PowerShell Classic Compress-Archive staging in TEMP or Temp directories
Alerts on PowerShell Compress-Archive output targeting common Temp directories for data staging.
- Product
- windows
- Service
- powershell-classic
- Author
- Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), frack113 (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
- Published
- 2021-07-20
- Updated
- 2026-07-31
ATT&CK techniques
CollectionRecon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact
What it detects
This rule flags PowerShell Classic usage of the Compress-Archive cmdlet where the destination is set to $env:TEMP or common temporary directories (including AppData\Local\Temp and Windows\Temp). Compressing files into staging locations can help an attacker package collected data to be more portable and reduce what must be transmitted during exfiltration. The detection relies on PowerShell command content (script text or command lines) containing specific Compress-Archive DestinationPath patterns targeting these temp locations.
Reporting behind it
- github.comhttps://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1074.001/T1074.001.md
- cisa.govhttps://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa23-347a
- github.comhttps://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/powershell/powershell_classic/posh_pc_susp_zip_compress.yml
Changelog
v2- v2Candidate ingested via manual entry.2026-07-31
- v1No changelog recorded for this version.2026-07-30
Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.
title: PowerShell Classic Compress-Archive staging in TEMP or Temp directories
id: 2e1f3224-4ff1-46c7-9ebe-44e4602e592c
related:
- id: daf7eb81-35fd-410d-9d7a-657837e602bb
type: similar
- id: b7a3c9a3-09ea-4934-8864-6a32cacd98d9
type: similar
- id: 85a8e5ba-bd03-4bfb-bbfa-a4409a8f8b98
type: similar
- id: 71ff406e-b633-4989-96ec-bc49d825a412
type: derived
status: test
description: This rule flags PowerShell Classic usage of the Compress-Archive cmdlet where the destination is set to $env:TEMP or common temporary directories (including AppData\Local\Temp and Windows\Temp). Compressing files into staging locations can help an attacker package collected data to be more portable and reduce what must be transmitted during exfiltration. The detection relies on PowerShell command content (script text or command lines) containing specific Compress-Archive DestinationPath patterns targeting these temp locations.
references:
- https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/f339e7da7d05f6057fdfcdd3742bfcf365fee2a9/atomics/T1074.001/T1074.001.md
- https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa23-347a
- https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/master/rules/windows/powershell/powershell_classic/posh_pc_susp_zip_compress.yml
author: Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems), frack113, Huntrule Team
date: 2021-07-20
modified: 2023-12-18
tags:
- attack.collection
- attack.t1074.001
logsource:
product: windows
service: powershell-classic
detection:
selection:
Data|contains:
- Compress-Archive -Path*-DestinationPath $env:TEMP
- Compress-Archive -Path*-DestinationPath*\AppData\Local\Temp\
- Compress-Archive -Path*-DestinationPath*:\Windows\Temp\
condition: selection
falsepositives:
- Unknown
level: medium
license: DRL-1.1