Detection rules › Splunk
Disable Defender AntiVirus Registry
The following analytic detects the modification of Windows Defender registry settings to disable antivirus and antispyware protections. It leverages data from the Endpoint.Registry data model, specifically monitoring changes to registry paths associated with Windows Defender policies. This activity is significant because disabling antivirus protections is a common tactic used by adversaries to evade detection and maintain persistence on compromised systems. If confirmed malicious, this action could allow attackers to execute further malicious activities undetected, leading to potential data breaches, system compromise, and further propagation of malware within the network.
MITRE ATT&CK coverage
| Tactic | Techniques |
|---|---|
| Defense Evasion | T1562.001 Impair Defenses: Disable or Modify Tools |
Event coverage
| Provider | Event ID | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Sysmon | 13 | RegistryEvent (Value Set) |
Stages and Predicates
Stage 1: tstats
tstats WHERE Registry.registry_path="*\\Policies\\Microsoft\\Windows Defender*" Registry.registry_value_data=0x00000001 Registry.registry_value_name IN ("DisableAntiSpyware", "DisableAntiVirus") BY Registry.action, Registry.dest, Registry.process_guid, Registry.process_id, Registry.registry_hive, Registry.registry_path, Registry.registry_key_name, Registry.registry_value_data, Registry.registry_value_name, Registry.registry_value_type, Registry.status, Registry.user, Registry.vendor_product
Stage 2: search
search
Stage 3: where
where isnotnull(registry_value_data)
Stage 4: search
search
Stage 5: search
search
Stage 6: search
search `macro`
Indicators
Each row is a field, operator, and value that the rule matches. The corpus column counts how many other rules in the catalog look for the same combination: high numbers point to widely-used, community-vetted indicators. Blank or 1 shows that the indicator is specific to this rule.
| Field | Kind | Values |
|---|---|---|
Registry.registry_path | eq |
|
Registry.registry_value_data | eq |
|
Registry.registry_value_name | in |
|