Windows Defender Disabled via Registry Modification
Elastic Stack Serverless Security
Identifies modifications to the Windows Defender registry settings to disable the service or set the service to be started manually.
Rule type: eql
Rule indices:
- winlogbeat-*
- logs-endpoint.events.*
- logs-windows.*
Severity: low
Risk score: 21
Runs every: 5m
Searches indices from: now-9m (https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/common-options.html#date-math[Date Math format], see also Additional look-back time)
Maximum alerts per execution: 100
References:
Tags:
- Elastic
- Host
- Windows
- Threat Detection
- Defense Evasion
Version: 3
Rule authors:
- Elastic
Rule license: Elastic License v2
Detections should be investigated to identify if the hosts and users are authorized to use this tool. As this rule detects post-exploitation process activity, investigations into this should be prioritized.
registry where event.type in ("creation", "change") and
((registry.path:"HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\Policies\\Microsoft\\Windows Defender\\DisableAntiSpyware" and
registry.data.strings:"1") or
(registry.path:"HKLM\\System\\ControlSet*\\Services\\WinDefend\\Start" and
registry.data.strings in ("3", "4")))
Framework: MITRE ATT&CKTM
Tactic:
- Name: Defense Evasion
- ID: TA0005
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/tactics/TA0005/
Technique:
- Name: Impair Defenses
- ID: T1562
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1562/
Sub-technique:
- Name: Indicator Blocking
- ID: T1562.006
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1562/006/
Sub-technique:
- Name: Disable or Modify Tools
- ID: T1562.001
- Reference URL: https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1562/001/