Virtualization

The subject uses a portable hypervisor to launch a virtual machine from removable media or user-space directories, enabling covert execution of tools, data staging, or operational activities. These hypervisors can run without installation, system-wide configuration changes, or elevated privileges—bypassing standard application control, endpoint detection, and logging.

Portable hypervisors are often used to:

• Run a fully isolated virtual environment on a corporate system without administrator rights.
• Avoid persistent installation footprints in the Windows registry, program files, or audit logs.
• Stage and execute sensitive operations inside a contained guest OS, shielded from host-level EDR tools.
• Exfiltrate or decrypt data using tools embedded in the VM image without writing them to disk.
• Destroy or remove evidence simply by ejecting the device or deleting the VM directory.

Example Scenarios:

• The subject carries a USB stick containing QEMU or VMware Workstation Player Portable, along with a pre-configured Linux VM that includes recon and exfiltration tools. They plug it into a shared workstation, launch the VM in user space, and remove the stick after completing the session.
• A portable VirtualBox distribution is run from an unmonitored folder in the user's home directory. Inside the VM, the subject transfers staged data, compresses it, and initiates covert upload via proxy-aware tools, leaving no trace on the host system.
• The subject uses an encrypted external SSD with VMware ThinApp to run virtualized applications (e.g., password extractors, tunneling tools) without installation or triggering AV signatures on the host.

The subject uses virtual machine snapshots, checkpoints, or revert-to-save-state features to erase forensic evidence of activity within a virtualized environment. By taking a snapshot before conducting malicious or high-risk operations, the subject ensures they can later roll the system back—removing all traces of files, commands, logs, and process history created during the session.

This technique allows the subject to:

• Create disposable execution environments for malware, exfiltration staging, or credential harvesting.
• Test or refine malicious payloads without contaminating the final operating state.
• Erase system logs, shell history, temp files, or volatile indicators without needing individual cleanup.
• Avoid triggering file integrity monitoring or host-based change detection on the base image.
• Delay detection by performing actions in a timeline that no longer exists once the rollback is complete.

Example Scenarios:

• A subject launches a virtual machine, takes a snapshot, and performs a simulated ransomware attack using internal files. After testing, they roll back to the original snapshot, deleting all evidence of tool execution, encryption activity, and lateral movement.
• During a data staging operation, the subject collects documents within a VM and compresses them. After extraction, they revert the VM to a pre-staging snapshot, eliminating any trace of the aggregation.
• An insider uses nested virtualization to test payload delivery across OS versions. Each test is followed by a rollback, leaving no visible trace of the toolsets used or the compromised states created.

The subject uses a virtual machine (VM) on an organization device to contain artifacts of forensic value within the virtualized environment, preventing them from being written to the host file system. This strategy helps to obscure evidence and complicate forensic investigations.
 

By running a guest operating system within a VM, the subject can potentially evade detection by security agents installed on the host operating system, as these agents may not have visibility into activities occurring within the VM. This adds an additional layer of complexity to forensic analysis, making it more challenging to detect and attribute malicious activities.

The subject leverages Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) to contain forensic artifacts within a Linux-like runtime environment embedded in Windows. By operating inside WSL, the subject avoids writing sensitive data, tool activity, or command history to traditional Windows locations, significantly reducing visibility to host-based forensic and security tools.

WSL creates a logical Linux environment that appears separate from the Windows file system. Although some host-guest integration exists, activity within WSL often bypasses standard Windows event logging, registry updates, and process tracking. This allows the subject to execute scripts, use Unix-native tools, stage exfiltration, or decrypt payloads with minimal footprint on the host.

Example Scenarios:

• The subject downloads and processes sensitive files inside the WSL environment using native Linux tools (e.g., scp, gpg, rsync), preventing access and modification timestamps from appearing in Windows Explorer or standard audit logs.
• A subject extracts and stages exfiltration material in /mnt/c within WSL, using symbolic links and Linux file permissions to obscure its presence from Windows search and indexing services.
• WSL is used to execute recon and credential-harvesting scripts (e.g., nmap, hydra, ssh enumeration tools), with no execution trace in Windows Event Logs.
• Upon completion of activity, the subject deletes the WSL distribution, leaving minimal residue on the host system—especially if no antivirus or EDR coverage extends into the WSL layer.

By only allowing pre-approved software to be installed and run on corporate devices, the subject is unable to install software themselves.

A Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solution refers to policies, technologies, and controls that prevent the accidental and/or deliberate loss, misuse, or theft of data by members of an organization. Typically, DLP technology would take the form of a software agent installed on organization endpoints (such as laptops and servers).

Typical DLP technology will alert on the potential loss of data, or activity which might indicate the potential for data loss. A DLP technology may also provide automated responses to prevent data loss on a device.

The Principle of Least Privilege should be enforced, and period reviews of permissions conducted to ensure that accounts have the minimum level of access required to complete duties as per their role.

An agent capable of Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) is a software agent installed on organization endpoints (such as laptops and servers) that (at a minimum) records the Operating System, application, and network activity on an endpoint.

Typically EDR operates in an agent/server model, where agents automatically send logs to a server, where the server correlates those logs based on a rule set. This rule set is then used to surface potential security-related events, that can then be analyzed.

An EDR agent typically also has some form of remote shell capability, where a user of the EDR platform can gain a remote shell session on a target endpoint, for incident response purposes. An EDR agent will typically have the ability to remotely isolate an endpoint, where all network activity is blocked on the target endpoint (other than the network activity required for the EDR platform to operate).

An agent capable of User Activity Monitoring (UAM) is a software agent installed on organization endpoints (such as laptops); typically, User Activity Monitoring agents are only deployed on endpoints where a human user Is expected to conduct the activity.

The User Activity Monitoring agent will typically record Operating System, application, and network activity occurring on an endpoint, with a focus on activity that is or can be conducted by a human user. The purpose of this monitoring is to identify undesirable and/or malicious activity being conducted by a human user (in this context, an Insider Threat).

Typical User Activity Monitoring platforms operate in an agent/server model where activity logs are sent to a server for automatic correlation against a rule set. This rule set is used to surface activity that may represent Insider Threat related activity such as capturing screenshots, copying data, compressing files or installing risky software.

Other platforms providing related functionality are frequently referred to as User Behaviour Analytics (UBA) platforms.

An agent capable of User Behaviour Analytics (UBA) is a software agent installed on organizational endpoints (such as laptops). Typically, User Activity Monitoring agents are only deployed on endpoints where a human user is expected to conduct the activity.

The User Behaviour Analytics agent will typically record Operating System, application, and network activity occurring on an endpoint, focusing on activity that is or can be conducted by a human user. Typically, User Behaviour Analytics platforms operate in an agent/server model where activity logs are sent to a server for automatic analysis. In the case of User Behaviour Analytics, this analysis will typically be conducted against a baseline that has previously been established.

A User Behaviour Analytic platform will typically conduct a period of ‘baselining’ when the platform is first installed. This baselining period establishes the normal behavior parameters for an organization’s users, which are used to train a Machine Learning (ML) model. This ML model can then be later used to automatically identify activity that is predicted to be an anomaly, which is hoped to surface user behavior that is undesirable, risky, or malicious.

Other platforms providing related functionality are frequently referred to as User Activity Monitoring (UAM) platforms.

This artifact is only generated where both “Clipboard History” and “Clipboard history across your devices” is enabled within the Windows system settings for clipboard.

ActivitiesCache.db is associated with the Windows Timeline feature, which was introduced in Windows 10, allowing users to keep track of their activities across different devices and sessions.

This artifact is located in:

C:\Users\Username\%AppData%\Local\ConnectedDevicesPlatform\<UserProfile>\
 

This .db file can be opened using appropriate software, such as DB Browser for SQLite. The ActivityOperations table is of interest, with the following notable fields:

• StartTime (epoch time) – When the data was first copied to the clipboard 
• ExpirationTime (epoch time) – When the data will be deleted from the ActivitiesCache.db (roughly 12 hours) 
• ClipboardPayload – Base64 encoded string of the clipboard contents  
• Payload – This field tells you where the clipboard data was copied from
• ActivityType – Type 10 means data resides in clipboard, Type 16 shows if data was copied or pasted

A Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solution refers to policies, technologies, and controls that prevent the accidental and/or deliberate loss, misuse, or theft of data by members of an organization. Typically, DLP technology would take the form of a software agent installed on organization endpoints (such as laptops and servers).

Typical DLP technology will alert on the potential loss of data, or activity which might indicate the potential for data loss. A DLP technology may also provide automated responses to prevent data loss on a device.

This detection is not enabled by default and requires additional configuration.

System Monitor (Sysmon) Event ID 1 is used to record process execution. Reviewing these logs can determine what software has been run on a system.

Deploy User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) solutions designed for cloud environments to monitor and analyze the behavior of users, applications, network devices, servers, and other non-human resources. UEBA systems track normal behavior patterns and detect anomalies that could indicate potential insider events. For instance, they can identify when a user or entity is downloading unusually large volumes of data, accessing an excessive number of resources, or engaging in data transfers that deviate from their usual behavior.

LNK files or Shortcut files are stored in the location C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent Items and have the “.lnk” file extension.

These files are automatically created when a user account accesses a file through Windows Explorer.

This artifact can provide information as to when a file was accessed, modified, and created, the file path and name, and the file size. .LNK files persist even if the actual file has been deleted, helping to uncover if a file has been accessed then subsequently deleted or moved as it is no longer present in the recorded full file path.