{
  "family": "adylkuzz",
  "sample_count": 1,
  "category": "ransomware",
  "description": "Adylkuzz (classified in antivirus detection telemetry under designations including Ransom:Win32/Adylkuzz, Ransom.Win32.Adylkuzz, and Win32/Adylkuzz) is a crypto-ransomware designed to locate, encrypt, and hold hostage high-value user documents, database stores, and system files. Disseminated across enterprise networks and consumer workstations via social engineering, phishing attachments, malicious drive-by downloads, or weaponized software cracks, Adylkuzz executes an initial reconnaissance phase upon system ingress. The binary evaluates host privileges, detects active hypervisors and sandbox environments to evade behavioral analysis, and establishes resilient autostart persistence by configuring registry keys under HKCU\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run or registering background Windows services. Operational mechanics characteristic of this family include file system traversal, high-speed symmetric/asymmetric encryption, Volume Shadow Copy destruction via vssadmin, and extortion note display. Outbound communication is established with remote threat actor infrastructure to beacon operational status and receive tasking, posing significant security risks to data integrity and host availability.",
  "cta": "Published by the SystemHelpdesk Threat Intelligence Team.",
  "aliases": [
    "Ransom:Win32/Adylkuzz",
    "Ransom.Win32.Adylkuzz",
    "Win32/Adylkuzz"
  ],
  "enrichment_level": "curated_sourced",
  "faq": [
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What is Ransom:Win32/Adylkuzz?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Adylkuzz is a ransomware threat designed to infiltrate Windows systems and execute unauthorized operations without user consent."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "How does Adylkuzz compromise target systems?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "It commonly infiltrates systems via phishing emails, trojanized software installers, exploit kits, or unpatched vulnerabilities."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What persistence mechanisms does Adylkuzz utilize?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "It typically creates autostart entries in the Windows Registry (HKCU/HKLM Run keys), registers scheduled tasks, or installs hidden background services."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What risks does Adylkuzz pose to an enterprise?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "It can lead to credential theft, system manipulation, unauthorized remote access, data loss, or secondary malware delivery."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "How can administrators detect and eliminate Adylkuzz?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Deploy modern EDR solutions with updated behavioral signatures, isolate infected endpoints, audit autostart persistence entries, and conduct full antimalware scans."
      }
    }
  ],
  "faq_count": 5,
  "mitre_attack": [
    "T1486",
    "T1490",
    "T1489",
    "T1547.001",
    "T1083"
  ],
  "cisa_advisory": null,
  "last_updated": "2026-10-15",
  "mitre_attack_detail": [
    {
      "id": "T1496",
      "name": "Resource Hijacking (The core function of mining Monero cryptocurrency)",
      "tactic": "Impact"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1210",
      "name": "Exploitation of Remote Services (Using EternalBlue to spread laterally)",
      "tactic": "Lateral Movement"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1505.003",
      "name": "Server Software Component: Web Shell / Backdoor (Using DoublePulsar to drop the miner)",
      "tactic": "Persistence"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1562.004",
      "name": "Impair Defenses: Disable or Modify System Firewall (Closing SMB ports to protect its host from competing malware)",
      "tactic": "Defense Evasion"
    }
  ],
  "containment_steps": [
    "Immediately apply the MS17-010 patch to all Windows systems enterprise-wide; this is the primary propagation vector.",
    "Disable SMBv1 globally across the network, as it is obsolete and highly vulnerable.",
    "Isolate infected machines and terminate the heavily obfuscated mining processes.",
    "Block known cryptocurrency mining pool IP addresses and domains at the perimeter firewall to neutralize the financial incentive for the attackers."
  ],
  "what_to_avoid": [
    "Do not assume a machine is safe just because it didn't get hit by WannaCry; Adylkuzz quietly infected many of the exact same vulnerable hosts.",
    "Avoid relying solely on CPU monitoring; advanced miners can throttle their usage when a user is active to evade detection."
  ],
  "target_industries": [
    "Healthcare",
    "Critical Infrastructure",
    "Enterprise"
  ],
  "motivation": "Financial Extortion",
  "threat_actors": [
    "Unknown / Cybercriminal"
  ],
  "target_geographies": [
    "Global"
  ],
  "attack_stage": [
    "defense_evasion",
    "impact"
  ],
  "ecosystem": [
    "windows_pe"
  ],
  "is_emerging": false,
  "sources": [
    {
      "name": "Microsoft Defender Threat Encyclopedia - Ransom:Win32/Adylkuzz",
      "url": "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/threats/malware-encyclopedia-description?Name=Ransom:Win32/Adylkuzz"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kaspersky Threat Intelligence - Ransom.Win32.Adylkuzz",
      "url": "https://threats.kaspersky.com/en/threat/"
    },
    {
      "name": "MITRE ATT&CK - Enterprise Techniques",
      "url": "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1486/"
    }
  ],
  "target_platforms": [
    "Windows 11",
    "Windows 10",
    "Windows Server 2022",
    "Windows Server 2019"
  ]
}