Sysmon Built Into Windows? ’Bout Time, Microsoft – The SOC Boys Will Be Buzzing

Oy, lads and lasses – big Windows news today. Grab your tea, sit down… this one’s a belter.

Microsoft’s finally doing the thing we’ve been begging for since the Bronze Age:
Sysmon is going native.
Yep. Windows 11 and Windows Server 2025 are getting Sysmon baked right in — no downloads, no MSI faffing, no “did you push the GPO yet, mate?” nonsense.

Straight out of the oven. Lovely stuff.

If you work in security, forensics, threat hunting, IR, or you’re simply allergic to malware — this is absolutely massive.

Let’s unpack it, proper engineering style.

Sysmon: the cheeky legend of Windows telemetry

Sysmon has been the unsung hero of Windows threat hunting for years.
While everyone else was busy rebooting servers, Sysmon was quietly catching:

  • dodgy process spawns

  • shady network connections

  • sneaky DNS queries

  • file tampering

  • named pipes being used for nonsense

  • credential-stuffing handiwork

  • malware staging EXEs in cursed places

It’s the Sherlock Holmes of Windows logging — minus the pipe and hat, but with extra sass.

Problem is: you had to install it yourself.
And as we all know, Windows admins love installing new tools about as much as Brits love delayed trains.

So what’s new?

Sysmon will now ship with Windows. Natively. Properly.

  • Delivered via Windows Update

  • Installed through “Optional Features”

  • Supports your existing XML configs

  • Manages itself like a real Windows component

  • Gets enterprise controls

  • And gets future AI-assisted detection magic

If Sysmon used to be a side dish, it’s now part of the main course.

Firing it up (the new way)

Still familiar, still powerful:

sysmon -i

for the default config, or:

sysmon -i yourconfig.xml

for something spicy.

Want to catch new EXEs dropped in C:\Users?
Monitoring beacon traffic?
DNS funny business?
Credential harvesting attempts?

Sysmon eats that for breakfast.

Why this is absolutely massive

1. Telemetry stops being optional

No more excuses like:
“Didn’t have time to deploy Sysmon.”
“Well, we forgot the XML.”
“My intern overwrote the config.”

Now it’s part of Windows.
A proper grown-up security baseline.

2. SOC teams will finally get clean, rich visibility

No more “Defender saw something weird but we’ve no idea what spawned it.”
Sysmon fills in the missing chapters of the security story.

3. Your malware is about to have a very bad year

Any attacker relying on stealthy process injection, file staging or DNS beacons is absolutely fuming right now.

Sysmon ruins their life.

4. AI threat detection will skyrocket

Microsoft can’t do AI magic without good logs.
Sysmon is the good logs.

What you need to do right now

1. Get your XML config sorted

A sloppy sysmon.xml is like a sloppy firewall rule set — pain for everyone.

2. Check your SIEM ingestion rates

Sysmon logs are chonky.
If your SIEM has the appetite of a Victorian orphan, upgrade the pipeline.

3. Build a Sysmon-first detection logic

It’s time to treat Sysmon as a crown jewel, not a hobby.

4. Prep your IR playbooks

Investigation workflows will change — in a good way.

Final thoughts — the “cheeky but true” bit

Right, the bit of proper good news for the defenders. Sysmon going native is the dog’s bollocks, no two ways about it. It’s tidy, it’s smart, it’s bloody overdue, and it finally drags Windows security into this century.

But let’s not take the piss:

If your logging is a complete dog’s dinner,
your configs are a total shambles,
your SIEM is on its last legs and coughing up a lung,
and your policies were written when Romans were still knocking about

then even a built-in Sysmon won’t save your bacon.
It’ll just give you the full monty of how screwed you are, only a bit sharper and a damn sight louder.

Ta ever so for sticking with me through all that codswallop to the bitter end.

rgds,

Alex