endpoint security
68 TopicsDefender Threat & Vulnerability Management Reporting
Hello, we're looking at implementing DTVM for our endpoints, but are curious about reporting. Is there a way we can get these reports in a PDF format, and scoped to specific devices only? I'd like to use the evidence paths gathered from KQL to help build the reports. Are there any guides or steps out there that shows how we can do this with tools like PowerBI? Thanks in advance.Speed where it matters: How Microsoft Intune helps IT prioritize time-sensitive actions
By: Albert Cabello Serrano | Principal Product Manager - Microsoft Intune A closer look at how Intune delivers updates to devices and the investments we’re making to help important changes move faster and more predictably. A common concern we hear from IT admins is, “How quickly will this change actually reach my device?” In many cases, the answer is much faster than expected. Today, 90% of policy updates, app deployments, and device actions in Intune are completed in under an hour. So where does the idea of “8-hour latency” come from? That number reflects a routine maintenance check-in used when devices are idle - not how Intune processes meaningful changes. Intune uses notification-based, priority-driven processing so that high-impact actions, like security policy changes or remediation steps, are handled promptly and reliably as possible. In this context, latency isn’t about making every action instant - it’s about providing predictable, prioritized delivery at global scale. The sections below break down how Intune prioritizes different types of updates and recent investments that are helping time-sensitive changes complete more consistently. How Intune delivers changes to devices Cloud-based device management is designed for real-world conditions; devices are not always online, fully charged, or on stable networks. Intune uses an eventual consistency model so devices can continue to be productive while converging to the desired state over time, without management actions unnecessarily disrupting users or workflows. Because devices operate in different conditions, not all device activity is handled the same way. To manage change reliably at scale, Intune uses different types of device check-ins depending on what needs to happen. Types of device check-ins in Intune Device check-ins generally fall into several categories, each triggered by a different type of action: Single‑device check‑ins: Occurs when an admin or user initiates an action on a specific device, such as starting a device action or installing an app from the Intune Company Portal. Change‑based check‑ins: Push‑triggered check‑ins used to deliver meaningful changes to devices as soon as possible. Client‑initiated check‑ins: Background activity that helps keep devices healthy, such as when a user signs in to a device or when malware status changes. Maintenance check-ins: Scheduled syncs that occur at predetermined intervals and can be client or service-initiated, depending on the platform. These typically occur approximately every 8 hours. Regardless of what triggers a check-in, any pending changes will be applied to the device when it occurs. What happens when an admin makes a change When an admin makes a change in Intune, such as updating a device compliance policy, deploying an app, or setting a configuration, Intune identifies the devices impacted by that change and initiates a change‑based check‑in for affected devices. For online devices, Intune sends a push notification prompting the device to establish a management session with the service, apply the change, and report enforcement status back to Intune. If a device is offline or unreachable, the change is applied when the device next checks in through available mechanisms. Four investments that help critical updates move forward faster The following product changes focus on reducing device‑change latency by shortening the time between an admin action in Intune and enforcement on the device, especially during peak or constrained conditions. 1. Check-in prioritization focused on what matters most Not all device activity carries the same urgency. Routine background check-ins can compete for service resources with devices that have important pending changes, such as compliance updates, remediation actions, or administrator-initiated configuration changes. Intune evaluates the potential impact of delaying a device check-in on security posture, compliance state or user productivity, and dynamically prioritizes processing accordingly. This real-time prioritization model ensures that high-impact actions move forward without being delayed by lower‑impact background activity. Prioritization adapts as conditions change, helping important updates reach devices more quickly and predictably without being delayed by lower-impact background activity. 2. Built-in resilience when multiple changes occur in quick succession Change activity often happens in bursts, with several related updates occurring in rapid succession. These periods of activity may be driven by operational needs or background processes, and can involve adjusting assignments, updating multiple policies, or rolling out configuration changes across the same set of devices. Intune dynamically coordinates notifications, so that each change requiring action triggers a corresponding device notification, even during high-activity periods. This helps improve consistency when applying multiple updates and reduces delays across consecutive changes on devices. Over the next several months, these improvements will extend to additional payloads delivered through the Intune Management Extension (IME), including scripts, Win32 apps, and custom compliance across both Windows and macOS platforms. 3. More timely notifications on Windows Intune notifies devices to check-in when changes require action. If the device is offline, on an unstable network, or low on battery, notifications may be delayed. This can cause missed check-ins or delayed actions. When notification services are delayed, blocked, or unavailable, devices may fall back to scheduled maintenance check‑ins to apply changes. For timely delivery, required notification service endpoints need to remain accessible so devices can receive management signals when updates occur. On Windows devices, Intune complements the Windows Notification Service (WNS) with the same notification protocol that powers Microsoft Teams via the Intune Management Extension. This helps increase the likelihood that devices receive management notifications when they’re online and reachable, improving visibility into whether policy updates or device actions have reached their destination. For more information, see the network endpoints for Intune documentation. 4. Optimized maintenance check-ins for iOS devices Background check-ins are still important to keep devices healthy when nothing else is going on. Unlike Windows devices, iOS devices don’t have client scheduled check‑ins and depend on service‑initiated maintenance check‑ins to ensure device health and compliance. During peak usage periods, these maintenance check‑ins can account for a significant portion of overall traffic, which can compete with devices that require immediate updates. Intune considers device activity in the scheduling of maintenance check‑ins during peak activity, making room for higher‑impact updates, while continuing to ensure devices check in regularly. This helps manage traffic and improves responsiveness when applying policies or remediation actions. What this means for you For IT admins: No additional configuration or workflow changes are required to benefit from Intune’s built-in notification system. When bidirectional communication with notification service endpoints is open, devices can receive and act on updates as they become available. For security teams: Faster delivery of device changes helps shorten the time between a policy update, a tightened Conditional Access rule, an updated compliance baseline, and a remediation action. For Zero Trust frameworks, where posture signals drive access decisions, this helps narrow the window during which a device could be out of compliance or vulnerable. Together, these improvements reflect how Intune is evolving into a more intelligent, priority-aware system. Rather than making every action instant, the focus is on prioritizing high-impact updates so they are delivered without unnecessary delays. This approach is expanding across a number of scenarios to provide a more consistent and predictable experience, helping reduce delays for key updates. Resources to learn more For another perspective on this topic, read an MVP’s take on demystifying the “8-hour” timing myth in this LinkedIn post. You can also watch the recent Tech Takeoff about this same topic to learn more about these improvements. Also, in the April edition of the What's New in Intune blog, we introduced a new segment called Myth vs. Reality. This post is part of that series. To stay current on new capabilities and updates as they ship, follow the What's New in Microsoft Intune blog. What myth should we debunk next? Leave a comment below or reach out to us on X @IntuneSuppTeam or @MSIntune.11KViews3likes6CommentsUnsanctioned cloud apps generates constant alerts
When I mark a cloud app as unsanctioned it created a URL based indicator to block the site. However, it also by default enables the Generate Alert option on the indictor. This causes my SOC to bet inundated with garbage alerts. Now normally if I'm just unsanctioning one Cloud App a could go and turn of the alert. However, I use cloud app policy that will identify any new Cloud Apps in an entire category and then unsanction it. But it enables Generate Alert on the URL indicator. Then if someone accesses that new one the generate alert kicks off. I don't want to have to go into every new app and untick generate alert manually that's just too time consuming. Is there a way to change the default behaviour when adding an indicator to not enable the generate alert? Of is there some other way to do this? I could consider using power automate or something but I'd rather the default behaviour be the fix as automation can break. I don't have time to babysit it.Block File Sharing to a Network Subnet
Hey - I have a use case to detect and block files being saved to storage devices / file shares on a subnet 192.168.0.0/16 (to prevent users connected over VPN copying data to their home LAN). Is that possible using Microsoft Endpoint DLP or MDE? thanksSolved1.4KViews0likes4CommentsFrom “No” to “Now”: A 7-Layer Strategy for Enterprise AI Safety
The “block” posture on Generative AI has failed. In a global enterprise, banning these tools doesn't stop usage; it simply pushes intellectual property into unmanaged channels and creates a massive visibility gap in corporate telemetry. The priority has now shifted from stopping AI to hardening the environment so that innovation can run at velocity without compromising data sovereignty. Traditional security perimeters are ineffective against the “slow bleed” of AI leakage - where data moves through prompts, clipboards, and autonomous agents rather than bulk file transfers. To secure this environment, a 7-layer defense-in-depth model is required to treat the conversation itself as the new perimeter. 1. Identity: The Only Verifiable Perimeter Identity is the primary control plane. Access to AI services must be treated with the same rigor as administrative access to core infrastructure. The strategy centers on enforcing device-bound Conditional Access, where access is strictly contingent on device health. To solve the "Account Leak" problem, the deployment of Tenant Restrictions v2 (TRv2) is essential to prevent users from signing into personal tenants using corporate-managed devices. For enhanced coverage, Universal Tenant Restrictions (UTR) via Global Secure Access (GSA) allows for consistent enforcement at the cloud edge. While TRv2 authentication-plane is GA, data-plane protection is GA for the Microsoft 365 admin center and remains in preview for other workloads such as SharePoint and Teams. 2. Eliminating the Visibility Gap (Shadow AI) You can’t secure what you can't see. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps (MDCA) serves to discover and govern the enterprise AI footprint, while Purview DSPM for AI (formerly AI Hub) monitors Copilot and third-party interactions. By categorizing tools using MDCA risk scores and compliance attributes, organizations can apply automated sanctioning decisions and enforce session controls for high-risk endpoints. 3. Data Hygiene: Hardening the “Work IQ” AI acts as a mirror of internal permissions. In a "flat" environment, AI acts like a search engine for your over-shared data. Hardening the foundation requires automated sensitivity labeling in Purview Information Protection. Identifying PII and proprietary code before assigning AI licenses ensures that labels travel with the data, preventing labeled content from being exfiltrated via prompts or unauthorized sharing. 4. Session Governance: Solving the “Clipboard Leak” The most common leak in 2025 is not a file upload; it’s a simple copy-paste action or a USB transfer. Deploying Conditional Access App Control (CAAC) via MDCA session policies allows sanctioned apps to function while specifically blocking cut/copy/paste. This is complemented by Endpoint DLP, which extends governance to the physical device level, preventing sensitive data from being moved to unmanaged USB storage or printers during an AI-assisted workflow. Purview Information Protection with IRM rounds this out by enforcing encryption and usage rights on the files themselves. When a user tries to print a "Do Not Print" document, Purview triggers an alert that flows into Microsoft Sentinel. This gives the SOC visibility into actual policy violations instead of them having to hunt through generic activity logs. 5. The “Agentic” Era: Agent 365 & Sharing Controls Now that we're moving from "Chat" to "Agents", Agent 365 and Entra Agent ID provide the necessary identity and control plane for autonomous entities. A quick tip: in large-scale tenants, default settings often present a governance risk. A critical first step is navigating to the Microsoft 365 admin center (Copilot > Agents) to disable the default “Anyone in organization” sharing option. Restricting agent creation and sharing to a validated security group is essential to prevent unvetted agent sprawl and ensure that only compliant agents are discoverable. 6. The Human Layer: “Safe Harbors” over Bans Security fails when it creates more friction than the risk it seeks to mitigate. Instead of an outright ban, investment in AI skilling-teaching users context minimization (redacting specifics before interacting with a model) - is the better path. Providing a sanctioned, enterprise-grade "Safe Harbor" like M365 Copilot offers a superior tool that naturally cuts down the use of Shadow AI. 7. Continuous Ops: Monitoring & Regulatory Audit Security is not a “set and forget” project, particularly with the EU AI Act on the horizon. Correlating AI interactions and DLP alerts in Microsoft Sentinel using Purview Audit (specifically the CopilotInteraction logs) data allows for real-time responses. Automated SOAR playbooks can then trigger protective actions - such as revoking an Agent ID - if an entity attempts to access sensitive HR or financial data. Final Thoughts Securing AI at scale is an architectural shift. By layering Identity, Session Governance, and Agentic Identity, AI moves from being a fragmented risk to a governed tool that actually works for the modern workplace.Add Privacy Scrub Service to Microsoft Defender?
Microsoft Defender protects accounts against phishing and malware, but attackers increasingly exploit nuisance data broker sites that publish personal information (names, emails, addresses). These sites are scraped to personalize phishing campaigns, making them harder to detect. I propose a premium Defender add‑on that automatically files opt‑out requests with major data brokers (similar to DeleteMe).Onenote Files used in Malware attacks
Hi Folks, Any comments or recommendations regarding the increase of attacks via onenote files as noted in the below articles? I'm seeing a increased number of recommendations for blocking .one and .onepkg mail attachments. One issue is onepkg files currently cannot be added to the malware filter. https://www.securityweek.com/microsoft-onenote-abuse-for-malware-delivery-surges/ https://labs.withsecure.com/publications/detecting-onenote-abuse B JoshuaSolvedI no longer have an edit button for assignments on one EndpointSec>DiskEncrypt>Bitlocker profiles
I have two Intune>Endpoint Security>Disk Encryption>Bitlocker policies. One is the 2+ year old deprecated policy everyone is currently on, and the other is a new policy I made two months ago. I am in the process of testing to move the company from old to new. Old policy no longer has an "Edit" button for group assignments and exclusions, much like when you don't have permissions. However, I am still able to edit the actual policy. Has anyone seen this or can help with this? Attached picture. I am using Intune Administrator permissions, and again, it's not a permissions issue as I can edit the actual policy. I have tried different browsers. I have tried another computer. The policy is scoped to default. I was last able to edit group assignments 10/25/25 Solution right now will just be to delete the old profile and move to new with no more testing. Thank you in advance, -ZP197Views1like2CommentsKnown issue: Customizations not saved with security baseline policy update
Overview Microsoft Intune security baselines enable organizations to create turnkey policy configurations with Microsoft's recommended settings. Intune supports two upgrade paths for your customizations: automatic migration and manual migration. Our upgrade process is explicit when a manual customization upgrade is required as documented in Configure security baseline policies in Microsoft Intune | Microsoft Learn. Issue Identified in Security Baseline Updates We’ve recently identified an issue in the security baseline update process where, during upgrades from specific versions, customizations are not automatically retained. Instead, these values are replaced with the default recommended values contained in the latest release. The impacted baselines upgrades are as follows: Security Baseline for Microsoft Edge: Version 112 to Version 128 Security Baseline for Windows 10 and later: Version 23H2 to Version 24H2 Windows 365 Security Baseline: November 2021 to Version 24H1 Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Security Baseline: Version 6 to Version 24H1 Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise Security Baseline: Version 2206 to Version 2306 When updating these security baselines, Intune creates a duplicate policy (without assignments) and automatically populates Microsoft’s recommended settings for the new version. These default configurations can be edited to apply customizations. However, customizations are not automatically carried over from the previous version when updating and admins will need to manually apply the customizations when creating the new profile. If your organization deploys the new policy alongside the existing one and there are conflicting settings, Intune’s conflict resolution logic will determine which setting is applied (i.e. most secure wins, merge values), or leave the existing value in place until the conflict is resolved. In the event of conflict, Intune never removes policies from the device ensuring that devices always have security policy applied. The Intune team will be delivering an update to automate migration of the impacted security baselines (and all future versions) in an upcoming release. Interim Steps to Enable Custom Configurations in your Baseline Updates When updating a policy to a newer baseline, your customizations must be recreated in the policy creation wizard. Customizations to the version 23H2 baseline are not carried over to the new policy, and the new policy will revert to Microsoft’s default recommended values for version 24H2. Note: As mentioned above and reiterated here, this update does not remove the previous policy. > Security baselines blade. Organizations can upgrade an existing baseline (mentioned above) that will duplicate the profile: The Microsoft Intune admin center showing where to update the Security baseline. Organizations can customize baselines including modifying and editing the baseline in accordance with their organization’s policies: To identify devices with conflicts between baseline updates, refer to the steps below: Navigate to: Devices > Manage devices > Configuration > Policiestab and select an existing policy. On the summary page, click View report. The View report provides detailed insights into the devices targeted by the selected configuration policy, including: Devices that have received the policy Usernames associated with those devices The check-in status and the most recent time each device/user checked in with the policy You can also select a specific device to view more detailed information. Use the filter column to apply assignment filters. For example, the Check-in status filter helps you identify devices in different states such as Success, Error, and others - indicating how the policy was applied. For more information on policies and reporting, refer to: See device configuration policies with Microsoft Intune | Microsoft Learn. For further guidance, refer to the Update a profile to the latest version in the Microsoft Learn documentation or see the section above for more details on the baseline update process. If you have any questions, leave a comment on this post or reach out to us on X @IntuneSuppTeam. Post Updates: 7/7/25: Post updated with additional details and screen captures for clarity.11KViews0likes1CommentMicrosoft Security Copilot in Intune deep dive - Part 3: Explore and act on your Intune data with AI
By: Ravi Ashok - Sr. Product Manager & Zineb Takafi - Product Manager | Microsoft Intune Microsoft Security Copilot in Intune advances the way IT admins can accelerate their day-to-day endpoint management tasks by embedding generative AI capabilities directly into your Intune workflows, transforming how IT teams plan, troubleshoot, and optimize device configurations. Now generally available, Copilot in Intune delivers insights by summarizing policies, analyzing update deployments, and assisting IT with uncovering root causes of endpoint issues based on organizations Intune data. Today, we’re thrilled to introduce an AI-first experience in the Intune admin center to allow IT admins to explore and act on Intune data with the ease of natural language. As part of our ongoing commitment to help IT teams manage endpoints more effectively, this new experience provides a new way to find data they need about their digital estate and initiate endpoint management tasks based on the results. With a library of queries and using intelligent semantic search, admins can select natural language questions across key Intune domains including devices, apps, policies, users, compliance, app configuration, and app protection and refine the question with customizable parameters. Within the Intune admin center, IT admins can go from insights to taking direct action by adding devices or users to groups for streamlined endpoint management. This release marks a significant milestone towards simplifying endpoint management and accelerating day to day tasks by enabling iterative, natural language query refinement and actionable insights with generative AI assistance to enhance operational efficiency and decision-making. Explore Intune data across your workloads The new Explorer experience with Copilot in Intune enables admins to have a consistent experience viewing details about their Intune resources. Whether they’re navigating devices (including Windows 365 cloud PCs, physical PCs, or mobile devices), apps, users, or policies, IT admins can ask custom questions in natural language about their Intune resource data. They can see and iterate on the results of those questions, and then complete management tasks in one streamlined workflow. Admins can click into individual objects in the results view and navigate to Intune resources like a device details page as they complete their work. This journey in Intune applies to many workflows including: Troubleshooting and fixing issues: Identifying and acting on a specific set of devices, users, apps, or policies to resolve an issue. Creating custom reports: Building custom data views to answer questions that typically require exporting and joining reports today. Day-to-day management tasks: As part of regular admin tasks, navigate Intune data to find specific resources and inspect them to ensure things are configured correctly. Demo In today’s cyber threat landscape, maintaining device compliance is critical to minimizing security risks and ensuring operational continuity. In this demo scenario, the Explorer experience is used to identify and act on non-compliant devices in real time. To enforce compliance, an IT admin plans to mark Windows devices as noncompliant if they haven’t installed patches in the last three months. Given the variety of Windows versions, they want to understand the impact of excluding these devices. Using Copilot, they simply ask the natural language question and get a list of impacted devices without advanced filtering of the versions for each operating system release. The functionality surfaces devices and apps that haven’t received critical patches and seamlessly add them to a remediation group. This streamlined workflow reduces time-to-action and supports proactive compliance enforcement at scale. By integrating directly with Intune policies and device groups, this capability empowers organizations to close vulnerability gaps swiftly. Demo: aka.ms/Intune/CopilotJuly2025-Demo What’s next The addition of the new Explorer experience marks a significant step forward in how organizations can harness the power of Copilot to interact with their Intune data. By enabling IT admins to quickly surface insights, identify compliance gaps, and take action directly from query results, Copilot enables IT admins to streamline their endpoint management workflows to enhance operational agility. To learn more about setup and capabilities, be sure to read our documentation: Explore your Intune data with natural language. We look forward to providing further updates as part of the Copilot in Intune blog series. Make sure to check out the previous blogs if you missed it: Microsoft Security Copilot in Intune deep dive – Part 1: Features available in public preview, and Microsoft Security Copilot in Intune - Pt. 2: Vulnerability Remediation Agent in limited preview. And to learn what a few of the Microsoft MVPs think about Copilot in Intune, feel free to get perspectives from Andrew Taylor here, Ugur Koc here, and Mattias Melkers here and here. If you have any questions or want to share how you’re using Copilot in Intune, leave a comment below or reach out to us on X @IntuneSuppTeam or @MSIntune. You can also connect with us on LinkedIn.4.1KViews0likes0Comments