Microsoft Defender AV must enable heuristics.
Severity | Group ID | Group Title | Version | Rule ID | Date | STIG Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| medium | V-278680 | SRG-APP-000278 | WNDF-AV-000077 | SV-278680r1190775_rule | 2026-02-17 | 2 |
Description
Always-on protection consists of real-time protection, behavior monitoring, and heuristics to identify malware based on known suspicious and malicious activities.
ℹ️ Check
Verify the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Windows Components >> Microsoft Defender Antivirus >> Scan >> Turn on heuristics 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\Scan
Criteria: If the value "DisableHeuristics" is REG_DWORD = 0, this is not a finding.
If the value is 1, this is a finding.
✔️ Fix
Set the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Windows Components >> Microsoft Defender Antivirus >> Scan >> Turn on heuristics to "Enabled".