A recent report from Cybersecurity News detailed a troubling method used by attackers to steal Windows secrets and credentials—silently and without triggering alerts from most Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) tools. Cyber Security News
Here’s what the attackers are doing:
They exploit an undocumented native Windows API, NtOpenKeyEx, using the REG_OPTION_BACKUP_RESTORE flag and administrator-privileged SeBackupPrivilege, to bypass ordinary access controls and read registry hives that store sensitive data.
Then, rather than using commonly monitored APIs like RegQueryValueExW, they use RegQueryMultipleValuesW to pull data (sometimes one value at a time), avoiding detection because many EDRs aren’t tuned to flag those lesser‐used functions.
Crucially this happens without writing files to disk—thus leaving very few artifacts. Most monitoring systems depend on detecting unusual API calls, suspicious registry access, or file/disk anomalies. If those are avoided, the attacker can quietly roam, harvest credentials, and move laterally.
EDR tools are built around detection: alerts, logs, forensic artifacts. They assume attackers will use known techniques, leave some trace, or trigger a signature or behavior that can be detected. But as this attack shows, adversaries are getting craftier. When detection relies on monitoring only expected or known paths, lesser-known APIs, memory-only operations, or privilege‐escalation tricks can bypass those safeguards.
In other words:
If an attacker never trips a rule or signature, detection won’t happen.
By the time you “respond,” damage may already be done—data exfiltrated, credentials stolen, persistence established.
This approach—Detect & Respond—is reactive. It accepts that breaches will happen. Then you try to limit damage, clean up, investigate. But that’s a high‐risk, high‐stress posture.
To counter techniques like those described, organizations need to shift toward Isolation & Containment:
Isolate critical secrets, credentials, and processes so that even if an attacker gets admin or local privilege, they cannot reach or tamper with those assets.
Contain the impact of any compromised process or user so that lateral movement, privilege escalation, or credential harvesting becomes far more difficult or impossible.
Use containment not just for network segments, but at process, application, and OS levels—limiting what any given component can access.
This is where AppGuard comes in. For over 10 years, AppGuard has provided endpoint protection by enforcing strict isolation policies. Rather than reacting after something bad has happened, AppGuard works to prevent and contain threats before they can exploit critical parts of the system.
Key strengths:
Prevention-first design: Blocks unsafe or untrusted code, prevents access to sensitive OS components, registry keys, or secrets just by policy.
Low noise, low false positives: Because it’s not watching for every possible API exploit but enforcing limits on what software can do, many attack vectors are shut down entirely.
Decades of field usage: Battle‐tested, matured across many threat landscapes, not a new or unproven technology.
When attackers try what was described in the Cybersecurity News article—using undocumented APIs, exploiting privileges, or reading registry hives—AppGuard’s isolation/containment model helps stop them from touching what they shouldn’t.
If you are responsible for securing endpoints in your business, here are immediate things to address:
Audit your current endpoint protection strategy: Does it rely heavily on detection? What gaps exist if attackers use memory‐only techniques or less common APIs?
Map out critical assets: What credentials, secrets, keys, or sensitive data would cause biggest damage if stolen? Where are they stored? Which processes have access?
Evaluate the shift to containment: Look for solutions (like AppGuard) that enforce boundaries around applications, credentials, and sensitive Windows internals.
Test and plan deployment: Isolation/containment tools often change how legitimate applications behave—so pilot, validate, adjust policies, train users.
The attack described in Cybersecurity News is a wake‐up call. Relying solely on detection is no longer safe. Adversaries are finding ways to hide in plain sight. To keep your business safe, you need to move from “Detect & Respond” to “Isolation & Containment.”
AppGuard offers a mature, proven solution for this approach. With a decade of real‐world use, it provides the means to preempt attacks like registry hive exfiltration, API misuse, or privilege abuse.
Are you a business owner or security leader? It’s time to talk with us at CHIPS about how AppGuard can prevent incidents like this. Let’s work together to build an endpoint protection strategy that doesn’t wait for a breach—one that isolates, contains, and denies attackers access to your most critical systems.
Reach out now to set up a consultation. Let us show you how moving beyond Detect & Respond to Isolation & Containment can protect your organization.
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