Malicious Defender Real-Time Monitoring Disable via Registry

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Defense Evasion

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
- T1112Modify Registry
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1112Modify Registry
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects the DisableRealtimeMonitoring registry value being enabled to turn off Microsoft Defender real-time scanning. This was observed during Cephalus ransomware deployment alongside service stops and exclusions. Disabling real-time monitoring removes on-access detection so the encryptor can run freely.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1685 — drag to rearrange

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Suspicious ESXi Management Agent Stop via vpxa init Script (via process_creation)

Malicious ESXi Firewall Disable via esxcli (via process_creation)

Malicious Defender Real-Time Monitoring Disable via Registry

Pivot detection · T1685 · 9 related

Detection content is published as a reviewed draft. Tune thresholds and exclusions against your own telemetry before enabling this rule for alerting.

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