Recory

Overview

Executive Summary

Infection Vector and Technical Capabilities

• Fabricated Scans and Alerts: The malware launches a highly realistic, but completely fake, graphical user interface mimicking legitimate antivirus software (e.g., Windows Defender). It performs a rapid "scan" and invariably reports dozens of critical infections, utilizing flashing red warnings and alarming sound effects.
• System Disruption (Ransomware Behavior): To force the user to pay, Recory actively disrupts normal system operations. It frequently terminates legitimate executable files (like Task Manager, Registry Editor, and real antivirus software), claiming they are "infected." Some aggressive variants will hide desktop icons and the taskbar, simulating a locked system.
• Extortion Portal: The malware constantly redirects the user's web browser to a payment portal controlled by the attackers, demanding a credit card payment to "activate" the fake antivirus and restore the system.

Threat Assessment

Remediation and Eradication

• Safe Mode Eradication: Because Recory actively terminates security tools, the infected endpoint must usually be booted into Windows Safe Mode. From Safe Mode, a reputable, enterprise-grade anti-malware solution can be run to detect and remove the Fake AV executables and repair the hijacked registry keys.
• Do Not Pay the Ransom: Under no circumstances should the user enter their credit card information. The software is fake, and payment will simply result in stolen financial data.
• System Restoration: In severe cases where the malware has heavily damaged the registry or hidden critical system files, restoring the machine from a known-good backup or utilizing Windows System Restore may be the most efficient path to recovery.

Known aliases

Threat reports may refer to this family under multiple names:

• FakeAV.Recory
• Ransom.Recory
• Scareware.Win32/Recory

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

Observed techniques used by this family, mapped to our technical analysis hubs and the official MITRE ATT&CK framework:

MITRE D3FEND™ Defensive Countermeasures

Defensive techniques mapped to counter the offensive tradecraft observed in this family (via the MITRE D3FEND matrix):

Tiered Detection Rules (Cisco CAIRN Model)

Modern threat detection requires multi-layered rule engineering. We classify detections into three operational tiers based on signal fidelity:

rule MALWARE_WIN_RECORY_T1_ARTIFACT {
    meta:
        description = "Tier 1 Primitive Artifact: Raw string matches for Recory"
        tier = "T1 - Primitive Artifact"
        confidence = "Low-Medium (Fast Triage)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Threat Research Desk"
        date = "2026-10-14"
    strings:
        $s1 = "recory" ascii wide nocase
        $s2 = "fakeav.recory" ascii wide nocase
        $s3 = "ransom.recory" ascii wide nocase
        $s4 = "scareware.win32/recory" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and any of them
}

title: SystemHelpDesk Detection - Recory (Ransomware) Execution & Triage
id: 45f8340c-f860-5ab7-854d-f09e7190cfa5
status: production
description: Detects execution, defense evasion, and persistence behaviors associated
  with the Recory malware family. Detects volume shadow copy deletion, boot status
  tampering, and recovery inhibition characteristic of modern ransomware operations.
references:
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/families/recory
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/defensive/ransomware-protection
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/
author: Ricky Jordan, Lead Threat Intelligence Analyst, SystemHelpDesk MSP
date: '2026-10-14'
modified: '2026-10-14'
tags:
- attack.ransomware
- author.ricky-jordan
- source.systemhelpdesk-mfc
- attack.t1491_001
- attack.t1489
- attack.t1547_001
logsource:
  category: process_creation
  product: windows
detection:
  selection_process:
    Image|endswith:
    - \vssadmin.exe
    - \wmic.exe
    - \wbadmin.exe
    - \bcdedit.exe
    CommandLine|contains:
    - delete shadows
    - shadowcopy delete
    - resize shadowstorage
    - recoveryenabled no
    - ignoreallfailures
  condition: selection_process
falsepositives:
- Legitimate enterprise administrative scripts during approved change windows
- Authorized IT software deployment utilities and backup management agents
level: critical

rule MALWARE_WIN_RECORY_T3_ATTRIBUTION {
    meta:
        description = "Tier 3 Attribution Fingerprint: Heuristic detection for Recory tradecraft"
        tier = "T3 - Attribution Fingerprint"
        confidence = "High (Confirmed Family Signature)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Threat Research Desk"
        date = "2026-10-14"
    strings:
        // Core family identifier & heuristic payload signatures
        $attrib_str = "recory" ascii wide nocase
        $pe_magic = "MZ" ascii
        $net_marker = "http" ascii nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and ($attrib_str and $net_marker) and filesize < 15MB
}

Containment & Response Steps

Ordered checklist for responders. Adapt to your environment and engage professional support for active incidents.

1. Immediately isolate affected host(s) from the internal network (disconnect physical Ethernet and disable Wi-Fi/Bluetooth) to prevent Recory from spreading laterally or encrypting network-attached storage (NAS) and shared SMB volumes.
2. Preserve volatile system memory (RAM capture) on a representative endpoint before attempting a reboot or power-down, as Recory symmetric encryption keys or uncompiled payload components may still reside in memory.
3. Audit process execution logs and terminate active scripting interpreters (e.g. PowerShell, CMD, WScript) or commands executing 'vssadmin.exe delete shadows' or 'wbadmin' used by Recory to inhibit recovery.
4. Investigate the initial compromise vector (such as exposed RDP instances, spearphishing attachments, or vulnerable edge gateways) and enforce an immediate credential reset for all compromised Active Directory accounts.
5. Restore critical assets and databases exclusively from verified, air-gapped, or immutable offline backups once the Recory binary and related persistence hooks are eradicated.

What to Avoid

Common mistakes during response to this family that can destroy evidence, spread the infection, or worsen recovery.

1. Do not restart or power cycle infected systems prematurely; doing so destroys volatile RAM encryption keys and may trigger bootloader locking logic embedded in Recory.
2. Avoid negotiating or paying the extortion demand without prior forensic evaluation and consultation with incident response specialists, as payment does not guarantee data recovery.
3. Do not connect clean backup drives or external storage to the affected network until Recory eradication is completely verified.

References & External Analysis

• Search "recory" on VirusTotal (External Analysis)
• Search "recory" on Any.Run (Sandbox Sandbox)
• Search "recory" on MalwareBazaar (Malware Samples)

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Threats (Category: Ransomware)

Explore other documented threats in the same operational category:

• Animus
• Luder
• Mahato
• Upadter
• Drefir
• Xorpix
• Bicololo
• Soul

Machine-readable

Get this profile as JSON: https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/api/recory.json

Ecosystem & Interactive Environments

This profile is part of the Malware Families Catalog, a public dataset of 2,899 malware families. The catalog is also published across our ecosystem: Hugging Face, Kaggle, Zenodo, Replit, StackBlitz, CodeSandbox, and CodePen.