STIGUI
V-278659CAT II — Medium severitySV-278659r1192819_rule

Microsoft Defender AV must randomize scheduled task times.

Rule version WNDF-AV-000055 · STIG v2 · 2026-09-02

Discussion

In Microsoft Defender Antivirus, randomize the start time of the scan to any interval from 0 to 23 hours. By default, scheduled tasks begin at a random time within four hours of the time specified in Task Scheduler.

Check

Verify the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Windows Components >> Microsoft Defender Antivirus >> Randomize scheduled task times is set to "Enabled"; otherwise, this is a finding.

Procedure: Use the Windows Registry Editor to navigate to the following key: HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender

Criteria: If the value "RandomizeScheduleTaskTimes" is REG_DWORD = 1, this is not a finding.

If the value is 0, this is a finding.

Fix

Set the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Windows Components >> Microsoft Defender Antivirus >> Randomize scheduled task times to "Enabled".

Identifiers

Group ID
V-278659
Group title
SRG-APP-000278
Rule ID
SV-278659r1192819_rule
Check ID
C-83193r1144054_chk
Fix ID
F-83098r1190747_fix