Microsoft Defender Antivirus Security Technical Implementation Guide

The Microsoft Defender Antivirus Security Technical Implementation Guide (V2 R10) has 67 STIG checks. New to STIG checklists? Read What is a STIG checklist?, CKL vs CKLB, and STIG vs SCAP benchmark.

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Severity

Version

V2 · R10

CurrentPublished Wed Sep 30 2026

Microsoft Defender AV must set cloud protection level to High.

Microsoft Defender Antivirus Security Technical Implementation Guide

Assessment Title

Rule Text

Microsoft Defender AV must set cloud protection level to High.

Description

Discussion Text

Cloud protection in Microsoft Defender Antivirus delivers accurate, real-time, and intelligent protection. Cloud protection should be enabled by default.

New to STIG checklists? Read What is a STIG checklist? and CKL vs CKLB.

Objective

V-278863

Rule

SV-278863r1192833_rule

Severity

medium

Rule Version

WNDF-AV-000073

Documentable

false

IA Controls

NIST SP 800-53

Rev 5

Assessment Procedure

Check Text

Verify the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Windows Components >> Microsoft Defender Antivirus >> MpEngine >> Select cloud protection level is set to "Enabled". Verify the policy value for "Select cloud blocking level" is set to "High blocking level"; otherwise, this is a finding.

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

Criteria: If the value "MpCloudBlockLevel" is REG_DWORD = 2, this is not a finding.

If the value is other than 2, this is a finding.

Implementation Procedure

Fix Text

Set the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Windows Components >> Microsoft Defender Antivirus >> MpEngine >> Select cloud protection level to "Enabled".

Set policy value "Select cloud blocking level" to "High blocking level".

STIG check 67 of 67 in the Microsoft Defender Antivirus STIG checklist

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