Introduction

We covered navigating directories and searching through files with Powershell. This was part of Day 20 of Advent of Cyber 2.

The official explanation of PowerShell is: “PowerShell is a cross-platform task automation and configuration management framework, consisting of a command-line shell and scripting language. Unlike most shells, which accept and return text, PowerShell is built on top of the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR), and accepts and returns .NET objects. This fundamental change brings entirely new tools and methods for automation.”

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PowerShell has grown in popularity in the last few years among defenders and especially attackers. Knowing PowerShell is a necessary skill. If you have only heard of PowerShell but never dabbled with it, fret not, today you will.

Recall from the definition above that PowerShell is a command-line shell. We must enter commands into the command prompt to instruct PowerShell on what we want it to do for us. PowerShell commands are known as cmdlets.

Challenge Answers

Search for the first hidden elf file within the Documents folder. Read the contents of this file. What does Elf 1 want?

Search on the desktop for a hidden folder that contains the file for Elf 2. Read the contents of this file. What is the name of that movie that Elf 2 wants?

Search the Windows directory for a hidden folder that contains files for Elf 3. What is the name of the hidden folder? (This command will take a while)

How many words does the first file contain?

What 2 words are at index 551 and 6991 in the first file?

This is only half the answer. Search in the 2nd file for the phrase from the previous question to get the full answer. What does Elf 3 want? (use spaces when submitting the answer)

Video Walk-through

About the Author

Mastermind Study Notes is a group of talented authors and writers who are experienced and well-versed across different fields. The group is led by, Motasem Hamdan, who is a Cybersecurity content creator and YouTuber.

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