Suspicious Windows Defender Disabling via SystemSettingsAdminFlows

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 abuse of the legitimate SystemSettingsAdminFlows binary to disable Windows Defender protections from the command line. This tradecraft was observed in an intrusion that escalated from LOLBin abuse to INC ransomware deployment, where operators disabled defenses before staging and encryption. Blinding endpoint protection precedes data theft and ransomware and warrants immediate review.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1685 — drag to rearrange

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Suspicious Security Product Process Termination via Named Utility

Windows Defender Exclusion Path Added via Add-MpPreference

Suspicious Hosts File Modification to Block Security Vendors via file_event

Malicious Windows Defender Real-Time Protection Disabled via Registry

Malicious Vulnerable Driver Load via TfSysMon.sys BYOVD (via driver_load)

Suspicious Defendnot Antivirus Disabling Component Dropped in ProgramData (via file_event)

Malicious Removal of Defender Safe Mode Service Registration via Process Creation

Suspicious Windows Defender Disabling via SystemSettingsAdminFlows

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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