Details
This policy setting specifies whether Virtualization Based Security is enabled. Virtualization Based Security uses the Windows Hypervisor to provide support for security services.
The recommended state for this setting is: Secure Boot and DMA Protection.
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:
Secure Boot can help reduce the risk of bootloader attacks and in conjunction with DMA protections to help protect data from being scraped from memory.
Solution
To establish the recommended configuration via GP, set the following UI path to Secure Boot and DMA Protection:
Computer ConfigurationPoliciesAdministrative TemplatesSystemDevice GuardTurn On Virtualization Based Security: Select Platform Security Level
Note: This Group Policy path may not exist by default. It is provided by the Group Policy template DeviceGuard.admx/adml that is included with the Microsoft Windows 10 RTM (Release 1507) Administrative Templates (or newer).
Impact:
Warning: All drivers on the system must be compatible with this feature or the system may crash. Ensure that this policy setting is only deployed to computers which are known to be compatible.
Default Value:
Disabled.
Supportive Information
The following resource is also helpful.
This security hardening control applies to the following category of controls within NIST 800-53: System and Information Integrity.This control applies to the following type of system Windows.