussion around this family.