This rule is designed to detect modifications to critical encryption enforcement settings on VMware ESXi hosts. These settings include secure boot and executable verification requirements, which are crucial for maintaining the integrity of the hypervisor. Disabling these settings may indicate an attempt to weaken the security posture of the hypervisor, allowing unauthorized code execution which could be indicative of malicious activity or a post-compromise scenario. The detection is based on syslog data entries from ESXi hosts, specifically scanning for messages that indicate changes to encryption configurations. The Splunk search query utilizes pattern matching and regular expressions to isolate relevant log entries, and aggregates data on when the settings were altered to track user actions and commands. Proper implementation involves integrating ESXi syslog outputs with a Splunk deployment configured for VMware log analysis, ensuring that the appropriate fields are extracted for monitoring and alerting purposes.