HighOS hardeningBLWK-WIN-001

Microsoft Defender real-time protection is off

What this means

Real-time protection is what stops malware as it's downloaded or run. With it off, Defender only finds threats when a scan happens to run.

How to fix it

Turn it on in Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Manage settings → Real-time protection. If it keeps switching off, check for another antivirus or a policy disabling it.

Check it yourself

Run a scan and look for BLWK-WIN-001 in the results:

bulwark scan

Installed the standalone CLI package instead of the app? The command is bulwarkctl.

How Bulwark decides

Bulwark reads windows_security and reports this check when:

defender_realtime_known == true and defender_realtime == false

If a value can't be read, Bulwark reports the check as undetermined rather than passing it. View the rule source.

References

• MITRE ATT&CK T1562.001

Related checks

• Cron entry runs a downloader piped to a shell · BLWK-ACCT-001
• Password maximum age is excessively long · BLWK-ACCT-002
• Password minimum age is zero · BLWK-ACCT-003
• Password hashing rounds are not explicitly configured · BLWK-ACCT-004
• Default UMASK is not explicitly configured · BLWK-ACCT-005
• A sensitive system file is world-writable · BLWK-FS-001