Suspicious Microsoft Defender Real-Time Protection Disabled via Registry

ATT&CK techniques

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

What it detects

This rule detects registry modifications that disable Microsoft Defender real-time monitoring under the Windows Defender policy keys. Microsoft observed services.exe abused to disable Defender via registry during post-exploitation of SharePoint before deploying Warlock ransomware. Turning off antivirus through policy keys clears the way for credential theft and encryption, so this change warrants immediate review.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1685 — drag to rearrange

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Malicious Container Runtime Tampering via chmod on runc (via process_creation)

In-Memory AMSI or ETW Bypass in PowerShell (via process_creation)

Malicious Microsoft Defender Critical Security Components Disabled - Command (via process_creation)

Malicious Microsoft Defender Service Deactivation Attempt - Command (via process_creation)

Malicious Wdigest Authentication Enabled - Reg via Command (via process_creation)

Suspicious Microsoft Defender Real-Time Protection Disabled 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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