Deleter

Overview

Trojan:Win32/Deleter (often associated with Wiper malware) is a highly destructive trojan whose primary and singular objective is to permanently erase, corrupt, or render inaccessible data and critical system files on the infected endpoint. Unlike ransomware, which encrypts data for extortion, Deleter aims for pure sabotage and destruction.

Understanding Deleter (Data Wiper)
To an end-user, a Deleter infection is catastrophic: the system suddenly crashes (BSOD), fails to reboot (reporting missing operating system files), or user directories are found completely empty. For a security team, a wiper attack is often indicative of a highly motivated, state-sponsored adversary (APT) aiming to disrupt operations, cover their tracks after a data breach, or cause maximal financial damage to an organization.

Execution and Destructive Mechanics
Wipers are typically deployed manually by attackers after they have gained deep network access and escalated privileges to SYSTEM or Domain Admin (`T1078`). Once executed (`T1204.002`), Deleter acts swiftly. It bypasses the Windows Recycle Bin, using APIs to directly overwrite file contents with zeros or random garbage data before deleting the file pointers (`T1485`). Advanced variants attempt to overwrite the Master Boot Record (MBR) or GUID Partition Table (GPT) (`T1561.001`, `T1561.002`), rendering the operating system completely unbootable. To prevent forensic recovery, it will systematically delete Volume Shadow Copies and clear Windows Event Logs (`T1490`, `T1070.001`).

Indicators of Compromise & Impact
The impact is total loss of data and complete system failure. Host-based IoCs include sudden, massive spikes in disk I/O activity followed by immediate system instability, EDR alerts for the execution of commands like `vssadmin.exe delete shadows`, unauthorized raw disk access (`\\.\PhysicalDrive0`), and the deletion of critical Windows directory files. There are typically no network IoCs during the wiping phase, as the goal is localized destruction.

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

Observed techniques used by this family, mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework:

Generated Detections (Boilerplate)

These YARA and Sigma rules are auto-generated based on the family name and aliases. They must be heavily tuned before deployment in a production environment.

YARA Rule

rule MALWARE_WIN_DELETER {
    meta:
        description = "Detects Deleter (ransomware)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Boilerplate Generator"
        date = "2026-07-06"
    strings:
        $s1 = "deleter" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and any of them
}

Sigma Rule

title: Suspicious Deleter Activity
id: 5bd34eb57b85e257f31ede4360e5690d
status: experimental
description: Detects generic indicators of the deleter malware family.
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith:
            - '\cmd.exe'
            - '\powershell.exe'
        CommandLine|contains:
            - "*deleter*"
    condition: selection
level: medium

Containment & Response Steps

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

1. IMMEDIATELY physically power down the infected endpoint (pull the plug, do not perform a graceful shutdown) to halt the wiping process and preserve whatever data remains on the disk.
2. Do not attempt to reboot the machine; if the MBR is wiped, the machine will not boot, and the boot process itself may overwrite recoverable data.
3. Remove the hard drive and connect it to an isolated forensic workstation using a write-blocker to attempt data carving and recovery of partially wiped files.
4. Initiate disaster recovery protocols and restore the affected systems from secure, offline backups (e.g., tape drives) that were not connected to the network during the attack.

What to Avoid

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

1. Do not assume the attack is a random virus; wipers are almost always deployed intentionally by human adversaries who may still have access to the network.
2. Avoid relying solely on cloud-connected backups, as advanced attackers will often attempt to locate and wipe online backups before executing the local wiper.

References & External Analysis

• Search "deleter" on VirusTotal (External Analysis)

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Families (Category: ransomware)

Explore other malware families in the same category:

• Genericrxda
• Conju
• Schwarzesonne
• Zjaisino
• Inegery

Machine-readable

Get this profile as JSON: https://jordan123234-malware-families-explorer.static.hf.space/api/deleter.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.