Adversaries may use scripts automatically executed at boot or logon initialization to establish persistence.(Citation: Mandiant APT29 Eye Spy Email Nov 22)(Citation: Anomali Rocke March 2019) Initialization scripts can be used to perform administrative functions, which may often execute other programs or send information to an internal logging server. These scripts can vary based on operating system and whether applied locally or remotely.  

Adversaries may use these scripts to maintain persistence on a single system. Depending on the access configuration of the logon scripts, either local credentials or an administrator account may be necessary. 

An adversary may also be able to escalate their privileges since some boot or logon initialization scripts run with higher privileges.
Boot or Logon Initialization Scripts
source_name: mitre-attack  url: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1037  external_id: T1037     source_name: Anomali Rocke March 2019  description: Anomali Labs. (2019, March 15). Rocke Evolves Its Arsenal With a New Malware Family Written in Golang. Retrieved April 24, 2019.  url: https://www.anomali.com/blog/rocke-evolves-its-arsenal-with-a-new-malware-family-written-in-golang     source_name: Mandiant APT29 Eye Spy Email Nov 22  description: Mandiant. (2022, May 2). UNC3524: Eye Spy on Your Email. Retrieved August 17, 2023.  url: https://www.mandiant.com/resources/blog/unc3524-eye-spy-email     