Akira ransomware reboots into Windows Safe Mode to knock EDR offline

Akira ransomware affiliates were seen using a new technique to evade endpoint detection and response (EDR), where they rebooted a compromised Windows system into Safe Mode with Networking enabled. According to Huntress, the technique successfully took both its agent and Microsoft Defender’s real-time protection offline. This, the researchers said, gave the attacker a window to operate without endpoint defenses.

The incident investigated by Huntress began on August 4 with a credential-spraying attack against an exposed SonicWall SSL VPN. About seven minutes after the failed login attempts began, an attacker successfully authenticated to an account that did not have multi-factor authentication (MFA) enabled, Huntress analyst James Northey said in a blog post.