Microsoft Defender Antivirus • Release: 7 Benchmark Date: 05 Jan 2026
CAT II V-278680 WNDF-AV-000077
Microsoft Defender AV must enable heuristics.
Discussion
Always-on protection consists of real-time protection, behavior monitoring, and heuristics to identify malware based on known suspicious and malicious activities.
Check Procedure
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 Action
Set the policy value for Computer Configuration >> Administrative Templates >> Windows Components >> Microsoft Defender Antivirus >> Scan >> Turn on heuristics to "Enabled". Click "OK". Click "Apply".