bleeping-computer · Crawled Aug 13, 2026
Akira hackers disable EDR with Safe Mode, steal data but fail to encrypt
1 IoCs 1 Actors
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AI Summary
An Akira ransomware affiliate gained initial access via an exposed SonicWall VPN without MFA, then used RDP to move laterally and exfiltrate data. The attacker rebooted the compromised host into Safe Mode with Networking to disable EDR and AV solutions, including the Huntress agent and Microsoft Defender. Data was stolen using s5cmd and uploaded to an attacker-controlled S3 bucket, while AnyDesk was installed and configured to persist in Safe Mode. The ransomware payload (akira.exe) failed to execute due to low virtual memory, preventing encryption. Despite the failure, the actor exfiltrated sensitive data within five hours.
AI-extracted · verify before operational use
Extracted Entities 1 found
Indicators of Compromise 1 extracted
| Type | Value | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Filename | akira.exe | Details → |
MITRE ATT&CK TTPs 27 techniques
T1018 Remote System Discovery · Discovery T1021.001 Remote Desktop Protocol · Lateral Movement T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter · Execution T1059.001 PowerShell · Execution T1060 T1060 T1071.001 Web Protocols · Command And Control T1071.003 Mail Protocols · Command And Control T1078 Valid Accounts · Defense Evasion T1082 System Information Discovery · Discovery T1083 File and Directory Discovery · Discovery T1087.002 Domain Account · Discovery T1090 Proxy · Command And Control T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer · Command And Control T1133 External Remote Services · Persistence T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution · Execution T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access · Credential Access T1484.001 Group Policy Modification · Defense Evasion T1485 Data Destruction · Impact T1490 Inhibit System Recovery · Impact T1542.001 System Firmware · Persistence T1543.003 Windows Service · Persistence T1548.002 Bypass User Account Control · Privilege Escalation T1550 Use Alternate Authentication Material · Defense Evasion T1552.001 Credentials In Files · Credential Access T1566 Phishing · Initial Access T1574.002 DLL Side-Loading · Persistence T1588.001 Malware · Resource Development