18.10.87.2 Ensure 'Turn on PowerShell Transcription' is set to 'Enabled'

Information

This Policy setting lets you capture the input and output of Windows PowerShell commands into text-based transcripts.

The recommended state for this setting is: Enabled.

Rationale:

PowerShell transcript input can be very valuable when performing forensic investigations of PowerShell attack incidents to determine what occurred.

Impact:

PowerShell transcript input will be logged to the PowerShell_transcript output file, which is saved to the My Documents folder of each users' profile by default.

Warning: There are potential risks of capturing credentials and sensitive information in the PowerShell_transcript output file, which could be exposed to users who have read-access to the file.

Solution

To establish the recommended configuration via GP, set the following UI path to Enabled:

Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows PowerShell\Turn on PowerShell Transcription

Note: This Group Policy path may not exist by default. It is provided by the Group Policy template PowerShellExecutionPolicy.admx/adml that is included with the Microsoft Windows 10 RTM (Release 1507) Administrative Templates (or newer).

Default Value:

Disabled. (Transcription of PowerShell-based applications is disabled by default, although transcription can still be enabled through the Start-Transcript cmdlet.)

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/13204

Item Details

Category: AUDIT AND ACCOUNTABILITY

References: 800-53|AU-2, CSCv7|8.8

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: ca058466a0a0933e9242ca7ce70fd3fc8692c00da72264e2d155df4bf20938b3