Detection history files are an artifact present on endpoints with Windows Defender installed and with Real-Time Protection enabled. In the event that defender quarantines/removes a potentially malicious item, a detection history file is created to record the event.
- Behavioral - Execution (TA0002)
- Execution - Evidence of Execution
- File - Path
- File - Hash
- Windows Defender
%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Scans\History\Service\DetectionHistory\[0-9]*\
- KAPE (Extraction and Parsing)
- defender-detectionhistory-parser
The presence of this artifact indicates that the file the artifact was created for existed on the disk, and that it was flagged as malicious and quarantined/removed by Windows Defender. When parsed, it provides basic information such as what class of threat (Trojan, RAT, etc.) the file is, as well as additional metadata such as:
- The file's SHA-256 and MD5 hash
- The user responsible for the file's creation
- The process responsible for the file's creation
In the event that the malicious item is a registry key, the registry key will be present in this artifact.
More detailed information regarding the structure of this artifact can be found here.
In the following example, an EICAR test file, eicar.com
was downloaded. This activity generated a Windows Defender Alert, and produced a Detection History file located at C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender\Scans\History\Service\DetectionHistory\19\BA74399A-42A4-4774-95A0-B0758DE6C5A3
. The creation time of this file corresponds to the time at which Windows Defender scanned and quarantined this file at 2024-04-18 16:24 UTC
.
Parsing the Detection History file with defender-detectionhistory-parser yields the following result:
{
"GUID": "ba74399a-42a4-4774-95a0-b0758de6c5a3",
"Magic.Version": "1.2",
"Virus": "DOS/EICAR_Test_File",
"ThreatStatusID": 1,
"file": "C:\\Users\\user\\Downloads\\eicar.com",
"ThreatTrackingSha256": "275a021bbfb6489e54d471899f7db9d1663fc695ec2fe2a2c4538aabf651fd0f",
"ThreatTrackingSigSeq": "0x00000555dc2dddb0",
"ThreatTrackingId": "B9BB9827-A9BD-4DBB-94CD-73F628E18D97",
"ThreatTrackingStartTime": "04-18-2024 16:24:49",
"ThreatTrackingThreatName": "Virus:DOS/EICAR_Test_File",
"ThreatTrackingSha1": "3395856ce81f2b7382dee72602f798b642f14140",
"ThreatTrackingSigSha": "72aaf9bab94826d9c67ec38c90de7db8246fb157",
"ThreatTrackingSize": 68,
"ThreatTrackingMD5": "44d88612fea8a8f36de82e1278abb02f",
"ThreatTrackingScanFlags": "",
"ThreatTrackingIsEsuSig": "",
"ThreatTrackingThreatId": 2147519003,
"ThreatTrackingScanSource": "",
"ThreatTrackingScanType": "",
"User": "DESKTOP-DR5P34J\\user",
"SpawningProcessName": "Unknown"
}