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Windows Registry Tampering Targeting Sophos AV Tamper Protection Enabled Flags

Flags Windows registry changes that disable Sophos AV tamper protection by clearing specific enabled DWORD values.

FreeReviewedSigma · High · v1
Product
windows
Category
registry_set
Author
Nasreddine Bencherchali (Nextron Systems) (SigmaHQ), DRL 1.1
Published
2022-09-02
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 modifications that set specific Sophos AV tamper protection configuration values to DWORD 0x00000000. Disabling these protections can help attackers impair endpoint defenses and evade detection. It relies on Windows registry modification telemetry for registry set events matching targeted Sophos key paths and the expected zero value.

Reporting behind it

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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
Suspicious ThrottleStop Driver Abuse for Defense Evasion in Ransomware Attacks
Malicious Disabling of Microsoft Defender Real-Time Protection via SystemSettingsAdminFlows by DeadLock Ransomware
Suspicious Security Software Uninstallation via WMIC Product Call Uninstall (Chaos Ransomware)
Suspicious Security Product Uninstall via wmic product call uninstall
Windows Registry Tampering Targeting Sophos AV Tamper Protection Enabled Flags
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.