CIS Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise Release 1909 Benchmark

18.9.77.14 (L1) Ensure 'Configure detection for potentially unwanted applications' is set to 'Enabled: Block' (Scored)

ProfileApplicability:

 Level 1 (L1) - Corporate/Enterprise Environment (general use)

Description:

This policy setting controls detection and action for Potentially Unwanted Applications (PUA), which are sneaky unwanted application bundlers or their bundled applications, that can deliver adware or malware.

The recommended state for this setting is: Enabled: Block .

For more information, see this link: Block potentially unwanted applications with Windows Defender Antivirus | Microsoft Docs

Rationale:

Potentially unwanted applications can increase the risk of your network being infected with malware, cause malware infections to be harder to identify, and can waste IT resources in cleaning up the applications. They should be blocked from installation.

Audit:

Navigate to the UI Path articulated in the Remediation section and confirm it is set as prescribed. This group policy setting is backed by the following registry location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows Defender:PUAProtection

Remediation:

To establish the recommended configuration via GP, set the following UI path to Enabled: Block :

Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Defender Antivirus\Configure detection for potentially unwanted applications

Note: This Group Policy path is provided by the Group Policy template WindowsDefender.admx/adml that is included with the Microsoft Windows 10 Release 1809 & Server 2019 Administrative Templates (or newer).

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