CIS Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise Release 1909 Benchmark

18.8.5.5 (NG) Ensure 'Turn On Virtualization Based Security: Credential Guard Configuration' is set to 'Enabled with UEFI lock' (Scored)

ProfileApplicability:

 Level 1 (L1) + Next Generation Windows Security (NG)

 Level 1 (L1) + BitLocker (BL) + Next Generation Windows Security (NG)

 Level 2 (L2) + Next Generation Windows Security (NG)

 Level 2 (L2) + BitLocker (BL) + Next Generation Windows Security (NG)

 Next Generation Windows Security (NG) - optional add-on for use in the newest hardware and configuration environments

Description:

This setting lets users turn on Credential Guard with virtualization-based security to help protect credentials. The "Enabled with UEFI lock" option ensures that Credential Guard cannot be disabled remotely. In order to disable the feature, you must set the Group Policy to "Disabled" as well as remove the security functionality from each computer, with a physically present user, in order to clear configuration persisted in UEFI.

The recommended state for this setting is: Enabled with UEFI lock .

Note: Virtualization Based Security requires a 64-bit version of Windows with Secure Boot enabled, which in turn requires that Windows was installed with a UEFI BIOS configuration, not a Legacy BIOS configuration. In addition, if running Windows on a virtual machine, the hardware-assisted CPU virtualization feature (Intel VT-x or AMD-V) must be exposed by the host to the guest VM.

More information on system requirements for this feature can be found at this link:

Windows Defender Credential Guard Requirements (Windows 10) | Microsoft Docs

Rationale:

The Enabled with UEFI lock option ensures that Credential Guard cannot be disabled remotely.

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