Your Sentinel AMA Logs & Queries Are Public by Default - AMPLS Architectures to Fix That
When you deploy Microsoft Sentinel, security log ingestion travels over public Azure Data Collection Endpoints by default. The connection is encrypted, and the data arrives correctly — but the endpoint is publicly reachable, and so is the workspace itself, queryable from any browser on any network. For many organisations, that trade-off is fine. For others — regulated industries, healthcare, financial services, critical infrastructure — it is the exact problem they need to solve. Azure Monitor Private Link Scope (AMPLS) is how you solve it. What AMPLS Actually Does AMPLS is a single Azure resource that wraps your monitoring pipeline and controls two settings: Where logs are allowed to go (ingestion mode: Open or PrivateOnly) Where analysts are allowed to query from (query mode: Open or PrivateOnly) Change those two settings and you fundamentally change the security posture — not as a policy recommendation, but as a hard platform enforcement. Set ingestion to PrivateOnly and the public endpoint stops working. It does not fall back gracefully. It returns an error. That is the point. It is not a firewall rule someone can bypass or a policy someone can override. Control is baked in at the infrastructure level. Three Patterns — One Spectrum There is no universally correct answer. The right architecture depends on your organisation's risk appetite, existing network infrastructure, and how much operational complexity your team can realistically manage. These three patterns cover the full range: Architecture 1 — Open / Public (Basic) No AMPLS. Logs travel to public Data Collection Endpoints over the internet. The workspace is open to queries from anywhere. This is the default — operational in minutes with zero network setup. Cloud service connectors (Microsoft 365, Defender, third-party) work immediately because they are server-side/API/Graph pulls and are unaffected by AMPLS. Azure Monitor Agents and Azure Arc agents handle ingestion from cloud or on-prem machines via public network. Simplicity: 9/10 | Security: 6/10 Good for: Dev environments, teams getting started, low-sensitivity workloads Architecture 2 — Hybrid: Private Ingestion, Open Queries (Recommended for most) AMPLS is in place. Ingestion is locked to PrivateOnly — logs from virtual machines travel through a Private Endpoint inside your own network, never touching a public route. On-premises or hybrid machines connect through Azure Arc over VPN or a dedicated circuit and feed into the same private pipeline. Query access stays open, so analysts can work from anywhere without needing a VPN/Jumpbox to reach the Sentinel portal — the investigation workflow stays flexible, but the log ingestion path is fully ring-fenced. You can also split ingestion mode per DCE if you need some sources public and some private. This is the architecture most organisations land on as their steady state. Simplicity: 6/10 | Security: 8/10 Good for: Organisations with mixed cloud and on-premises estates that need private ingestion without restricting analyst access Architecture 3 — Fully Private (Maximum Control) Infrastructure is essentially identical to Architecture 2 — AMPLS, Private Endpoints, Private DNS zones, VPN or dedicated circuit, Azure Arc for on-premises machines. The single difference: query mode is also set to PrivateOnly. Analysts can only reach Sentinel from inside the private network. VPN or Jumpbox required to access the portal. Both the pipe that carries logs in and the channel analysts use to read them are fully contained within the defined boundary. This is the right choice when your organisation needs to demonstrate — not just claim — that security data never moves outside a defined network perimeter. Simplicity: 2/10 | Security: 10/10 Good for: Organisations with strict data boundary requirements (regulated industries, audit, compliance mandates) Quick Reference — Which Pattern Fits? Scenario Architecture Getting started / low-sensitivity workloads Arch 1 — No network setup, public endpoints accepted Private log ingestion, analysts work anywhere Arch 2 — AMPLS PrivateOnly ingestion, query mode open Both ingestion and queries must be fully private Arch 3 — Same as Arch 2 + query mode set to PrivateOnly One thing all three share: Microsoft 365, Entra ID, and Defender connectors work in every pattern — they are server-side pulls by Sentinel and are not affected by your network posture. Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions regarding the information provided.
Microsoft Sentinel UEBA – AWS CloudTrail data source fails to connect with HTTP 500
Hi everyone, I am currently testing the newer UEBA capabilities in Microsoft Sentinel through the Microsoft Defender Unified SecOps portal and I am facing an issue while trying to enable AWS CloudTrail as a UEBA data source. I wanted to share the troubleshooting steps I have already completed in case anyone has seen something similar. 1. Verified AWS CloudTrail ingestion AWS CloudTrail is already connected to Microsoft Sentinel and the AWSCloudTrail table is receiving data normally. There is no issue with the AWS connector or the existing log ingestion. 2. Verified the CloudTrail data I checked the CloudTrail data specifically for the events used by UEBA. The required ConsoleLogin events are present, with: - EventSource = signin.amazonaws.com - UserIdentityPrincipalId populated for the majority of events - Other relevant identity and source information available So the source data appears to meet the documented AWS CloudTrail UEBA requirements. 3. Verified permissions The required Microsoft Entra and Azure RBAC permissions were checked. The user also has permission to perform the Sentinel UEBA settings update. Other UEBA data sources have already been enabled successfully from the same environment. 4. Checked resource locks and other settings The Sentinel workspace was checked for Azure resource locks and none were found. The UEBA anomaly detection setting is also enabled. 5. Checked the backend operation When AWS CloudTrail is selected from the UEBA settings and I try to connect it, the operation fails with: InternalServerError – HTTP 500 The Azure Activity Log shows the operation as: Microsoft.SecurityInsights/settings/write with the final status: Failed – InternalServerError (HTTP Status Code: 500) There is no AuthorizationFailed or RequestDisallowedByPolicy error. 6. Tested the API directly I also checked the current UEBA configuration through the Microsoft SecurityInsights API. The GET request works and returns the existing UEBA configuration. As an additional test, I attempted to update the same existing UEBA configuration without adding AWS CloudTrail. That update also returned HTTP 500. This makes me think the issue may not be related specifically to AWS CloudTrail or the AWS data itself, but potentially to the UEBA settings update or backend service. My questions Has anyone recently experienced UEBA settings returning HTTP 500 when updating data sources, particularly in the new Microsoft Defender/Unified SecOps portal? If anyone from the Microsoft Sentinel team can confirm whether there is a known issue or additional prerequisite for enabling AWS CloudTrail UEBA, that would be very helpful. Thanks.
Building Microsoft Sentinel Connectors in Minutes with the Sentinel Connector Builder Agent
Overview We previously announced the public preview of the Microsoft Sentinel connector builder agent via VS code extension, that helps developers build Microsoft Sentinel codeless connectors faster with low-code and AI-assisted prompts. This post walks through a hands-on lab using a mock Network Log API to demonstrate how the Sentinel connector builder agent simplifies building Codeless Connector Framework (CCF) pull connectors. Instead of manually creating ingestion infrastructure and configuration files, you’ll use a guided, conversational workflow in VS Code to generate connector artifacts, test them against a live API, and deploy them into Microsoft Sentinel. The lab focuses on the end-to-end experience ranging from API setup to validated connector deployment so you can see how quickly a working integration can be produced. For additional guidance beyond this lab, refer to our MS Learn documentation. The Lab Environment This lab is built around a mock Network Log API hosted as an Azure Function App. The purpose of the lab environment is to give us a live API that we can use to build, validate, and test the Sentinel CCF connector builder agent against end to end. The API exposes 50 synthetic network activity records that look and behave like a real product data source, including web traffic, DNS requests, blocked remote access attempts, malware command-and-control blocks, VPN activity, and other common network events. That makes it a useful stand-in for the type of telemetry many teams want to onboard into Microsoft Sentinel. The API is intentionally shaped like the kind of source a customer might expose for telemetry retrieval. It uses API key authentication through the X-API-Key header, returns paginated results through a nextLink model, and provides a predictable response structure that the builder agent can map into a pull connector configuration. The repo contains everything needed for the walkthrough. There is an ARM template to deploy the Function App, reference documentation for the API, and a sample connector package showing the generated polling config, table schema, DCR, and connector definition. The end goal of the lab is straightforward: use the builder agent to generate a CCF pull connector that ingests this API into the custom NetworkLogAPIGetNetworkLogs_CL table in Sentinel. Prerequisites Before starting, make sure you have the following: Azure subscription -- with Contributor access on a resource group (for deploying the Function App) and Microsoft Sentinel Contributor access on a Sentinel-enabled workspace (for deploying the connector) Microsoft Sentinel workspace -- an existing Log Analytics workspace with Sentinel enabled. See Onboard Microsoft Sentinel to a Log Analytics workspace for more information. Azure CLI -- See How to install the Azure CLI for more information. VS Code with the Microsoft Sentinel for Visual Studio Code extension installed. GitHub Copilot -- with access to premium models. The connector builder agent requires Claude Sonnet 4.5 or 4.6, which uses Copilot premium model credits. Lab Repository -- Once the aforementioned prerequisites are met, you can access the lab repository here: Azure-Sentinel/Tools/CCF-Connector-Builder-Agent-Accelerator at master · Azure/Azure-Sentinel Deploying the Mock API The full CLI commands for this section are available in the repo. For a simpler option, you can use GitHub Copilot to handle the deployment. Enter this prompt: Follow the deployment instructions in Sentinel-CCF-Pull-Connector-Builder-Agent-Accelerator/agent-instructions.md. Let’s deploy the Network Log API and build a CCF pull connector. At a high level, the setup is four steps: clone the repo, create a resource group, ensure you have a Sentinel-enabled workspace, and deploy the Function App using the included ARM template. The template takes two parameters: an ApiKey of your choice (the secret the CCF connector will use to authenticate) and your Log Analytics workspace resource ID for Application Insights. Deployment takes about two to three minutes and outputs the FunctionAppName and endpoint URLs you will need later. Once deployed, verify the API is live: curl -s -H "X-API-Key: <your-api-key>" \ "https://<functionappname>.azurewebsites.net/api/GetNetworkLogs?page=1&pageSize=3" </functionappname></your-api-key> You should see a response like this: The API also exposes an /api/RefreshData endpoint that regenerates the 50 sample records with fresh timestamps. This is useful later in the walkthrough when you want to produce new events and trigger an immediate ingestion cycle without waiting for the next polling interval: curl -s -X POST -H "X-API-Key: <your-api-key>" \ "https://<functionappname>.azurewebsites.net/api/RefreshData" </functionappname></your-api-key> Building the Connector with the Sentinel Connector Builder Agent With the Microsoft Sentinel extension installed and GitHub Copilot running in agent mode, open a Copilot chat and enter a single prompt pointing at the API documentation file: That is the entire invocation. The agent takes it from there. It works through a structured seven-step sequence: preparation, polling config, table schema, DCR, connector definition, package validation, and summary. The agent produces four files in a sentinel-connectors/NetworkLogAPI_CCF/ output folder: NetworkLogAPI_PollingConfig.json – This is the API poller configuration. The agent reads the documentation and correctly identifies the GET /api/GetNetworkLogs endpoint, configures API Key authentication via the X-API-Key header, sets up NextPageUrl pagination using $.metadata.nextLink with a $.metadata.hasNextPage stop condition, and wires up the since query parameter for incremental delta pulls using the timestamp field. The RefreshData endpoint is correctly excluded, which the agent recognizes as a maintenance operation, not a security data stream. NetworkLogAPI_Table.json – This is the custom Log Analytics table schema for NetworkLogAPIGetNetworkLogs_CL . All 20 fields from the API response are mapped to the correct column types, with timestamp promoted to TimeGenerated as the standard Sentinel time column. NetworkLogAPI_DCR.json – This is the Data Collection Rule. This defines the stream declaration, the workspace destination, and the KQL transform that maps the raw snake_case API fields ( sourceIp , destinationIp , threatIndicator , etc.) to their PascalCase table columns. NetworkLogAPI_ConnectorDefinition.json – This is the connector UI configuration. This drives what the connector page looks like in Microsoft Sentinel: the title, description, prerequisite instructions, the BaseUrl and ApiKey input fields, sample KQL queries, and the connectivity status logic. The only point where the agent paused for input was to propose a connector description and ask for confirmation before writing it to the file. Everything else such as endpoint selection, auth type, pagination pattern, schema mapping, KQL transform, cross-file consistency was selected autonomously. To put that in perspective: without the agent, a developer building this connector from scratch would need to manually author four JSON files, understand the CCF schema for polling configs, DCRs, and connector definitions, write the KQL transform by hand, and validate that every cross-file reference lines up correctly. The agent compresses that work, typically hours of reading documentation, trial-and-error, and portal debugging, into a single prompt. Testing the Connector Before deploying anything to a Sentinel workspace, the Microsoft Sentinel connector builder agent lets you validate the generated polling config against the live API directly from your editor. Right-click the sentinel-connectors/NetworkLogAPI_CCF folder, select Microsoft Sentinel → Test Connector (Preview), and a Configuration Variables panel opens asking for the two template variables from the polling config: BaseUrl and apiKey . For other API patterns, there may be additional and different inputs. For example, apiKey input could be swapped with clientID and secret if the API supports OAUTH. Enter the Function App base URL and your API key, and the test runner connects immediately. The panel shows a live polling session. Poll #1 returns HTTP 200 with 50 events, and a countdown timer shows when the next poll will fire. Switching to the Events tab displays the ingested records in a tabular view with columns for timestamp , severity , action , bytesIn , bytesOut , category , and the rest of the mapped fields fresh from the API. Additionally, there are tabs for Headers, Payload, and Response, which can be useful for verifying that your pollerconfig.json configuration provides the expected request to your api with a working response. Data Extracted: The Test Connector feature can be used to visualize the response data in a table format to verify that data will land in a Sentinel table based on your configuration. Request from Poller: The Test Connector feature can be used to validate the request and response headers that will go out to the API based on the generated poller configuration. Request Response: The Test Connector feature shows you the live response from the API with respect to the request going to the API based on the poller configuration. This is a meaningful pre-flight check. It confirms that auth is working, the $.data events path resolves correctly, pagination is functional, and the polling interval fires as configured all before a single file is deployed to Azure. The most common connector configuration issues (wrong base URL, incorrect header name, mismatched JSON path) surface here in seconds rather than after a failed deployment and a 20-minute wait for Sentinel to attempt its first ingestion cycle. It is also the fastest way to troubleshoot if something goes wrong after deployment, far quicker than pushing changes to Azure and waiting for the connector to poll again. Deploying and Enabling the Connector With the connector tested and passing, deployment is the same right-click menu: right-click the sentinel-connectors/NetworkLogAPI_CCF folder, select Microsoft Sentinel → Deploy Connector (Preview). If you are not already signed in to Azure, the extension will prompt you to authenticate. The agent will also provide a clickbox in the chat window to invoke a connector deployment. Right Click Deploy Connector: UI Prompt Based Deploy Method: Once signed in, a workspace picker lists all available Log Analytics workspaces across your subscriptions. Select the one with Sentinel enabled and click Deploy. The extension deploys all four files to the workspace in the correct order: table schema first, then DCR, polling config, and connector definition. Once deployed, navigate to your Sentinel workspace via https://security.microsoft.com, go to Data Connectors, and find the Network Log API connector. The connector page shows the description, prerequisite notes, and the two credential fields generated by the agent: API Base URL and API Key. Enter your Function App base URL and API key and click Connect. The status updates to show the connector is connected and the deployment succeeded. Note: Data will appear in the workspace within 5 to 30 minutes depending on the polling interval. Run this query in Log Analytics to confirm ingestion. Note that the agent derives the table name from the vendor name and endpoint, so yours may differ slightly from the example below. Check the agent's summary output or the NetworkLogAPI_Table.json file for the exact name: NetworkLogAPIGetNetworkLogs_CL | sort by TimeGenerated desc | take 10 If you want to generate a fresh batch of events immediately rather than waiting for the next polling cycle, use the RefreshData endpoint to reset the sample records with new timestamps: curl -s -X POST -H "X-API-Key: " \ "https://.azurewebsites.net/api/RefreshData" Next Steps If you want to go further: Try it with your own API. The lab repo includes documentation on adapting the polling config, schema, and KQL transform to a real data source. Review the CCF connector schema documentation to understand the full range of supported configurations: pagination patterns, auth types, incremental pull strategies, and delta filter expressions. Explore the Microsoft Sentinel content hub to see how published connectors are structured and what the certification requirements look like for production submissions. Conclusion Following these steps, you saw how a working Sentinel connector can be generated, tested, and deployed in minutes rather than requiring days of manual configuration and infrastructure setup. If you are an ISV building a Sentinel integration and want hands-on support, Microsoft’s App Assure program is available to help. We partner with ISVs on connector development, validation, and deployment and provide guidance through implementation, testing, and readiness for production. You can get started by reaching out through our intake form. See our other Sentinel connector feature’s hands-on labs Building a CCF Nested API Pull Connector: A Technical Lab Walkthrough
Data Connectors Storage Account and Function App
Several data connectors downloaded via Content Hub has ARM deployment templates which is default OOB experience. If we need to customize we could however I wanted to ask community how do you go about addressing some of the infrastructure issues where these connectors deploy storage accounts with insecure configurations like infrastructure key requirement, vnet intergration, cmk, front door etc... Storage and Function Apps. It appears default configuration basically provisions all required services to get streams going but posture configuration seems to be dismissing security standards around hardening these services.What’s new in Microsoft Sentinel: RSAC 2026
Security is entering a new era, one defined by explosive data growth, increasingly sophisticated threats, and the rise of AI-enabled operations. To keep pace, security teams need an AI-powered approach to collect, reason over, and act on security data at scale. At RSA Conference 2026 (RSAC), we’re unveiling the next wave of Sentinel innovations designed to help organizations move faster, see deeper, and defend smarter with AI-ready tools. These updates include AI-driven playbooks that accelerate SOC automation, Granular Delegated Admin Privileges (GDAP) and granular role-based access controls (RBAC) that let you scale your SOC, accelerated data onboarding through new connectors, and data federation that enables analysis in place without duplication. Together, they give teams greater clarity, control, and speed. Come see us at RSAC to view these innovations in action. Hear from Sentinel leaders during our exclusive Microsoft Pre-Day, then visit Microsoft booth #5744 for demos, theater sessions, and conversations with Sentinel experts. Read on to explore what’s new. See you at RSAC! Sentinel feature innovations: Sentinel SIEM Sentinel data lake Sentinel graph Sentinel MCP Threat Intelligence Microsoft Security Store Sentinel promotions Sentinel SIEM Playbook generator [Now in public preview] The Sentinel playbook generator delivers a new era of automation capabilities. You can vibe code complex automations, integrate with different tools to ensure timely and compliant workflows throughout your SOC and feel confident in the results with built in testing and documentation. Customers and partners are already seeing benefit from this innovation. “The playbook generator gives security engineers the flexibility and speed of AI-assisted coding while delivering the deterministic outcomes that enterprise security operations require. It's the best of both worlds, and it lives natively in Defender where the engineers already work.” – Jaime Guimera Coll | Security and AI Architect | BlueVoyant Learn more about playbook generator. SIEM migration experience [General availability now] The Sentinel SIEM migration experience helps you plan and execute SIEM migrations through a guided, in-product workflow. You can upload Splunk or QRadar exports to generate recommendations for best‑fit Sentinel analytics rules and required data connectors, then assess migration scope, validate detection coverage, and migrate from Splunk or QRadar to Sentinel in phases while tracking progress. “The tool helps turn a Splunk to Sentinel migration into a practical decision process. It gives clear visibility into which detections are relevant, how they align to real security use cases, and where it makes sense to enable or prioritize coverage—especially with cost and data sources in mind.” – Deniz Mutlu | Director | Swiss Post Cybersecurity Ltd Learn more about SIEM migration experience. GDAP, unified RBAC, and row-level RBAC for Sentinel [Public preview, April 1] As Sentinel environments grow for enterprises, MSSPs, hyperscalers, and partners operating across shared or multiple environments, the challenge becomes managing access control efficiently and consistently at scale. Sentinel’s expanded permissions and access capabilities are designed to meet these needs. Granular Delegated Admin Privileges (GDAP) lets you streamline management across multiple governed tenants using your primary account, based on existing GDAP relationships. Unified RBAC allows you to opt in to managing permissions for Sentinel workspaces through a single pane of glass, configuring and enforcing access across Sentinel experiences in the analytics tier and data lake in the Defender portal. This simplifies administration and improves operational efficiency by reducing the number of permission models you need to manage. Row-level RBAC scoping within tables enables precise, scoped access to data in the Sentinel data lake. Multiple SOC teams can operate independently within a shared Sentinel environment, querying only the data they are authorized to see, without separating workspaces or introducing complex data flow changes. Consistent, reusable scope definitions ensure permissions are applied uniformly across tables and experiences, while maintaining strong security boundaries. To learn more, read our technical deep dives on RBAC and GDAP. Sentinel data lake Sentinel data federation [Public preview, April 1] Sentinel data federation lets you analyze security data in place without copying or duplicating your data. Powered by Microsoft Fabric, you can now federate data from Fabric, Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS), and Azure Databricks into Sentinel data lake. Federated data appears alongside native Sentinel data, so you can use familiar tools like KQL hunting, notebooks, and custom graphs to correlate signals and investigate across your entire digital estate, all while preserving governance and compliance. You can start analyzing data in place and progressively ingest data into Sentinel for deeper security insights, advanced automation, and AI-powered defense at scale. You are billed only when you run analytics on federated data using existing Sentinel data lake query and advanced insights meters. les for unified investigation and hunting Sentinel cost estimation tool [Public Preview, April 9] The new Sentinel cost estimation tool offers all Microsoft customers and partners a guided, meter-level cost estimation experience that makes pricing transparent and predictable. A built-in three-year cost projection lets you model data growth and ramp-up over time, anticipate spend, and avoid surprises. Get transparent estimates into spend as you scale your security operations. All other customers can continue to use the Azure calculator for Sentinel pricing estimates. See the Sentinel pricing page for more information. Sentinel data connectors A365 connector [Public preview, May 5] Bring AI agent telemetry into the Sentinel data lake to investigate agent behavior, tool usage, prompts, reasoning and execution using hunting, graph, and MCP workflows. GitHub audit log connector using API polling [General availability, March 6] Ingest GitHub enterprise audit logs into Sentinel to monitor user and administrator activity, detect risky changes, and investigate security events across your development environment. Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) connector [General availability, March 6] Collect Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) audit and workload logs in Sentinel to monitor cluster activity, analyze workload behavior, and detect security threats across Kubernetes environments. Microsoft Entra and Azure Resource Graph (ARG) connector enhancements [Public preview, April 15] Enable new Entra assets (EntraDevices, EntraOrgContacts) and ARG assets (ARGRoleDefinitions) in existing asset connectors, expanding inventory coverage and powering richer, built‑in graph experiences for greater visibility. With over 350 Sentinel data connectors, customers achieve broad visibility into complex digital environments and can expand their security operations effectively. “Microsoft Sentinel data lake forms the core of our agentic SOC. By unifying large volumes of Microsoft and third-party data, enabling graph-based analysis, and supporting MCP-driven workflows, it allows us to investigate faster, at lower cost, and with greater confidence.” – Øyvind Bergerud | Head of Security Operations | Storebrand Learn more about Sentinel data connectors. Sentinel connector builder agent using Sentinel Visual Studio Code extension [Public preview, March 31] Build Sentinel data connectors in minutes instead of weeks using the AI‑assisted Connector Builder agent in Visual Studio Code. This low‑code experience guides developers and ISVs end-to-end, automatically generating schemas, deployment assets, connector UI, secure secret handling, and polling logic. Built‑in validation surfaces issues early, so you can validate event logs before deployment and ingestion. Example prompt in GitHub Copilot Chat: @sentinel-connector-builder Create a new connector for OpenAI audit logs using https://api.openai.com/v1/organization/audit_logs Get started with custom connectors and learn more in our blog. Data filtering and splitting [Public preview, March 30] As security teams ingest more data, the challenge shifts from scale to relevance. With filtering and splitting now built into the Defender portal, teams can shape data before it lands in Sentinel, without switching tools or managing custom JSON files. Define simple KQL‑based transformations directly in the UI to filter low‑value events and intelligently route data, making ingestion optimization faster, more intuitive, and easier to manage at scale. Filtering at ingest time allows you to remove low-value or benign events to reduce noise, cut unnecessary processing, and ensure that high-signal data drives detections and investigations. Splitting enables intelligent routing of data between the analytics tier and the data lake tier based on relevance and usage. Together, these two capabilities help you balance cost and performance while scaling data ingestion sustainably as your digital estate grows. Create workbook reports directly from the data lake [Public preview, April 1] Sentinel workbooks can now directly run on the data lake using KQL, enabling you to visualize and monitor security data straight from the data lake. By selecting the data lake as the workbook data source, you can now create trend analysis and executive reporting. Sentinel graph Custom graphs [Public preview, April 1] Custom graphs let you build tailored security graphs tuned to your unique security scenarios using data from Sentinel data lake as well as non-Microsoft sources. With custom graph, powered by Fabric, you can build, query, and visualize connected data, uncover hidden patterns and attack paths, and help surface risks that are hard to detect when data is analyzed in isolation. These graphs provide the knowledge context that enables AI-powered agent experiences to work more effectively, speeding investigations, revealing blast radius, and helping you move from noisy, disconnected alerts to confident decisions at scale. In the words of our preview customers: “We ingested our Databricks management-plane telemetry into the Sentinel data lake and built a custom security graph. Without writing a single detection rule, the graph surfaced unusual patterns of activity and overprivileged access that we escalated for investigation. We didn't know what we were looking for, the graph surfaced the risk for us by revealing anomalous activity patterns and unusual access combinations driven by relationships, not alerts.” – SVP, Security Solutions | Financial Services organization Custom graph API usage for creating graph and querying graph will be billed starting April 1, 2026, according to the Sentinel graph meter. Creating custom graph Using the Sentinel VS Code extension, you can generate graphs to validate hunting hypotheses, such as understanding attack paths and blast radius of a phishing campaign, reconstructing multi‑step attack chains, and identifying structurally unusual or high‑risk behavior, making it accessible to your team and AI agents. Once persisted via a schedule job, you can access these custom graphs from the ready-to-use section in the graph experience in the Defender portal. Graphs experience in the Microsoft Defender portal After creating your custom graphs, you can access them in the graphs section of the Defender portal under Sentinel. From there, you’ll be able to perform interactive graph-based investigations, such as using a graph built for phishing analysis to help you quickly evaluate the impact of a recent incident, profile the attacker, and trace its paths across Microsoft telemetry and third-party data. The new graph experience lets you run Graph Query Language (GQL) queries, view the graph schema, visualize the graph, view graph results in tabular format, and interactively travers the graph to the next hop with a simple click. Sentinel MCP Sentinel MCP entity analyzer [General availability, April 1] Entity analyzer provides reasoned, out-of-the-box risk assessments that help you quickly understand whether a URL or user identity represents potential malicious activity. The capability analyzes data across modalities including threat intelligence, prevalence, and organizational context to generate clear, explainable verdicts you can trust. Entity analyzer integrates easily with your agents through Sentinel MCP server connections to first-party and third-party AI runtime platforms, or with your SOAR workflows through Logic Apps. The entity analyzer is also a trusted foundation for the Defender Triage Agent and delivers more accurate alert classifications and deeper investigative reasoning. This removes the need to manually engineer evaluation logic and creates trust for analysts and AI agents to act with higher accuracy and confidence. Learn more about entity analyzer and in our blog here. Entity analyzer will be billed starting April 1, 2026, based on Security Compute Units (SCU) consumption. Learn more about MCP billing. Sentinel MCP graph tool collection [Public preview, May 20] Graph tool collection helps you visualize and explore relationships between identities and device assets, threats and activities signals ingested by data connectors and alerted by analytic rules. The tool provides a clear graph view that highlights dependencies and configuration gaps, which makes it easier to understand how content interacts across your environment. This helps security teams assess coverage, optimize content deployment, and identify areas that may need tuning or additional data sources, all from a single, interactive workspace. Executing graph queries via the MCP tools will trigger the graph meter. Claude MCP connector [Public preview, April 1] Anthropic Claude can connect to Sentinel through a custom MCP connector, giving you AI-assisted analysis across your Sentinel environment. Microsoft provides step-by-step guidance for configuring a custom connector in Claude that securely connects to a Sentinel MCP server. With this connection you can summarize incidents, investigate alerts, and reason over security signals while keeping data inside Microsoft's security boundary. Access to large language models (LLMs) is managed through Microsoft authentication and role-based controls, supporting faster triage and investigation workflows while maintaining compliance and visibility. Threat Intelligence CVEs of interest in the Threat Intelligence Briefing Agent [Public preview in April] The Threat Intelligence Briefing Agent delivers curated intelligence based on your organization’s configuration, preferences, and unique industry and geographic needs. CVEs of interest which highlights vulnerabilities actively discussed across the security landscape and assesses their potential impact on your environment, delivering more timely threat intelligence insights. The agent automatically incorporates internet exposure data powered by the Sentinel platform to surface threats targeting technologies exposed in your organization. Together, these enhancements help you focus faster on the threats that matter most, without manual investigation. Microsoft Security Store Security Store embedded in Entra [General availability, March 23] As identity environments grow more complex, teams need to move faster and extend Entra with trusted third‑party capabilities that address operational, compliance, and risk challenges. The Security Store embedded directly into Entra lets you discover and adopt Entra‑ready agents and solutions in your workflow. You can extend Entra with identity‑focused agents that surface privileged access risk, identity posture gaps, network access insights, and overall identity health, turning identity data into clear recommendations and reports teams can use immediately. You can also enhance Entra with Verified ID and External ID integrations that strengthen identity verification, streamline account recovery, and reduce fraud across workforce, consumer, and external identities. Security Store embedded in Microsoft Purview [General availability, March 31] Extending data security across the digital estate requires visibility and enforcement into new data sources and risk surfaces, often requiring a partnered approach. The Security Store embedded directly into Purview lets you discover and evaluate integrated solutions inside your data security workflows. Relevant partner capabilities surface alongside context, making it easier to strengthen data protection, address regulatory requirements, and respond to risk without disrupting existing processes. You can quickly assess which solutions align to data security scenarios, especially with respect to securing AI use, and how they can leverage established classifiers, policies, and investigation workflows in Purview. Keeping integration discovery in‑flow and purchases centralized through the Security Store means you move faster from evaluation to deployment, reducing friction and maintaining a secure, consistent transaction experience. Security Store Advisor [General availability, March 23] Security teams today face growing complexity and choice. Teams often know the security outcome they need, whether that's strengthening identity protection, improving ransomware resilience, or reducing insider risk, but lack a clear, efficient way to determine which solutions will help them get there. Security Store Advisor provides a guided, natural-language discovery experience that shifts security evaluation from product‑centric browsing to outcome‑driven decision‑making. You can describe your goal in plain language, and the Advisor surfaces the most relevant Microsoft and partner agents, solutions, and services available in the Security Store, without requiring deep product knowledge. This approach simplifies discovery, reduces time spent navigating catalogs and documentation, and helps you understand how individual capabilities fit together to deliver meaningful security outcomes. Sentinel promotions Extending signups for promotional 50 GB commitment tier [Through June 2026] The Sentinel promotional 50 GB commitment tier offers small and mid-sized organizations a cost-effective entry point into Sentinel. Sign up for the 50 GB commitment tier until June 30, 2026, and maintain the promotional rate until March 31, 2027. This promotion is available globally with regional variations in pricing and accessible through EA, CSP, and Direct channels. Visit the Sentinel pricing page for details and to get started. Sentinel RSAC 2026 sessions All week – Sentinel product demos, Microsoft Booth #5744 Mon Mar 23, 3:55 PM – RSAC 2026 main stage Keynote with CVP Vasu Jakkal [KEY-M10W] Ambient and autonomous security: Building trust in the agentic AI era Tue Mar 24, 10:30 AM – Live Q&A session, Microsoft booth #5744 and online Ask me anything with Microsoft Security SMEs and real practitioners Tue Mar 24, 11 AM – Sentinel data lake theater session, Microsoft booth #5744 From signals to insights: How Microsoft Sentinel data lake powers modern security operations Tue Mar 24, 2 PM – Sentinel SIEM theater session, Microsoft booth #5744 Vibe-coding SecOps automations with the Sentinel playbook generator Wed Mar 25, 12 PM – Executive event at Palace Hotel with Threat Protection GM Scott Woodgate The AI risk equation: Visibility, control, and threat acceleration Wed Mar 25, 1:30 PM – Sentinel graph theater session, Microsoft booth #5744 Bringing knowledge-driven context to security with Microsoft Sentinel graph Wed Mar 25, 5 PM – MISA theater session, Microsoft booth #5744 Cut SIEM costs without reducing protection: A Sentinel data lake case study Thu Mar 26, 1 PM – Security Store theater session, Microsoft booth #5744 What's next for Security Store: Expanding in portal and smarter discovery All week – 1:1 meetings with Microsoft security experts Meet with Microsoft Defender and Sentinel SIEM and Defender Security Operations Additional resources Sentinel data lake video playlist Explore the full capabilities of Sentinel data lake as a unified, AI-ready security platform that is deeply integrated into the Defender portal Sentinel data lake FAQ blog Get answers to many of the questions we’ve heard from our customers and partners on Sentinel data lake and billing AI‑powered SIEM migration experience ninja training Walk through the SIEM migration experience, see how it maps detections, surfaces connector requirements, and supports phased migration decisions SIEM migration experience documentation Learn how the SIEM migration experience analyzes your exports, maps detections and connectors, and recommends prioritized coverage Accenture collaborates with Microsoft to bring agentic security and business resilience to the front lines of cyber defense Stay connected Check back each month for the latest innovations, updates, and events to ensure you’re getting the most out of Sentinel. We’ll see you in the next edition!
Issue connecting Azure Sentinel GitHub app to Sentinel Instance when IP allow list is enabled
Hi everyone, I’m running into an issue connecting the Azure Sentinel GitHub app to my Sentinel workspace in order to create our CI/CD pipelines for our detection rules, and I’m hoping someone can point me in the right direction. Symptoms: When configuring the GitHub connection in Sentinel, the repository dropdown does not populate. There are no explicit errors, but the connection clearly isn’t completing. If I disable my organization’s IP allow list, everything works as expected and the repos appear immediately. I’ve seen that some GitHub Apps automatically add the IP ranges they require to an organization’s allow list. However, from what I can tell, the Azure Sentinel GitHub app does not seem to have this capability, and requires manual allow listing instead. What I’ve tried / researched: Reviewed Microsoft documentation for Sentinel ↔ GitHub integrations Looked through Azure IP range and Service Tag documentation I’ve seen recommendations to allow list the IP ranges published at //api.github.com/meta, as many GitHub apps rely on these ranges I’ve already tried allow listing multiple ranges from the GitHub meta endpoint, but the issue persists My questions: Does anyone know which IP ranges are used by the Azure Sentinel GitHub app specifically? Is there an official or recommended approach for using this integration in environments with strict IP allow lists? Has anyone successfully configured this integration without fully disabling IP restrictions? Any insight, references, or firsthand experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Missing details in Azure Activity Logs – MICROSOFT.SECURITYINSIGHTS/ENTITIES/ACTION
The Azure Activity Logs are crucial for tracking access and actions within Sentinel. However, I’m encountering a significant lack of documentation and clarity regarding some specific operation types. Resources consulted: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/sentinel/audit-sentinel-data https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/securityinsights/entities?view=rest-securityinsights-2024-01-01-preview https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/securityinsights/operations/list?view=rest-securityinsights-2024-09-01&tabs=HTTP My issue: I observed unauthorized activity on our Sentinel workspace. The Azure Activity Logs clearly indicate the user involved, the resource, and the operation type: "MICROSOFT.SECURITYINSIGHTS/ENTITIES/ACTION" But that’s it. No detail about what the action was, what entity it targeted, or how it was triggered. This makes auditing extremely difficult. It's clear the person was in Sentinel and perform an activity through it, from search, KQL, logs to find an entity from a KQL query. But, that's all... Strangely, this operation is not even listed in the official Sentinel Operations documentation linked above. My question: Has anyone encountered this and found a way to interpret this operation type properly? Any insight into how to retrieve more meaningful details (action context, target entity, etc.) from these events would be greatly appreciated.Automating Microsoft Sentinel: Part 2: Automate the mundane away
Welcome to the second entry of our blog series on automating Microsoft Sentinel. In this series, we’re showing you how to automate various aspects of Microsoft Sentinel, from simple automation of Sentinel Alerts and Incidents to more complicated response scenarios with multiple moving parts. So far, we’ve covered Part 1: Introduction to Automating Microsoft Sentinel where we talked about why you would want to automate as well as an overview of the different types of automation you can do in Sentinel. Here is a preview of what you can expect in the upcoming posts [we’ll be updating this post with links to new posts as they happen]: Part 1: Introduction to Automating Microsoft Sentinel Part 2: Automation Rules [You are here] – Automate the mundane away Part 3: Playbooks 1 – Playbooks Part I – Fundamentals Part 4: Playbooks 2 – Playbooks Part II – Diving Deeper Part 5: Azure Functions / Custom Code Part 6: Capstone Project (Art of the Possible) – Putting it all together Part 2: Automation Rules – Automate the mundane away Automation rules can be used to automate Sentinel itself. For example, let’s say there is a group of machines that have been classified as business critical and if there is an alert related to those machines, then the incident needs to be assigned to a Tier 3 response team and the severity of the alert needs to be raised to at least “high”. Using an automation rule, you can take one analytic rule, apply it to the entire enterprise, but then have an automation rule that only applies to those business-critical systems to make those changes. That way only the items that need that immediate escalation receive it, quickly and efficiently. Automation Rules In Depth So, now that we know what Automation Rules are, let’s dive in to them a bit deeper to better understand how to configure them and how they work. Creating Automation Rules There are three main places where we can create an Automation Rule: 1) Navigating to Automation under the left menu 2) In an existing Incident via the “Actions” button 3) When writing an Analytic Rule, under the “Automated response” tab The process for each is generally the same, except for the Incident route and we’ll break that down more in a bit. When we create an Automation Rule, we need to give the rule a name. It should be descriptive and indicative of what the rule is going to do and what conditions it applies to. For example, a rule that automatically resolves an incident based on a known false positive condition on a server named SRV02021 could be titled “Automatically Close Incident When Affected Machine is SRV02021” but really it’s up to you to decide what you want to name your rules. Trigger The next thing we need to define for our Automation Rule is the Trigger. Triggers are what cause the automation rule to begin running. They can fire when an incident is created or updated, or when an alert is created. Of the two options (incident based or alert based), it’s preferred to use incident triggers as they’re potentially the aggregation of multiple alerts and the odds are that you’re going to want to take the same automation steps for all of the alerts since they’re all related. It’s better to reserve alert-based triggers for scenarios where an analytic rule is firing an alert, but is set to not create an incident. Conditions Conditions are, well, the conditions to which this rule applies. There are two conditions that are always present: The Incident provider and the Analytic rule name. You can choose multiple criterion and steps. For example, you could have it apply to all incident providers and all rules (as shown in the picture above) or only a specific provider and all rules, or not apply to a particular provider, etc. etc. You can also add additional Conditions that will either include or exclude the rule from running. When you create a new condition, you can build it out by multiple properties ranging from information about the Incident all the way to information about the Entities that are tagged in the incident Remember our earlier Automation Rule title where we said this was a false positive about a server name SRV02021? This is where we make the rule match that title by setting the Condition to only fire this automation if the Entity has a host name of “SRV2021” By combining AND and OR group clauses with the built in conditional filters, you can make the rule as specific as you need it to be. You might be thinking to yourself that it seems like while there is a lot of power in creating these conditions, it might be a bit onerous to create them for each condition. Recall earlier where I said the process for the three ways of creating Automation Rules was generally the same except using the Incident Action route? Well, that route will pre-fill variables for that selected instance. For example, for the image below, the rule automatically took the rule name, the rules it applies to as well as the entities that were mapped in the incident. You can add, remove, or modify any of the variables that the process auto-maps. NOTE: In the new Unified Security Operations Platform (Defender XDR + Sentinel) that has some new best practice guidance: If you've created an automation using "Title" use "Analytic rule name" instead. The Title value could change with Defender's Correlation engine. The option for "incident provider" has been removed and replaced by "Alert product names" to filter based on the alert provider. Actions Now that we’ve tuned our Automation Rule to only fire for the situations we want, we can now set up what actions we want the rule to execute. Clicking the “Actions” drop down list will show you the options you can choose When you select an option, the user interface will change to map to your selected option. For example, if I choose to change the status of the Incident, the UX will update to show me a drop down menu with options about which status I would like to set. If I choose other options (Run playbook, change severity, assign owner, add tags, add task) the UX will change to reflect my option. You can assign multiple actions within one Automation Rule by clicking the “Add action” button and selecting the next action you want the system to take. For example, you might want to assign an Incident to a particular user or group, change its severity to “High” and then set the status to Active. Notably, when you create an Automation rule from an Incident, Sentinel automatically sets a default action to Change Status. It sets the automation up to set the Status to “Closed” and a “Benign Positive – Suspicious by expected”. This default action can be deleted and you can then set up your own action. In a future episode of this blog we’re going to be talking about Playbooks in detail, but for now just know that this is the place where you can assign a Playbook to your Automation Rules. There is one other option in the Actions menu that I wanted to specifically talk about in this blog post though: Incident Tasks Incident Tasks Like most cybersecurity teams, you probably have a run book of the different tasks or steps that your analysts and responders should take for different situations. By using Incident Tasks, you can now embed those runbook steps directly in the Incident. Incident tasks can be as lightweight or as detailed as you need them to be and can include rich formatting, links to external content, images, etc. When an incident with Tasks is generated, the SOC team will see these tasks attached as part of the Incident and can then take the defined actions and check off that they’ve been completed. Rule Lifetime and Order There is one last section of Automation rules that we need to define before we can start automating the mundane away: when should the rule expire and in what order should the rule run compared to other rules. When you create a rule in the standalone automation UX, the default is for the rule to expire at an indefinite date and time in the future, e.g. forever. You can change the expiration date and time to any date and time in the future. If you are creating the automation rule from an Incident, Sentinel will automatically assume that this rule should have an expiration date and time and sets it automatically to 24 hours in the future. Just as with the default action when created from an incident, you can change the date and time of expiration to any datetime in the future, or set it to “Indefinite” by deleting the date. Conclusion In this blog post, we talked about Automation Rules in Sentinel and how you can use them to automate mundane tasks in Sentinel as well as leverage them to help your SOC analysts be more effective and consistent in their day-to-day with capabilities like Incident Tasks. Stay tuned for more updates and tips on automating Microsoft Sentinel!Security alerts Graph API and MFA
Hello, Does anyone know if https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/api/resources/partner-security-partnersecurityalert-api-overview?view=graph-rest-beta Security alerts works with app only method (app + cert or app + secret )? Currently i successfully login to graph using both methods Welcome to Microsoft Graph! Connected via apponly access using "ID number" Then i request to get alerts and i get error code: WARNING: Error body: {"error":{"code":"UnknownError","message":"{\"Error\":{\"Code\":\"Unauthorized_MissingMFA\",\"Message\":\"MFA is required for this request. The provided authentication token does not have MFA I found that old API worked with app+user credential only but it's not mentioned in new one about this restriction.
