Sigma rule: Windows Defender Service Disabled - Registry

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-869340de9171, updated 2024-03-25T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title: Windows Defender Service Disabled - Registry
Status: test
Level: high
Author: Ján Trenčanský, frack113, AlertIQ, Nasreddine Bencherchali
Date: 2022-08-01
Modified: 2024-03-25
File: rules/windows/registry/registry_set/registry_set_disable_windows_defender_service.yml
Commit: ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects when an attacker or tool disables the Windows Defender service (WinDefend) via the registry

Log source

product: windows
category: registry_set

Detection

selection:
    TargetObject|endswith: '\Services\WinDefend\Start'
    Details: 'DWORD (0x00000004)'
condition: selection

False positives (as the rule lists them)

Administrator actions

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

T1685

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/registry/registry_set/registry_set_disable_windows_defender_service.yml

Sources and licences

SigmaHQ
"Windows Defender Service Disabled - Registry" by Ján Trenčanský, frack113, AlertIQ, Nasreddine Bencherchali (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/registry/registry_set/registry_set_disable_windows_defender_service.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 Service Disabled - Registry",
entity page, dataset version ref-869340de9171, updated 2024-03-25T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/e1aa95de-610a-427d-b9e7-9b46cfafbe6a (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule e1aa95de-610a-427d-b9e7-9b46cfafbe6a, 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.