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ATT&CK techniqueImpact

T1486 Data Encrypted for Impact

ImpactEnterprise

As of 2026-10-05, T1486 (Data Encrypted for Impact) appears in 295 tracked threats, first reported 2022-04-07 and most recently 2026-10-01, with linked actors including The Gentlemen, LockBit, Qilin; it most often appears alongside T1685 (Disable or Modify Tools).

Tracked threats
295108 critical, 143 high, 38 medium, 2 low
First seen
2022-04-07
Last seen
2026-10-01
Threat actors
99In the threats using it
Detection rules
359Blue tier and above

Data as of:

Activity timeline

T1486 first appeared in tracked threats on and was most recently reported on . The busiest month was 2026-07 with 143 reports, and 294 of the 295 threats were reported in the twelve months to 2026-10.

How adversaries use it

T1486 Data Encrypted for Impact is catalogued by MITRE ATT&CK under the Impact tactic in the Enterprise matrix. Threadlinqs maps 295 of 2623 tracked threats (11.2%) to it; by severity that is 108 critical, 143 high, 38 medium, 2 low.

Threats that use T1486 most often also use T1685 Disable or Modify Tools (180 threats), T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter (169 threats), T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application (168 threats), T1078 Valid Accounts (166 threats), T1082 System Information Discovery (159 threats). These are the techniques an intrusion set tends to chain with it, so they are the natural next places to look when it is observed.

99 tracked threat actors appear in the threats that use T1486; the most frequent are The Gentlemen (9), LockBit (8), Qilin (8), Scattered Spider (8), APT38 (7).

Mitigations

MITRE ATT&CK lists 2 mitigations for T1486.

Data sources

Telemetry that can reveal T1486, per MITRE ATT&CK.

  • Cloud Storage — Cloud Storage Modification
  • Command — Command Execution
  • File — File Creation, File Modification
  • Network Share — Network Share Access
  • Process — Process Creation

Threat actors using it

Tracked threats

The 30 most recent of 295 tracked threats that use T1486.

Detection coverage

Threadlinqs maintains 359 detection rules mapped to T1486 (SPL 97, KQL 87, Sigma 171, other 4). Rule content is available to Blue tier accounts and above; this page shows counts only.

359 detection rules (SPL/KQL/Sigma) · Blue and above. Compare plans