Why is the virtual disk technique considered superior to traditional fileless methods like code injection or PowerShell, and what trade-offs does it have?

Traditional fileless methods avoid writing to disk entirely but often require complex exploits or leave in-memory artifacts detectable by EDR. Virtual disks offer a middle ground: they mimic real disk operations (so commodity malware can be used) but all data vanishes on reboot. The trade-off is the need to deliver the ImDisk driver and support files, which can be flagged by driver-load monitoring. However, once loaded, the attacker gains a fully functional, persistent-in-session file system without hard drive traces, a technique that complements other backdoor implementations using VMware Tools.