DeepSec 2024 Talk: Windows Defender Internals – Baptiste David
Microsoft Defender Antivirus (aka Windows Defender) is an antivirus deployed worldwide and used by default on every Windows out-of-the-box. We all use it but who knows exactly how it really works? What is inside this software trusted by many people and companies across the world? This talk is the first one providing such a view about Windows Defender internals, from kernel mode to user-mode, based on extensive reverse engineering research work. With the recent world-wide BSOD of CrowdStrike antivirus, it matters to understand how an antivirus work, what it really monitors, and how some designs are prone to error or security issues. During this talk, we see that such a highly privileged software is just another Deus Ex Machina, not only for regular malware analysis but also for many security features on Windows. This