Suspicious Enabling of Remote Desktop via fDenyTSConnections Registry by DeadLock Ransomware

ATT&CK techniques

Persistence → Lateral Movement

Recon
Resource Dev
Initial Access
Execution
Persistence
- T1112Modify Registry
Priv Esc
Defense Evasion
- T1112Modify Registry
Cred Access
Discovery
Lateral Movement
- T1021.001Remote Desktop Protocol
Collection
C2
Exfiltration
Impact

What it detects

This rule detects modification of the fDenyTSConnections value to zero which enables inbound Remote Desktop connections. The DeadLock ransomware operators enable RDP and open the firewall to facilitate lateral movement. Enabling remote desktop on compromised hosts expands attacker access across the environment.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1112 — drag to rearrange

Suspicious Remote Desktop Enablement via Registry By Ransomware

Suspicious RDP Enablement via fDenyTSConnections Registry Modification

Suspicious RDP Enablement via fDenyTSConnections Registry Modification [Huntress] #2

Suspicious Remote Desktop Enabled via fDenyTSConnections Registry by Sandworm

Malicious Remote Desktop Enablement via Registry

Enabling RDP service via reg.exe command execution

Suspicious LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy Enabled via Registry (UAT-7237)

Windows reg.exe Used to Modify RDP Terminal Server Registry Values

Suspicious Office VBA Object Model Access Enabled via Registry (via registry_set)

Suspicious Enabling of Remote Desktop via fDenyTSConnections Registry by DeadLock Ransomware

Pivot detection · T1112 · 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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