Sigma rule: HackTool - PowerTool Execution
A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-381b7e9e6299, updated 2023-02-04T00:00:00.000Z.
Rule
- Title
- HackTool - PowerTool Execution
- Status
- test
- Level
- high
- Author
- Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems)
- Date
- 2022-11-29
- Modified
- 2023-02-04
- File
- rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_hktl_powertool.yml
- Commit
- ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84
Detects the execution of the tool PowerTool which has the ability to kill a process, delete its process file, unload drivers, and delete the driver files
Log source
- product
- windows
- category
- process_creation
Detection
selection:
- Image|endswith:
- '\PowerTool.exe'
- '\PowerTool64.exe'
- OriginalFileName: 'PowerTool.exe'
condition: selectionFalse positives (as the rule lists them)
- Unlikely
Tags
- attack.defense-impairment
- attack.t1685
MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names
References
- https://thedfirreport.com/2022/11/28/emotet-strikes-again-lnk-file-leads-to-domain-wide-ransomware/
- https://www.trendmicro.com/en_us/research/22/i/play-ransomware-s-attack-playbook-unmasks-it-as-another-hive-aff.html
- https://twitter.com/gbti_sa/status/1249653895900602375?lang=en
- https://www.softpedia.com/get/Antivirus/Removal-Tools/ithurricane-PowerTool.shtml
Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_hktl_powertool.yml
Sources and licences
SigmaHQ
"HackTool - PowerTool Execution" by Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_hktl_powertool.yml.
Licensed under the Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License
Cite this page
Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "Sigma rule: HackTool - PowerTool Execution",
entity page, dataset version ref-381b7e9e6299, updated 2023-02-04T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/a34f79a3-8e5f-4cc3-b765-de00695452c2 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule a34f79a3-8e5f-4cc3-b765-de00695452c2, commit ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84.
Pages change. The dataset version identifies the data, but no archive of old versions is kept, so this citation cannot be replayed later.