Understanding the Power of PowerShell

What is PowerShell?

PowerShell is a scripting language and modern command line shell for windows system administration. You could use it to manage the registry, perform WMI command search for files, get query domain users and groups, etc. PowerShell is now a cross-platform version that runs on top of .net core, so individuals can now run PowerShell commands on Linux, Mac, and Windows.

Why is PowerShell So Powerful?

PowerShell is basically designed for administrators and seamless server-to-server interactions. But what can be used for good, can also be used for evil. Attackers these days are confidently giving up using hacking tools and other exploitation software because they know that they have PowerShell to do everything for them. PowerShell enables attackers to perform live-off-the-land attacks where they don’t have to bring the binary executable to exploit the victim machine. PowerShell is like the lymphocytes in the white blood cells of the human body. They not only protect the human body but if misused can even destroy the human body from within. PowerShell is a lethal weapon that resides in the victim’s machine and does an attacker’s job when infected. As PowerShell is a de-facto Windows tool that is in-built into Windows operating system. As it is a natively built-in Windows utility, detection of malicious activities using PowerShell is extremely difficult even with high-end security tools like EDRs, Anti-virus, IDS, and host-based firewalls.

When an attacker is good at this, it’s really hard to reconstruct what they did on the endpoint system. It’s an incredibly powerful command line and scripting environment. Thing environment. It can do almost anything from basic remote command execution or local command execution to actually invoking or accessing the entire .NET Framework, loading and executing code in memory, and interacting with the Windows API. These powerful applications can do almost anything on a Windows machine. In addition, another major reason for the increase in PowerShell usage and PowerShell attacks is the huge lack of logging when it comes to Windows PowerShell. Even after you enable PowerShell logging, there are additional steps that you have to take to enable the logging completely. In large networks, implementing these changes is significantly hard due to the sheer size of the network infrastructure.

List of Threat Actors using PowerShell

According to Mitre Attack, more than 50 adversaries and threat actors leverage PowerShell at different stages of the attack cycle to achieve their malicious objectives. As per Mitre Att&ck, here’s a list of cyber threats that leverage PowerShell:

AADInternals
AppleSeed
APT19
APT28
APT29
APT3
APT32
APT33
APT38
APT39
APT41
Aquatic Panda
AutoIt backdoor
Bandook
Bazar
BloodHound
Blue Mockingbird
BONDUPDATER
BRONZE BUTLER
CharmPower
Chimera
Clambling
Cobalt Group
Cobalt Strike
ComRAT
Confucius
ConnectWise
CopyKittens
CrackMapExec
Cuba
DarkHydrus
DarkVishnya
DarkWatchman
Deep Panda
Denis
Donut
DownPaper
Dragonfly
Egregor
Emotet
Empire
FatDuke
Ferocious
FIN10
FIN6
FIN7
FIN8
Fox Kitten
Frankenstein
GALLIUM
Gallmaker
Gamaredon Group
GOLD SOUTHFIELD
Gorgon Group
GRIFFON
HAFNIUM
HALFBAKED
HAMMERTOSS
Hancitor
Helminth
Inception
Indrik Spider
JCry
JSS Loader
KeyBoy
KGH_SPY
Kimsuky
Koadic
KOCTOPUS
KONNI
Lazarus Group
LazyScripter
Leviathan
LitePower
Lizar
Lokibot
Magic Hound
menuPass
Meteor
MoleNet
Molerats
Mosquito
MuddyWater
Mustang Panda
Netwalker
NETWIRE
njRAT
Nomadic Octopus
OilRig
Operation Wocao
OSX_OCEANLOTUS.D
Patchwork
Pillowmint
Poseidon Group
POSHSPY
PowerPunch
PowerShower
POWERSOURCE
PowerSploit
PowerStallion
POWERSTATS
POWERTON
POWRUNER
PS1
PUNCHBUGGY
Pupy
Pysa
QakBot
QUADAGENT
RATANKBA
RegDuke
Revenge RAT
REvil
RogueRobin
Sandworm Team
SeaDuke
ServHelper
SharpStage
SHARPSTATS
Sidewinder
Silence
SILENTTRINITY
SMOKEDHAM
Socksbot
SQLRat
Stealth Falcon
StrongPity
TA459
TA505
TeamTNT
TEMP.Veles
Threat Group-3390
Thrip
Tonto Team
TrickBot
Turla
Ursnif
Valak
WarzoneRAT
WellMess
WhisperGate
WIRTE
Wizard Spider
Xbash
Zeus Panda

How to Detect and Prevent PowerShell Attacks?

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