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Windows Registry: Microsoft Office Protected View Disabled via Security Policy Keys

Flags Windows registry updates that disable Microsoft Office Protected View for attachments, internet files, UNC paths, or unsafe locations.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
registry_set
Author
frack113, Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2021-06-08
Updated
2026-07-30
AnalysisDetection

ATT&CK techniques

  1. Recon

  2. Resource Dev

  3. Initial Access

  4. Execution

  5. Persistence

  6. Priv Esc

  7. Defense Evasion

  8. Cred Access

  9. Discovery

  10. Lateral Movement

  11. Collection

  12. C2

  13. Exfiltration

  14. Impact

What it detects

This rule identifies registry changes under Microsoft Office Protected View policy paths where values indicate Protected View is disabled for specific content or locations. Disabling Protected View reduces safety checks on files opened from untrusted sources, which can help attackers increase the impact of malicious documents. It relies on Windows registry set telemetry matching the targeted Office ProtectedView key path and specific DWORD value settings.

Reporting behind it

Related detections9 linkedT1685 — drag to rearrange
Malicious Microsoft Defender Tampering via PowerShell Preference Cmdlets
Suspicious Windows Defender Exclusion via Add-MpPreference (via process_creation)
Malicious Windows Defender Service Tampering via PowerShell (via process_creation)
Windows Defender Disabled via DisableAntiSpyware Registry Key
Suspicious Vulnerable Intel Ethernet Driver Load for BYOVD via SCATTERED SPIDER (via driver_load)
Malicious Defender Disable And Executable Exclusion Via Registry
Malicious UAC Disable via EnableLUA Registry Modification (via registry_set)
Malicious AMSI and ETW Patching via PowerShell Script
Malicious PowMix AMSI Bypass via amsiInitFailed
Windows Registry: Microsoft Office Protected View Disabled via Security Policy Keys
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.