Sigma rule: Windows Defender Real-time Protection Disabled

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-0e84b5c9c196, updated 2023-11-22T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title
Windows Defender Real-time Protection Disabled
Status
stable
Level
high
Author
Ján Trenčanský, frack113
Date
2020-07-28
Modified
2023-11-22
File
rules/windows/builtin/windefend/win_defender_real_time_protection_disabled.yml
Commit
ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects disabling of Windows Defender Real-time Protection. As this event doesn't contain a lot of information on who initiated this action you might want to reduce it to a "medium" level if this occurs too many times in your environment

Log source

product
windows
service
windefend

Detection

selection:
    EventID: 5001 # Real-time protection is disabled.
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

  • Administrator actions (should be investigated)
  • Seen being triggered occasionally during Windows 8 Defender Updates

Tags

  • attack.defense-impairment
  • attack.t1685

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

Related rules

References

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/builtin/windefend/win_defender_real_time_protection_disabled.yml

Sources and licences

  • SigmaHQ

    "Windows Defender Real-time Protection Disabled" by Ján Trenčanský, frack113 (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/builtin/windefend/win_defender_real_time_protection_disabled.yml.
    Licensed under the Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License

    Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1

Cite this page

Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "Sigma rule: Windows Defender Real-time Protection Disabled",
entity page, dataset version ref-0e84b5c9c196, updated 2023-11-22T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/b28e58e4-2a72-4fae-bdee-0fbe904db642 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule b28e58e4-2a72-4fae-bdee-0fbe904db642, commit ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84.

Pages change. The dataset version identifies the data, but no archive of old versions is kept, so this citation cannot be replayed later.