Name:Windows Impair Defense Change Win Defender Health Check Intervals id:5211c260-820e-4366-b983-84bbfb5c263a version:3 date:2024-09-30 author:Teoderick Contreras, Splunk status:production type:TTP Description:The following analytic detects modifications to the Windows registry that change the health check interval of Windows Defender. It leverages data from the Endpoint datamodel, specifically monitoring changes to the "ServiceKeepAlive" registry path with a value of "0x00000001". This activity is significant because altering Windows Defender settings can impair its ability to perform timely health checks, potentially leaving the system vulnerable. If confirmed malicious, this could allow an attacker to disable or delay security scans, increasing the risk of undetected malware or other malicious activities. Data_source:
-Sysmon EventID 12
-Sysmon EventID 13
search:| tstats `security_content_summariesonly` count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Endpoint.Registry where Registry.registry_path= "*\\Windows Defender\\ServiceKeepAlive" Registry.registry_value_data="0x00000001" by Registry.registry_key_name Registry.user Registry.registry_path Registry.registry_value_data Registry.action Registry.dest | `drop_dm_object_name(Registry)` | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` | `windows_impair_defense_change_win_defender_health_check_intervals_filter`
how_to_implement:To successfully implement this search you need to be ingesting information on process that include the name of the process responsible for the changes from your endpoints into the `Endpoint` datamodel in the `Registry` node. known_false_positives:It is unusual to turn this feature off a Windows system since it is a default security control, although it is not rare for some policies to disable it. Although no false positives have been identified, use the provided filter macro to tune the search. References: -https://x.com/malmoeb/status/1742604217989415386?s=20 -https://github.com/undergroundwires/privacy.sexy drilldown_searches: name:'View the detection results for - "$dest$"' search:'%original_detection_search% | search dest = "$dest$"' earliest_offset:'$info_min_time$' latest_offset:'$info_max_time$' name:'View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$dest$"' search:'| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$dest$") starthoursago=168 | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`' earliest_offset:'$info_min_time$' latest_offset:'$info_max_time$' tags: analytic_story: - 'Windows Defense Evasion Tactics' - 'Windows Registry Abuse' asset_type:Endpoint confidence:70 impact:70 message:change in the health check interval of Windows Defender on $dest$. mitre_attack_id: - 'T1562.001' - 'T1562' observable: name:'dest' type:'Endpoint' - role: - 'Victim' product: - 'Splunk Enterprise' - 'Splunk Enterprise Security' - 'Splunk Cloud' risk_score:49 required_fields: - '_time' - 'Registry.registry_key_name' - 'Registry.registry_value_name' - 'Registry.dest' - 'Registry.user' - 'Registry.registry_path' - 'Registry.action' security_domain:endpoint
