Query: defense impairment using Modify or Spoof Tool UI
Matching passage: T1685.003 Modify or Spoof Tool UI. Tactics: defense impairment. Description: Adversaries may spoof or manipulate security tool user interfaces (UIs) to falsely indicate tools are functioning normally and delay detection and response. Adversaries may present misleading or falsified security tool interfaces (UIs) that display normal or healthy status indicators, even when underlying security tools have been disabled, degraded, or otherwise tampered with. Security tools typically provide visibility into system health, alerting, and operational status; by misrepresenting this information, adversaries can undermine defender trust in these signals and obscure the true security posture of the system. This behavior is often used in conjunction with efforts to disable or modify tools, where adversaries first impair the functionality of defenses (e.g., EDR, logging agents) and then replace or mimic their interfaces to conceal the loss of visibility. By maintaining the appearance of normal operations, such as showing active protection, successful updates, or absence of threats, adversaries can delay investigation and response, enabling continued malicious activity. For example, adversaries may display a fake Windows Security interface or system tray icon indicating a “protected” or “healthy” state after disabling Windows Defender or related services.(Citation: BlackBasta)
Near-miss passage: T1685.001 Disable or Modify Windows Event Log. Tactics: defense impairment. Description: Adversaries may disable or modify the Windows Event Log to limit data that can be leveraged for detections and audits. Windows Event Log records user and system activity such as login attempts and process creation.(Citation: EventLog_Core_Technologies) This data is used by security tools and analysts to generate detections. The EventLog service maintains event logs from various system components and applications. By default, the service automatically starts when a system powers on. An audit policy, maintained by the Local Security Policy (secpol.msc), defines which system events the EventLog service logs. Security audit policy settings can be changed by running secpol.msc, then navigating to `Security Settings\Local Policies\Audit Policy` for basic audit policy settings or `Security Settings\Advanced Audit Policy Configuration` for advanced audit policy settings.(Citation: Microsoft Audit Policy)(Citation: Microsoft Adv Security Settings) `auditpol.exe` may also be used to set audit policies.(Citation: Microsoft auditpol) Adversaries may target system-wide logging or just that of a particular application. For example, the Windows EventLog service may be disabled using the `Set-Service -Name EventLog -Status Stopped` or `sc config eventlog start=disabled` commands (followed by manually stopping the service using `Stop-Service -Name EventLog`). Additionally, the service may be disabled by modifying the "Start" value in `HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog` then restarting the system for the change to take effect.(Citation: Disable_Win_Event_Logging)(Citation: disable_win_evt_logging) There are several ways to disable the EventLog service via registry key modification. Without Administrator privileges, adversaries may modify the "Start" value in the key `HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WMI\Autologger\EventLog-Security`, then reboot the system to disable the Security EventLog.(Citation: winser19_file_overwrite_bug_twitter) W