
title: Powershell Used To Disable Windows Defender AV Security Monitoring
author: ok @securonix invrep-de, oscd.community, frack113
date: 2020/10/12
description: Detects attackers attempting to disable Windows Defender using Powershell
detection:
  SELECTION_1:
    EventID: 1
  SELECTION_10:
    CommandLine: '*start=disabled*'
  SELECTION_2:
    Image: '*\powershell.exe'
  SELECTION_3:
    CommandLine:
    - '*-DisableBehaviorMonitoring $true*'
    - '*-DisableRuntimeMonitoring $true*'
  SELECTION_4:
    CommandLine: '*sc*'
  SELECTION_5:
    CommandLine: '*stop*'
  SELECTION_6:
    CommandLine: '*WinDefend*'
  SELECTION_7:
    CommandLine: '*sc*'
  SELECTION_8:
    CommandLine: '*config*'
  SELECTION_9:
    CommandLine: '*WinDefend*'
  condition: (SELECTION_1 and ((SELECTION_2 and SELECTION_3) or (SELECTION_4 and SELECTION_5
    and SELECTION_6) or (SELECTION_7 and SELECTION_8 and SELECTION_9 and SELECTION_10)))
falsepositives:
- Minimal, for some older versions of dev tools, such as pycharm, developers were
  known to sometimes disable Windows Defender to improve performance, but this generally
  is not considered a good security practice.
id: a7ee1722-c3c5-aeff-3212-c777e4733217
level: high
logsource:
  category: process_creation
  product: windows
modified: 2021/06/07
references:
- https://research.nccgroup.com/2020/06/23/wastedlocker-a-new-ransomware-variant-developed-by-the-evil-corp-group/
- https://rvsec0n.wordpress.com/2020/01/24/malwares-that-bypass-windows-defender/
- https://github.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/blob/master/atomics/T1562.001/T1562.001.md
status: experimental
tags:
- attack.defense_evasion
- attack.t1089
- attack.t1562.001
ruletype: SIGMA
