The PoC described below is 100% harmless and you can easily run it on your computer. No harm by eicar test file, no harm by exe you compile on your own from 3-lines-long source code.
It looks like realtime scanning by Windows Defender depends on the executable file name. YES, only the name, and nothing else.
Here you can prove it:
- Copy the provided getfile.cs file to your machine.
- Compile it with
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\csc.exe /out:getfile.exe getfile.cs
- Try to run the resulting .exe and observe that eicar.com test file is downloaded and then immediately detected and quarantined.
- Compile the same source providing different output file name:
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\csc.exe /out:msiexec.exe getfile.cs
- Launch msiexec.exe you have just created and observe eicar.com staying undetected.
If you need more info about eicar.com - see the European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research webpage: https://www.eicar.org/?page_id=3950
I have played on Windows ver. 10.0.18362.476 / Defender ver. 4.18.1910.4 / Definitions ver. 1.305.2045.0. Thanks @Phenomytian for reminding me about adding this info.