T1143
About this technique
Adversaries may implement hidden windows to conceal malicious activity from the plain sight of users. In some cases, windows that would typically be displayed when an application carries out an operation can be hidden. This may be utilized by system administrators to avoid disrupting user work environments when carrying out administrative tasks.
Read the full ATT&CK description
Adversaries may abuse operating system functionality to hide otherwise visible windows from users so as not to alert the user to adversary activity on the system.
### Windows There are a variety of features in scripting languages in Windows, such as PowerShell, Jscript, and VBScript to make windows hidden. One example of this is <code>powershell.exe -WindowStyle Hidden</code>. (Citation: PowerShell About 2019)
### Mac The configurations for how applications run on macOS are listed in property list (plist) files. One of the tags in these files can be <code>apple.awt.UIElement</code>, which allows for Java applications to prevent the application's icon from appearing in the Dock. A common use for this is when applications run in the system tray, but don't also want to show up in the Dock.
However, adversaries can abuse this feature and hide their running window.(Citation: Antiquated Mac Malware)
Curated incident relationships
These associations come from maintained incident records. The recorded confidence is shown when the source record provides it.
Daily items linked through predicted CVEs
A Daily item appears here when it mentions a CVE whose triage artifact predicts this technique. This is not a verified ATT&CK mapping.
Predicted CVE associations
These backfilled or model-produced candidates come from the current triage artifact. They are informational, not official MITRE mappings.