malware

Pay2Key S0556

Type: malware
Platform: Windows
Created: 4 January 2021
Last modified: 25 April 2025

Pay2Key is a ransomware written in C++ that has been used by Fox Kitten since at least July 2020 including campaigns against Israeli companies. Pay2Key has been incorporated with a leak site to display stolen sensitive information to further pressure victims into payment.[1][2]

Techniques38th pct

Tactics32nd pct

Threat groupunranked

CampaignsNone recorded

Enterprise ATT&CK only. Any Mobile or ICS rows on the same ATT&CK page are not carried.

Standing S0556

Reach is how much of ATT&CK this malware touches. Coverage is how well defended each thing it does is, as a median per technique rather than a total — a total would just restate the reach. Each figure is ranked against all 825 ATT&CK software entries only where that population actually spreads. Where most of the population shares one value, a percentile would rank the tie instead of the entity, so the raw value is shown and no rank is claimed.

Select	Description	Category	Status	Event	OS	Product	MITRE ATT&CK	CVEs	Severity	Author	Created	Updated	ID	Refs
	Detects the deletion of the "Zone.Identifier" ADS. (...)	Hunting	test	file_delete	windows	Sysmon	Stealth Indicator Removal File Deletion	-	low	frack113	2023-09-04	—	7eac0a16-5832-4e81-865f-0268a6d19e4b
	Detects the deletion of the "Zone.Identifier" ADS by an uncommon process. (...)	Generic	test	file_delete	windows	Sysmon	Stealth Indicator Removal File Deletion	-	medium	Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)	2023-09-04	2025-07-04	3109530e-ab47-4cc6-a953-cac5ebcc93ae
	Detects a highly relevant Antivirus alert that reports ransomware. (...)	Generic	test	antivirus	-	-	Impact Data Encrypted for Impact	-	critical	Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Arnim Rupp	2022-05-12	2026-06-15	4c6ca276-d4d0-4a8c-9e4c-d69832f8671f
	An application has been removed. (...)	Generic	test	-	windows	WinEventLog Application	Impact Service Stop	-	low	frack113	2022-01-28	2022-09-17	570ae5ec-33dc-427c-b815-db86228ad43e
Splunk	The following analytic detects the creation of AWS KMS keys with an encryption policy accessible to everyone, including external entities. (...)	Generic	stable	cloud_audit	-	AWS CloudTrail · AWS	Impact Data Encrypted for Impact	-	medium	Patrick Bareiss, Splunk	2020-10-27	2026-05-13	16ae9076-d1d5-411c-8fdd-457504b33dac
Splunk	The following analytic detects the creation of AWS KMS keys with an encryption policy accessible to everyone, including external entities. (...)	Generic	stable	cloud_audit	-	AWS CloudTrail · AWS	Impact Data Encrypted for Impact	-	medium	Rod Soto, Patrick Bareiss Splunk	2020-10-27	2026-05-13	c79c164f-4b21-4847-98f9-cf6a9f49179e
Splunk	The following analytic identifies users with KMS keys performing encryption operations on S3 buckets. (...)	Anomaly	stable	cloud_audit	-	AWS CloudTrail · AWS	Impact Data Encrypted for Impact	-	medium	Rod Soto, Patrick Bareiss Splunk	2020-10-27	2026-05-13	884a5f59-eec7-4f4a-948b-dbde18225fdc
	Identifies disabling of default Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) encryption in the current region. (...)	Generic	stable	cloud_audit	-	AWS CloudTrail · AWS	Impact Data Encrypted for Impact Impact Data Manipulation	-	medium	Sittikorn S	2021-06-29	2021-08-20	16124c2d-e40b-4fcc-8f2c-5ab7870a2223
	Detects the import or deletion of key material in AWS KMS, which can be used as part of ransomware attacks. (...)	Generic	experimental	cloud_audit	-	AWS CloudTrail · AWS	Impact Data Encrypted for Impact Resource Development Stage Capabilities Install Digital Certificate	-	high	toopricey	2025-10-18	—	1279262f-1464-422f-ac0d-5b545320c526
	Identifies when a application is deleted in Azure.	Generic	test	cloud_audit	-	Azure Audit Logs · Azure	Impact Service Stop	-	medium	Austin Songer @austinsonger	2021-09-03	2026-04-30	410d2a41-1e6d-452f-85e5-abdd8257a823
	Detects when a Container Registry is created or deleted.	Generic	test	cloud_audit	-	Azure Activity Logs · Azure	Impact Data Destruction Impact Resource Hijacking Impact Service Stop	-	low	Austin Songer @austinsonger	2021-08-07	2022-08-23	93e0ef48-37c8-49ed-a02c-038aab23628e
	Detects when a Azure Kubernetes Cluster is created or deleted.	Generic	test	cloud_audit	-	Azure Activity Logs · Azure	Impact Data Destruction Impact Resource Hijacking Impact Service Stop	-	low	Austin Songer @austinsonger	2021-08-07	2022-08-23	9541f321-7cba-4b43-80fc-fbd1fb922808
	Identifies when a Azure Kubernetes network policy is modified or deleted.	Generic	test	cloud_audit	-	Azure Activity Logs · Azure	Impact Data Destruction Impact Resource Hijacking Impact Service Stop	-	medium	Austin Songer @austinsonger	2021-08-07	2022-08-23	08d6ac24-c927-4469-b3b7-2e422d6e3c43
	Detects the creation or patching of potential malicious RoleBinding/ClusterRoleBinding.	Generic	test	cloud_audit	-	Azure Activity Logs · Azure	Impact Data Destruction Impact Resource Hijacking Impact Service Stop	-	medium	Austin Songer @austinsonger	2021-08-07	2022-08-23	25cb259b-bbdc-4b87-98b7-90d7c72f8743
	Identifies when a Kubernetes account access a sensitive objects such as configmaps or secrets.	Generic	test	cloud_audit	-	Azure Activity Logs · Azure	Impact Data Destruction Impact Resource Hijacking Impact Service Stop	-	medium	Austin Songer @austinsonger	2021-08-07	2022-08-23	7ee0b4aa-d8d4-4088-b661-20efdf41a04c
	Identifies when ClusterRoles/Roles are being modified or deleted.	Generic	test	cloud_audit	-	Azure Activity Logs · Azure	Impact Data Destruction Impact Resource Hijacking Impact Service Stop	-	medium	Austin Songer @austinsonger	2021-08-07	2022-08-23	818fee0c-e0ec-4e45-824e-83e4817b0887
	Identifies when a service account is modified or deleted.	Generic	test	cloud_audit	-	Azure Activity Logs · Azure	Impact Account Access Removal Impact Data Destruction Impact Resource Hijacking Impact Service Stop	-	medium	Austin Songer @austinsonger	2021-08-07	2022-08-23	12d027c3-b48c-4d9d-8bb6-a732200034b2
	Detects backup catalog deletions	Generic	test	-	windows	WinEventLog Application	Stealth Indicator Removal File Deletion	-	medium	Florian Roth (Nextron Systems), Tom U. @c_APT_ure (collection)	2017-05-12	2022-12-25	9703792d-fd9a-456d-a672-ff92efe4806a
	Detects user data export activity.	Generic	test	cloud_audit	-	Bitbucket Audit · Bitbucket	Collection Data from Information Repositories Reconnaissance Gather Victim Org Information Identify Roles Discovery System Information Discovery	-	medium	Muhammad Faisal (@faisalusuf)	2024-02-25	—	5259cbf2-0a75-48bf-b57a-c54d6fabaef3
	Detects user permission data export attempt.	Generic	test	cloud_audit	-	Bitbucket Audit · Bitbucket	Collection Data from Information Repositories Reconnaissance Gather Victim Org Information Identify Roles Discovery System Information Discovery	-	medium	Muhammad Faisal (@faisalusuf)	2024-02-25	—	87cc6698-3e07-4ba2-9b43-a85a73e151e2
	Detect access to files and shares with names and extensions used by BlueSky ransomware which could indicate a current or previous encryption attempt.	Emerging	test	file_event	windows	WinEventLog Security	Impact Data Encrypted for Impact	-	high	j4son	2023-05-23	—	eee8311f-a752-44f0-bf2f-6b007db16300
Splunk	This analytic detects potential reconnaissance activities on Cisco ASA devices by identifying execution of multiple information-gathering "show" commands within a short timeframe. (...)	Anomaly	stable	firewall	-	Cisco Secure Firewall · Cisco	Reconnaissance Gather Victim Network Information Domain Properties IP Addresses Discovery System Information Discovery	-	medium	Nasreddine Bencherchali, Splunk	2025-11-21	2026-05-13	6e9d4f7a-3c8b-4a9e-8d2f-7b5c9e1a6f3d
	Find information about network devices that is not stored in config files	Generic	test	authentication	-	Cisco AAA · Cisco	Discovery File and Directory Discovery Discovery Password Policy Discovery Discovery Process Discovery Discovery Remote System Discovery Discovery System Information Discovery Discovery System Network Configuration Discovery Discovery System Network Connections Discovery Discovery System Owner/User Discovery Discovery System Time Discovery	-	low	Austin Clark	2019-08-12	2023-01-04	9705a6a1-6db6-4a16-a987-15b7151e299b
	See what files are being deleted from flash file systems	Generic	test	authentication	-	Cisco AAA · Cisco	Impact Disk Wipe Disk Content Wipe Disk Structure Wipe Stealth Indicator Removal File Deletion	-	medium	Austin Clark	2019-08-12	2023-01-04	71d65515-c436-43c0-841b-236b1f32c21e	-
Splunk	This analytic detects bursts of Cisco IOS or NX-OS discovery commands associated with Salt Typhoon tradecraft. (...)	Anomaly	stable	network_device	-	Cisco IOS · Cisco	Reconnaissance Gather Victim Network Information Discovery System Information Discovery Discovery System Network Configuration Discovery	-	medium	Nasreddine Bencherchali	2026-05-19	2026-05-20	71ac5328-2364-40cf-8381-92b8dc531399
Splunk	This analytic identifies non-browser processes reaching out to public IP lookup or geolocation servi (...)	Anomaly	stable	network_connection	-	Cisco NVM · Cisco	Reconnaissance Gather Victim Network Information IP Addresses Discovery System Network Configuration Discovery	-	medium	Nasreddine Bencherchali, Splunk, Janantha Marasinghe	2025-07-01	2026-09-22	568cb83e-d79e-4a23-85ec-6e1f6c30cb2f
Splunk	The following analytic detects the use of known suspicious SSL certificates in any observed event where the SSL_CertFingerprint field is present. (...)	Generic	stable	firewall	-	Cisco Secure Firewall · Cisco	Command and Control Application Layer Protocol Web Protocols Resource Development Develop Capabilities Code Signing Certificates Command and Control Encrypted Channel Asymmetric Cryptography Resource Development Obtain Capabilities Digital Certificates	-	medium	Nasreddine Bencherchali, Splunk	2025-04-03	2026-09-22	c43f7b49-2dab-4e76-892e-7f971c2f20f1
Splunk	The following analytic detects connections with a high Encrypted Visibility Engine (EVE) threat confidence score, indicating potentially malicious behavior within encrypted traffic. (...)	Anomaly	stable	firewall	-	Cisco Secure Firewall · Cisco	Command and Control Application Layer Protocol Web Protocols Command and Control Encrypted Channel Asymmetric Cryptography Exfiltration Exfiltration Over C2 Channel Command and Control Ingress Tool Transfer	-	medium	Nasreddine Bencherchali, Splunk	2025-04-03	2026-05-13	8c15183e-2e70-4db4-86c3-88f8d9129b66
Splunk	This analytic detects intrusion events from known threat activity using Cisco Secure Firewall Intrusion Events. (...)	Anomaly	stable	firewall	-	Cisco Secure Firewall · Cisco	Command and Control Encrypted Channel Asymmetric Cryptography Exfiltration Exfiltration Over C2 Channel	-	medium	Bhavin Patel, Nasreddine Bencherchali, Splunk	2025-05-12	2026-09-22	b71e57e8-c571-4ff1-ae13-bc4384a9e891
Splunk	This analytic detects Lumma Stealer download attempts using Cisco Secure Firewall Intrusion Events. (...)	Anomaly	stable	firewall	-	Cisco Secure Firewall · Cisco	Command and Control Encrypted Channel Asymmetric Cryptography Exfiltration Exfiltration Over C2 Channel	-	medium	Nasreddine Bencherchali, Splunk, Talos NTDR	2025-04-16	2026-05-13	66f22f52-fbae-4be7-a263-561dacb63613
Splunk	This analytic detects Lumma Stealer outbound connection attempts using Cisco Secure Firewall Intrusion Events. (...)	Anomaly	stable	firewall	-	Cisco Secure Firewall · Cisco	Command and Control Encrypted Channel Asymmetric Cryptography Exfiltration Exfiltration Over C2 Channel	-	medium	Nasreddine Bencherchali, Splunk, Talos NTDR	2025-04-16	2026-05-13	66f22f52-fbae-4be7-a263-561dacb63612
Splunk	The following analytic detects the execution of `cipher.exe` with the `/w` flag to clear unallocated sectors on a disk. (...)	Generic	stable	process_creation	windows	Sysmon · WinEventLog Security · CrowdStrike	Stealth Indicator Removal File Deletion	-	medium	Teoderick Contreras, Splunk	2021-06-10	2026-05-13	cd80a6ac-c9d9-11eb-8839-acde48001122
	Detects the execution of the "cloudflared" binary from a non standard location.	Generic	test	process_creation	windows	Sysmon · WinEventLog Security	Command and Control Proxy Internal Proxy	-	medium	Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)	2023-12-20	—	fadb84f0-4e84-4f6d-a1ce-9ef2bffb6ccd
	Detects creation of an ad-hoc Cloudflare Quick Tunnel, which can be used to tunnel local services such as HTTP, RDP, SSH and SMB. (...)	Generic	test	process_creation	windows	Sysmon · WinEventLog Security	Command and Control Proxy Internal Proxy	-	medium	Sajid Nawaz Khan	2023-12-20	—	222129f7-f4dc-4568-b0d2-22440a9639ba
	Detects the use of the redirection character ">" to redirect information on the command line. (...)	Hunting	test	process_creation	windows	Sysmon · WinEventLog Security	Discovery System Information Discovery	-	low	frack113	2022-01-22	2024-03-19	4f4eaa9f-5ad4-410c-a4be-bc6132b0175a
	Detects potential container discovery via listing of certain kernel features in the "/proc" virtual (...)	Generic	test	process_creation	linux	Sysmon	Discovery System Information Discovery	-	low	Seth Hanford	2023-08-23	—	746c86fb-ccda-4816-8997-01386263acc4
	Detects the usage of schtasks with the delete flag and the asterisk symbol to delete all tasks from the schedule of the local computer, including tasks scheduled by other users.	Generic	test	process_creation	windows	Sysmon · WinEventLog Security	Impact Service Stop	-	high	Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)	2022-09-09	—	220457c1-1c9f-4c2e-afe6-9598926222c1
	Detects when adversaries stop services or processes by deleting their respective scheduled tasks in (...)	Generic	test	process_creation	windows	Sysmon · WinEventLog Security	Impact Service Stop	-	high	Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)	2022-09-09	2026-03-11	dbc1f800-0fe0-4bc0-9c66-292c2abe3f78
Splunk	The following analytic identifies specific GET or HEAD requests to web servers that indicate reconnaissance attempts to find vulnerable JBoss servers. (...)	Generic	experimental	webserver	-	-	Initial Access, Persistence External Remote Services Discovery System Information Discovery	-	medium	Bhavin Patel, Splunk	2020-04-29	2026-05-13	104658f4-afdc-499e-9719-17243f982681	-
	Detects execution of the builtin "rmdir" command in order to delete directories. (...)	Generic	test	process_creation	windows	Sysmon · WinEventLog Security	Stealth Indicator Removal File Deletion	-	low	frack113	2022-01-15	2023-03-07	41ca393d-538c-408a-ac27-cf1e038be80c
	Detects when adversaries stop services or processes by disabling their respective scheduled tasks in (...)	Generic	test	process_creation	windows	Sysmon · WinEventLog Security	Impact Service Stop	-	high	frack113, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), X__Junior	2021-12-26	2026-03-11	9ac94dc8-9042-493c-ba45-3b5e7c86b980
	Detects the usage of utilities such as 'systemctl', 'service'...etc to stop or disable tools and services on Linux systems. (...)	Generic	test	process_creation	linux	Sysmon	Defense Impairment Disable or Modify Tools Impact Service Stop	-	medium	Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)	2022-09-15	2025-03-18	de25eeb8-3655-4643-ac3a-b662d3f26b6b
	Detects listing or file reading of ".dockerenv" which can be a sing of potential container discovery	Generic	test	process_creation	linux	Sysmon	Discovery System Information Discovery	-	low	Seth Hanford	2023-08-23	—	11701de9-d5a5-44aa-8238-84252f131895
	Domain user and group enumeration via network reconnaissance. (...)	Unsupported	unsupported	-	-	DCE/RPC · Zeek	Discovery Account Discovery Domain Account Discovery System Information Discovery	-	medium	Nate Guagenti (@neu5ron), Open Threat Research (OTR)	2020-05-03	2023-03-24	66a0bdc6-ee04-441a-9125-99d2eb547942
Splunk	This detection identifies the use of ESXCLI system-level commands that retrieve configuration details. (...)	Generic	stable	-	esxi	VMware ESXi · VMware	Discovery System Information Discovery	-	medium	Raven Tait, Splunk	2025-07-11	2026-05-13	b4d4217a-6673-4fb6-837d-07a522bdf9f7	-
Splunk	The following analytic identifies a suspicious series of command-line executions attempting to disable multiple services. (...)	Anomaly	stable	process_creation	windows	Sysmon · WinEventLog Security · CrowdStrike	Impact Service Stop	-	medium	Teoderick Contreras, Splunk	2021-05-07	2026-05-13	8fa2a0f0-acd9-11eb-8994-acde48001122
	Detects the deletion of files by the Sysinternals SDelete utility. (...)	Generic	test	file_delete	windows	Sysmon	Stealth Indicator Removal File Deletion	-	medium	Roberto Rodriguez (Cyb3rWard0g), OTR (Open Threat Research)	2020-05-02	2023-02-15	6ddab845-b1b8-49c2-bbf7-1a11967f64bc
	Detects file deletion using "rm", "shred" or "unlink" commands which are used often by adversaries t (...)	Generic	stable	process_creation	linux	Sysmon	Stealth Indicator Removal File Deletion	-	informational	Ömer Günal, oscd.community	2020-10-07	2022-09-15	30aed7b6-d2c1-4eaf-9382-b6bc43e50c57
	Detects execution of the builtin "del"/"erase" commands in order to delete files. (...)	Generic	test	process_creation	windows	Sysmon · WinEventLog Security	Stealth Indicator Removal File Deletion	-	low	frack113	2022-01-15	2024-03-05	379fa130-190e-4c3f-b7bc-6c8e834485f3
	Adversaries may look for details about the network configuration and settings of systems they access (...)	Generic	test	process_creation	windows	Sysmon · WinEventLog Security	Discovery System Network Configuration Discovery	-	low	frack113, Christopher Peacock '@securepeacock', SCYTHE '@scythe_io'	2021-12-07	2025-10-18	0e4164da-94bc-450d-a7be-a4b176179f1f

Title

Description

Pay2Key S0556

Pay2Key S0556

Pay2Key MITRE reference S0556

Standing S0556

Reach

Coverage

Pay2Key detections S0556