Windows Impair Defense Disable Win Defender Network Protection

Original Source: [splunk source]
Name:Windows Impair Defense Disable Win Defender Network Protection
id:8b6c15c7-5556-463d-83c7-986326c21f12
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 disable Windows Defender Network Protection. It leverages data from the Endpoint.Registry data model, specifically monitoring changes to the EnableNetworkProtection registry entry. This activity is significant because disabling Network Protection can leave the system vulnerable to network-based threats by preventing Windows Defender from analyzing and blocking malicious network activity. If confirmed malicious, this action could allow attackers to bypass security measures, potentially leading to unauthorized access, data exfiltration, or further compromise of the network.
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\\Windows Defender Exploit Guard\\Network Protection\\EnableNetworkProtection" Registry.registry_value_data="0x00000000" 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_disable_win_defender_network_protection_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:Windows Defender Exploit Guard network protection set to disable 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

tests:
name:'True Positive Test'
 attack_data:
  data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1562.001/disable-windows-security-defender-features/windefender-bypas-2-sysmon.log
  source: XmlWinEventLog:Microsoft-Windows-Sysmon/Operational
  sourcetype: XmlWinEventLog
manual_test:None