Become a Microsoft Defender for Cloud Ninja
[Last update: 08/29/2025] All content has been reviewed and updated for August 2025. This blog post has a curation of many Microsoft Defender for Cloud (formerly known as Azure Security Center and Azure Defender) resources, organized in a format that can help you to go from absolutely no knowledge in Microsoft Defender for Cloud, to design and implement different scenarios. You can use this blog post as a training roadmap to learn more about Microsoft Defender for Cloud. On November 2nd, at Microsoft Ignite 2021, Microsoft announced the rebrand of Azure Security Center and Azure Defender for Microsoft Defender for Cloud. To learn more about this change, read this article. Every month we are adding new updates to this article, and you can track it by checking the red date besides the topic. If you already study all the modules and you are ready for the knowledge check, follow the procedures below: To obtain the Defender for Cloud Ninja Certificate 1. Take this knowledge check here, where you will find questions about different areas and plans available in Defender for Cloud. 2. If you score 80% or more in the knowledge check, request your participation certificate here. If you achieved less than 80%, please review the questions that you got it wrong, study more and take the assessment again. Note: it can take up to 24 hours for you to receive your certificate via email. To obtain the Defender for Servers Ninja Certificate (Introduced in 08/2023) 1. Take this knowledge check here, where you will find only questions related to Defender for Servers. 2. If you score 80% or more in the knowledge check, request your participation certificate here. If you achieved less than 80%, please review the questions that you got it wrong, study more and take the assessment again. Note: it can take up to 24 hours for you to receive your certificate via email. Modules To become an Microsoft Defender for Cloud Ninja, you will need to complete each module. The content of each module will vary, refer to the legend to understand the type of content before clicking in the topic’s hyperlink. The table below summarizes the content of each module: Module Description 0 - CNAPP In this module you will familiarize yourself with the concepts of CNAPP and how to plan Defender for Cloud deployment as a CNAPP solution. 1 – Introducing Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Microsoft Defender Cloud plans In this module you will familiarize yourself with Microsoft Defender for Cloud and understand the use case scenarios. You will also learn about Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Microsoft Defender Cloud plans pricing and overall architecture data flow. 2 – Planning Microsoft Defender for Cloud In this module you will learn the main considerations to correctly plan Microsoft Defender for Cloud deployment. From supported platforms to best practices implementation. 3 – Enhance your Cloud Security Posture In this module you will learn how to leverage Cloud Security Posture management capabilities, such as Secure Score and Attack Path to continuous improvement of your cloud security posture. This module includes automation samples that can be used to facilitate secure score adoption and operations. 4 – Cloud Security Posture Management Capabilities in Microsoft Defender for Cloud In this module you will learn how to use the cloud security posture management capabilities available in Microsoft Defender for Cloud, which includes vulnerability assessment, inventory, workflow automation and custom dashboards with workbooks. 5 – Regulatory Compliance Capabilities in Microsoft Defender for Cloud In this module you will learn about the regulatory compliance dashboard in Microsoft Defender for Cloud and give you insights on how to include additional standards. In this module you will also familiarize yourself with Azure Blueprints for regulatory standards. 6 – Cloud Workload Protection Platform Capabilities in Azure Defender In this module you will learn how the advanced cloud capabilities in Microsoft Defender for Cloud work, which includes JIT, File Integrity Monitoring and Adaptive Application Control. This module also covers how threat protection works in Microsoft Defender for Cloud, the different categories of detections, and how to simulate alerts. 7 – Streaming Alerts and Recommendations to a SIEM Solution In this module you will learn how to use native Microsoft Defender for Cloud capabilities to stream recommendations and alerts to different platforms. You will also learn more about Azure Sentinel native connectivity with Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Lastly, you will learn how to leverage Graph Security API to stream alerts from Microsoft Defender for Cloud to Splunk. 8 – Integrations and APIs In this module you will learn about the different integration capabilities in Microsoft Defender for Cloud, how to connect Tenable to Microsoft Defender for Cloud, and how other supported solutions can be integrated with Microsoft Defender for Cloud. 9 - DevOps Security In this module you will learn more about DevOps Security capabilities in Defender for Cloud. You will be able to follow the interactive guide to understand the core capabilities and how to navigate through the product. 10 - Defender for APIs In this module you will learn more about the new plan announced at RSA 2023. You will be able to follow the steps to onboard the plan and validate the threat detection capability. 11 - AI Posture Management and Workload Protection In this module you will learn more about the risks of Gen AI and how Defender for Cloud can help improve your AI posture management and detect threats against your Gen AI apps. Module 0 - Cloud Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) Improving Your Multi-Cloud Security with a CNAPP - a vendor agnostic approach Microsoft CNAPP Solution Planning and Operationalizing Microsoft CNAPP Understanding Cloud Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPP) Cloud Native Applications Protection Platform (CNAPP) Microsoft CNAPP eBook Understanding CNAPP Why Microsoft Leads the IDC CNAPP MarketScape: Key Insights for Security Decision-Makers Module 1 - Introducing Microsoft Defender for Cloud What is Microsoft Defender for Cloud? A New Approach to Get Your Cloud Risks Under Control Getting Started with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Implementing a CNAPP Strategy to Embed Security From Code to Cloud Boost multicloud security with a comprehensive code to cloud strategy A new name for multi-cloud security: Microsoft Defender for Cloud Common questions about Defender for Cloud MDC Cost Calculator Microsoft Defender for Cloud expands U.S. Gov Cloud support for CSPM and server security (08/29/2025) Module 2 – Planning Microsoft Defender for Cloud Features for IaaS workloads Features for PaaS workloads Built-in RBAC Roles in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Enterprise Onboarding Guide Design Considerations for Log Analytics Workspace Onboarding on-premises machines using Windows Admin Center Understanding Security Policies in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Creating Custom Policies Centralized Policy Management in Microsoft Defender for Cloud using Management Groups Planning Data Collection for IaaS VMs Microsoft Defender for Cloud PoC Series – Microsoft Defender for Resource Manager Microsoft Defender for Cloud PoC Series – Microsoft Defender for Storage How to Effectively Perform an Microsoft Defender for Cloud PoC Microsoft Defender for Cloud PoC Series – Microsoft Defender for App Service Considerations for Multi-Tenant Scenario Microsoft Defender for Cloud PoC Series – Microsoft Defender CSPM Microsoft Defender for DevOps GitHub Connector - Microsoft Defender for Cloud PoC Series Grant tenant-wide permissions to yourself Simplifying Onboarding to Microsoft Defender for Cloud with Terraform Module 3 – Enhance your Cloud Security Posture How Secure Score affects your governance Enhance your Secure Score in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Security recommendations Active User (Public Preview) Resource exemption Customizing Endpoint Protection Recommendation in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Deliver a Security Score weekly briefing Send Microsoft Defender for Cloud Recommendations to Azure Resource Stakeholders Secure Score Reduction Alert Average Time taken to remediate resources Improved experience for managing the default Azure security policies Security Policy Enhancements in Defender for Cloud Create custom recommendations and security standards Secure Score Overtime Workbook Automation Artifacts for Secure Score Recommendations Connecting Defender for Cloud with Jira Remediation Scripts Module 4 – Cloud Security Posture Management Capabilities in Microsoft Defender for Cloud CSPM in Defender for Cloud Take a Proactive Risk-Based Approach to Securing your Cloud Native Applications Predict future security incidents! Cloud Security Posture Management with Microsoft Defender Software inventory filters added to asset inventory Drive your organization to security actions using Governance experience Managing Asset Inventory in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Vulnerability Assessment Workbook Template Vulnerability Assessment for Containers Implementing Workflow Automation Workflow Automation Artifacts Creating Custom Dashboard for Microsoft Defender for Cloud Using Microsoft Defender for Cloud API for Workflow Automation What you need to know when deleting and re-creating the security connector(s) in Defender for Cloud Connect AWS Account with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Video Demo - Connecting AWS accounts Microsoft Defender for Cloud PoC Series - Multi-cloud with AWS Onboarding your AWS/GCP environment to Microsoft Defender for Cloud with Terraform How to better manage cost of API calls that Defender for Cloud makes to AWS Connect GCP Account with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Protecting Containers in GCP with Defender for Containers Video Demo - Connecting GCP Accounts Microsoft Defender for Cloud PoC Series - Multicloud with GCP All You Need to Know About Microsoft Defender for Cloud Multicloud Protection Custom recommendations for AWS and GCP 31 new and enhanced multicloud regulatory standards coverage Azure Monitor Workbooks integrated into Microsoft Defender for Cloud and three templates provided How to Generate a Microsoft Defender for Cloud exemption and disable policy report Cloud security posture and contextualization across cloud boundaries from a single dashboard Best Practices to Manage and Mitigate Security Recommendations Defender CSPM Defender CSPM Plan Options Go Beyond Checkboxes: Proactive Cloud Security with Microsoft Defender CSPM Cloud Security Explorer Identify and remediate attack paths Agentless scanning for machines Cloud security explorer and Attack path analysis Governance Rules at Scale Governance Improvements Data Security Aware Posture Management Unlocking API visibility: Defender for Cloud Expands API security to Function Apps and Logic Apps A Proactive Approach to Cloud Security Posture Management with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Prioritize Risk remediation with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Attack Path Analysis Understanding data aware security posture capability Agentless Container Posture Agentless Container Posture Management Microsoft Defender for Cloud - Automate Notifications when new Attack Paths are created Proactively secure your Google Cloud Resources with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Demystifying Defender CSPM Discover and Protect Sensitive Data with Defender for Cloud Defender for cloud's Agentless secret scanning for virtual machines is now generally available! Defender CSPM Support for GCP Data Security Dashboard Agentless Container Posture Management in Multicloud Agentless malware scanning for servers Recommendation Prioritization Unified insights from Microsoft Entra Permissions Management Defender CSPM Internet Exposure Analysis Future-Proofing Cloud Security with Defender CSPM ServiceNow's integration now includes Configuration Compliance module Agentless code scanning for GitHub and Azure DevOps (preview) 🚀 Suggested Labs: Improving your Secure Posture Connecting a GCP project Connecting an AWS project Defender CSPM Agentless container posture through Defender CSPM Contextual Security capabilities for AWS using Defender CSPM Module 5 – Regulatory Compliance Capabilities in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Understanding Regulatory Compliance Capabilities in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Adding new regulatory compliance standards Regulatory Compliance workbook Regulatory compliance dashboard now includes Azure Audit reports Microsoft cloud security benchmark: Azure compute benchmark is now aligned with CIS! Updated naming format of Center for Internet Security (CIS) standards in regulatory compliance CIS Azure Foundations Benchmark v2.0.0 in regulatory compliance dashboard Spanish National Security Framework (Esquema Nacional de Seguridad (ENS)) added to regulatory compliance dashboard for Azure Microsoft Defender for Cloud Adds Four New Regulatory Frameworks | Microsoft Community Hub 🚀 Suggested Lab: Regulatory Compliance Module 6 – Cloud Workload Protection Platform Capabilities in Microsoft Defender for Clouds Understanding Just-in-Time VM Access Implementing JIT VM Access File Integrity Monitoring in Microsoft Defender Understanding Threat Protection in Microsoft Defender Performing Advanced Risk Hunting in Defender for Cloud Microsoft Defender for Servers Demystifying Defender for Servers Onboarding directly (without Azure Arc) to Defender for Servers Agentless secret scanning for virtual machines in Defender for servers P2 & DCSPM Vulnerability Management in Defender for Cloud File Integrity Monitoring using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Microsoft Defender for Containers Basics of Defender for Containers Secure your Containers from Build to Runtime AWS ECR Coverage in Defender for Containers Upgrade to Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management End to end container security with unified SOC experience Binary drift detection episode Binary drift detection Cloud Detection Response experience Exploring the Latest Container Security Updates from Microsoft Ignite 2024 Unveiling Kubernetes lateral movement and attack paths with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Onboarding Docker Hub and JFrog Artifactory Improvements in Container’s Posture Management New AKS Security Dashboard in Defender for Cloud The Risk of Default Configuration: How Out-of-the-Box Helm Charts Can Breach Your Cluster Your cluster, your rules: Helm support for container security with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Microsoft Defender for Storage Protect your storage resources against blob-hunting Malware Scanning in Defender for Storage What's New in Defender for Storage 🎉Malware scanning add-on is now generally available in Azure Gov Secret and Top-Secret clouds (08/29/2025) Defender for Storage: Malware Scan Error Message Update Protecting Cloud Storage in the Age of AI Microsoft Defender for SQL New Defender for SQL VA Defender for SQL on Machines Enhanced Agent Update Microsoft Defender for SQL Anywhere New autoprovisioning process for SQL Server on machines plan Enhancements for protecting hosted SQL servers across clouds and hybrid environments Defender for Open-Source Relational Databases Multicloud Microsoft Defender for KeyVault Microsoft Defender for AppService Microsoft Defender for Resource Manager Understanding Security Incident Security Alert Correlation Alert Reference Guide 'Copy alert JSON' button added to security alert details pane Alert Suppression Simulating Alerts in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Alert validation Simulating alerts for Windows Simulating alerts for Linux Simulating alerts for Containers Simulating alerts for Storage Simulating alerts for Microsoft Key Vault Simulating alerts for Microsoft Defender for Resource Manager Integration with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Auto-provisioning of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint unified solution Resolve security threats with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Protect your servers and VMs from brute-force and malware attacks with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Filter security alerts by IP address Alerts by resource group Defender for Servers Security Alerts Improvements From visibility to action: The power of cloud detection and response 🚀 Suggested Labs: Workload Protections Agentless container vulnerability assessment scanning Microsoft Defender for Cloud database protection Protecting On-Prem Servers in Defender for Cloud Defender for Storage Module 7 – Streaming Alerts and Recommendations to a SIEM Solution Continuous Export capability in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Deploying Continuous Export using Azure Policy Connecting Microsoft Sentinel with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Closing an Incident in Azure Sentinel and Dismissing an Alert in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Microsoft Sentinel bi-directional alert synchronization 🚀 Suggested Lab: Exporting Microsoft Defender for Cloud information to a SIEM Module 8 – Integrations and APIs Integration with Tenable Integrate security solutions in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Defender for Cloud integration with Defender EASM Defender for Cloud integration with Defender TI REST APIs for Microsoft Defender for Cloud Obtaining Secure Score via REST API Using Graph Security API to Query Alerts in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Automate(d) Security with Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Logic Apps Automating Cloud Security Posture and Cloud Workload Protection Responses Module 9 – DevOps Security Overview of Microsoft Defender for Cloud DevOps Security DevOps Security Interactive Guide Configure the Microsoft Security DevOps Azure DevOps extension Configure the Microsoft Security DevOps GitHub action Automate SecOps to Developer Communication with Defender for DevOps Compliance for Exposed Secrets Discovered by DevOps Security Automate DevOps Security Recommendation Remediation DevOps Security Workbook Remediating Security Issues in Code with Pull Request Annotations Code to Cloud Security using Microsoft Defender for DevOps GitHub Advanced Security for Azure DevOps alerts in Defender for Cloud Securing your GitLab Environment with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Bridging the Gap Between Code and Cloud with Defender for Cloud Integrate Defender for Cloud CLI with CI/CD pipelines Code Reachability Analysis 🚀 Suggested Labs: Onboarding Azure DevOps to Defender for Cloud Onboarding GitHub to Defender for Cloud Module 10 – Defender for APIs What is Microsoft Defender for APIs? Onboard Defender for APIs Validating Microsoft Defender for APIs Alerts API Security with Defender for APIs Microsoft Defender for API Security Dashboard Exempt functionality now available for Defender for APIs recommendations Create sample alerts for Defender for APIs detections Defender for APIs reach GA Increasing API Security Testing Visibility Boost Security with API Security Posture Management 🚀 Suggested Lab: Defender for APIs Module 11 – AI Posture Management and Workload Protection Secure your AI applications from code to runtime with Microsoft Defender for Cloud AI security posture management AI threat protection Secure your AI applications from code to runtime Data and AI security dashboard Protecting Azure AI Workloads using Threat Protection for AI in Defender for Cloud Plug, Play, and Prey: The security risks of the Model Context Protocol Exposing hidden threats across the AI development lifecycle in the cloud (08/29/2025) Learn Live: Enable advanced threat protection for AI workloads with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Microsoft AI Security Story: Protection Across the Platform 🚀 Suggested Lab: Security for AI workloads Are you ready to take your knowledge check? If so, click here. If you score 80% or more in the knowledge check, request your participation certificate here. If you achieved less than 80%, please review the questions that you got it wrong, study more and take the assessment again. Note: it can take up to 24 hours for you to receive your certificate via email. Other Resources Microsoft Defender for Cloud Labs Become an Microsoft Sentinel Ninja Become an MDE Ninja Cross-product lab (Defend the Flag) Release notes (updated every month) Important upcoming changes Have a great time ramping up in Microsoft Defender for Cloud and becoming a Microsoft Defender for Cloud Ninja!! Reviewer: Tom Janetscheck, Senior PMDefender for Servers Plan 2 now integrates with Defender for Endpoint unified solution
Today, we're excited to announce the release of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint’s unified agent integration with Microsoft Defender for Servers Plan 2. With this release, we align the integration experience between Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and both Microsoft Defender for Servers Plans.Agentless scanning for virtual machines in the cloud – technical deep dive
Over the past three years, a notable shift has unfolded in the realm of cloud security. Increasingly, security vendors are introducing agentless scanning solutions to enhance the protection of their customers. These solutions empower users with visibility into their security posture and the ability to detect threats — all achieved without the need to install any additional software, commonly referred to as an agent, onto their workloads.Microsoft Defender for Endpoint for Linux and Microsoft Defender for Servers
When it comes to protecting servers in hybrid and multicloud environments, Microsoft Defender for Servers as part of Microsoft Defender for Cloud is the solution you might be looking for. However, with all the features, dependencies, and complexity, it might become challenging to always make the right decision when planning, integrating, and deploying Defender for Servers across your environment. With this blog, we are focusing on deployment and integration of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint with Microsoft Defender for Servers on Linux machines.Microsoft Defender for Cloud Cost Estimation Dashboard
This blog was updated on April 16 th , 2023 to reflect the latest version of the Cost Estimation workbook. Microsoft Defender for Cloud provides advanced threat detection capabilities across your cloud workloads. This includes comprehensive coverage plans for compute, PaaS and data resources in your environment. Before enabling Defender for Cloud across subscriptions, customers are often interested in having a cost estimation to make sure the cost aligns with the team’s budget. We previously released the Microsoft Defender for Storage Price Estimation Workbook, which was widely and positively received by customers. Based on customer feedback, we have extended this offering by creating one comprehensive workbook that covers most Microsoft Defender for Cloud plans. This includes Defender for Containers, App Service, Servers, Storage, Cloud Security Posture Management and Databases. The Cost Estimation workbook is out-of-the box and can be found in the Defender for Cloud portal. After reading this blog and using the workbook, be sure to leave your feedback to be considered for future enhancements. Please remember these numbers are only estimated based on retail prices and do not provide actual billing data. For reference on how these prices are calculated, visit the Pricing—Microsoft Defender | Microsoft Azure. Overview The cost estimation workbook provides a consolidated price estimation for Microsoft Defender for Cloud plans based on the resource telemetry in your organization’s environment. The workbook allows you to select which subscriptions you would like to estimate the price for as well as the Defender Plans. In a single pane of glass, organizations can see the estimated cost per plan on each subscription as well as the grand total for all the selected subscriptions and plans. To see which plans are currently being used on the subscription, consider using the coverage workbook. Defender Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) Defender CSPM protects all resources across your subscriptions, but billing only applies to Compute, Databases and Storage accounts. Billable workloads include VMs, Storage accounts, open-source relational databases and SQL PaaS & Servers on machines. See here for more information regarding pricing. On the backend, the workbook checks to see how many billable resources were detected and if any of the above plans are enabled on the subscription. It then takes the number of billable resources and multiplies it by the Defender CSPM price. Defender for App Service The estimation for Defender for App Services is based on the retail price of $14.60 USD per App Service per month. Check out the Defender for App Service Price Estimation Dashboard for a more detailed view on estimated pricing with information such as CPU time and a list of App Services detected. Defender for Containers The estimation for Defender for Containers is calculated based on the average number of worker nodes in the cluster during the past 30 days. For a more detailed view on containers pricing such as average vCores detected and the number of image scans included, consider also viewing the stand-alone Defender for Containers Cost Estimation Workbook. Defender for Databases Pricing for Defender for Databases includes Defender for SQL Databases and Defender for open-source relational databases (OSS DBs). This includes PostgreSQL, MySQL and MariaDB. All estimations are based on the retail price of $15 USD per resource per month. On the backend, the workbook runs a query to find all SQL databases and OSS DBs in the selected subscriptions and multiplies the total amount by 15 to get the estimated monthly cost. Defender for Key Vault Defender for Key Vault cost estimation is not included in the out of the box workbook, however, a stand-alone workbook is available in the Defender for Cloud GitHub. The Defender for Key Vault dashboard considers all Key Vaults with or without Defender for Key Vault enabled on the selected subscriptions. The calculations are based on the retail price of $0.02 USD per 10k transactions. The “Estimated Cost (7 days)” column takes the total Key Vault transactions of the last 7 days, divides them by 10K and multiples them by 0.02. In “Estimated Monthly Price”, the results of “Estimated Cost (7 days)” are multiplied by 4.35 to get the monthly estimate. Defender for Servers Defender for Servers includes two plan options, Plan 1 and Plan 2. The workbook gives you the option to toggle between the two plans to see the difference in how they would effect pricing. Plan 1 is currently charged at $5 per month where as Plan 2 is currently charged at $15. Defender for Storage The Defender for Storage workbook allows you to estimate the cost of the two pricing plans: the legacy per-transaction plan and the new per-storage plan. The workbook looks at historical file and blob transaction data on supported storage types such as Blob Storage, Azure Files, and Azure Data Lake Storage Gen 2. We have released a new version of this workbook, and you can find it here: Microsoft-Defender-for-Cloud/Workbooks/Microsoft Defender for Storage Price Estimation and learn more about the storage workbook in Microsoft Defender for Storage – Price Estimation blog post. Limitations Azure Monitor Metrics data backends have limits and the number of requests to fetch data might time out. To solve this, narrow your scope by reducing the selected subscriptions and Defender plans. The workbook currently only includes Azure resources. Acknowledgements Special thanks to everyone who contributed to different versions of this workbook: Fernanda Vela, Helder Pinto, Lili Davoudian, Sarah Kriwet, Safeena Begum Lepakshi, Tom Janetscheck, Amit Biton, Ahmed Masalha, Keren Damari, Nir Sela, Mark Kendrick, Yaniv Shasha, Mauricio Zaragoza, Kafeel Tahir, Mary Lieb, Chris Tucci, Brian Roosevelt References: What is Microsoft Defender for Cloud? - Microsoft Defender for Cloud | Microsoft Learn Pricing—Microsoft Defender | Microsoft Azure Workbooks gallery in Microsoft Defender for Cloud | Microsoft Docs Pricing Calculator | Microsoft Azure Microsoft Defender for Key Vault Price Estimation Workbook Microsoft Defender for App Services Price Estimation Workbook Microsoft Defender for Containers Cost Estimation Workbook Coverage WorkbookWhat you need to know when deleting and re-creating the security connector(s) in Defender for Cloud
Introduction: Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you needed to move a security connector in Defender for Cloud between subscriptions or tenant? This article provides guidance on important considerations for removing and re-creating security connectors for AWS/GCP in Microsoft Defender for Cloud. These security connectors store the configuration preferences that Defender for Cloud uses to access your AWS/GCP environment and provide security recommendations and alerts. There may be instances where you need to re-create the connector, such as following https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/plan-multicloud-security-get-started, connecting to a different Azure tenant, or storing connectors in different resource groups. I cover the process of re-creating the connector in more detail, including the creation of the connector, the deletion of the connector, and the re-creation of the connector. Creating the security connector: To onboard your AWS/GCP environment to Defender for Cloud, you need to create a security connector. As part of this process, you run a Cloud Formation template in AWS or a cloud shell script in GCP. These templates/scripts create the roles and resources that Defender for Cloud requires to provide security recommendations and alerts for your workloads. The resources and roles created in AWS/GCP depend on the Defender for Cloud plans you select on the security connector. In AWS, the minimum set of roles and resources created by the template includes: Identity provider IAM roles In GCP, the minimum set of roles and resources created by the script includes: Workload identity provider Workload identity pool Policy (role bindings) The outcome of the security connector creation process is the creation of the connector as an Azure resource inside the selected subscription and resource group, as well as the roles and resources created in AWS/GCP. If you enable CWP capabilities and auto-provisioning, the Azure Arc agent and extensions also get installed on AWS/GCP compute resources such as servers, managed Kubernetes, and databases (figure 1). Deleting the security connector: If you need to delete the security connector, you can do so through the Environment settings blade or via the https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/securitycenter/security-connectors/create-or-update?tabs=HTTP. This will delete the connector as an Azure resource inside the resource group and subscription selected during the creation process. However, it is important to note that deleting the connector in Defender for Cloud does not remove the roles and resources created by the template/script in AWS/GCP. After deleting the connector, it is your responsibility to properly delete these resources in AWS/GCP (like the AWS roles created by the security connector that are displayed in figure 2, note that some information is intentionally obfuscated). There is an additional consideration, if you enable CWP capabilities, on AWS/GCP compute resources such as servers, managed Kubernetes, and databases. Defender for Cloud will now automatically delete Azure Arc machines when those machines are deleted in connected AWS or GCP account. This applies to machine connected to an AWS and GCP account and covered by Defender for Servers or Defender for SQL on machines. After deleting the connector, it is your responsibility to properly remove the Azure Arc agent and extensions installed on any other resources in AWS/GCP. If you wish to offboard completely, additionally you need to delete the Azure Arc representations of these resources, in the resource group in which the security connector was stored. If you're planning on re-creating the security connector, there are some exceptions to the above guidance: if you’re connecting the same AWS/GCP environment, to the same Azure tenant and are using the same Azure subscription, but different resource group to store the connector in, then you don’t need to delete the roles and resources that the security connector created in AWS/GCP. if you’re connecting the same AWS/GCP environment, to the same Azure tenant and are using different Azure subscription, and different resource group to store the connector in, then you don’t need to delete the roles and resources that the security connector created in AWS/GCP. if you’re connecting the same AWS environment, to a different Azure tenant and are using different Azure subscription, and different resource group to store the connector in, then it's highly recommended due to security reasons to delete the Stack/StackSet in AWS you used during the onboarding process. if you’re connecting the same GCP environment, to a different Azure tenant and are using different Azure subscription, and different resource group to store the connector in, then it's highly recommended due to security reasons to delete the old Workload identity pool and providers in GCP. Then you can create a new workload identity pool and providers in the management project and link the providers to pre-existing policy (role bindings). Re-creating the security connector: There are certain scenarios that warrant re-creating the security connector, for example you might want to store security connectors in different subscriptions or resource groups. If you need to re-create the security connector, you will need to follow the same process as outlined in the "Creating a security connector" section. Please note, you need to wait at least one minute after deleting the security connector in Azure, prior to re-creating it. When re-creating the security connector in the same Azure tenant, you don’t need to delete the roles and resources on the AWS/GCP side. However, if choose to do so you might need to wait longer until you're able to re-create the security connector, because in GCP there is a 'soft' delete for 30 days. The deletion in AWS is instantaneous. Conclusion: In summary, it is important to carefully consider the process of removing and re-creating security connectors in Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Properly deleting and re-creating these connectors requires following the correct process and properly deleting the resources and roles created in AWS/GCP. Following these steps will help ensure the security and effectiveness of your cloud environments. Reviewers: Or Serok Jeppa, Senior PM Manager Ameer Abu Zhaia, Software Engineer II Giulio Astori, Principal Product Manager Contributors: Ameer Abu Zhaia, Software Engineer II Chemi Shumacher, Senior Software EngineerSecurity posture management and server protection for AWS and GCP are now generally available
We’re excited to announce that Microsoft Defender for Cloud’s multi cloud capabilities for posture management and server protection for both Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) workloads are generally available. Organizations can now easily manage and track their security state across the three largest cloud providers, as well as on-premises environments, in one centralized experience.New Ransomware Recommendation Dashboard in Microsoft Defender for Cloud
The new Ransomware recommendations dashboard is an Azure workbook that provides you visibility into what security recommendations you should prioritize to reduce the likelihood of getting compromised by a Ransomware attack. It leverages Microsoft Defender for Cloud recommendations, and secure score to help you track progress of your security posture enhancement. Since it is based on Defender for Cloud, it also brings built-in automation capabilities to help remediate security recommendations and reduce expose factors. The diagram below represents a holistic view of how Azure Security Benchmark, which is the security foundation for Azure workloads, mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK Matrix with data visualization for end user experience. Now you will be able to identify gaps in your security hygiene that are related to Ransomware and prioritize the remediations accordingly. Addressing these will improve the overall security posture of your Azure workloads and help you in your journey to improve your secure score. This dashboard is focused on the following aspects: In this dashboard you will find tabs that allow you to navigate and explore the security recommendations based on different criteria. Please watch the video below for a full demonstration on how to use this dashboard: By understand in which stage of the MITRE ATT&CK matrix the recommendation is located, you can prioritize remediations earlier on and reduce the probability of further damage done by the attacker. The Ransomware dashboard can be utilized to prioritize the remediation of recommendations for scenarios such as: Ensures up to date VMs with relevant security patches Enable anti-malware on your VMs Reduce attack surface by enabling just-in-time access to management ports For more information about Ransomware attacks, make sure to read the following resources: Azure Defenses for Ransomware Attack Human-operated ransomware Maximize Ransomware Resiliency with Azure and Microsoft 365 3 steps to prevent and recover from ransomwarePrepare for upcoming transitions in Defender for Servers
Last summer, within the scope of the upcoming Log Analytics agent deprecation, we announced a new agent strategy for Defender for Servers with the goal to simplify the onboarding and reduce external dependencies in our offering while improving existing and adding new capabilities. As part of that new strategy, we encourage our customers to enable both, agentless scanning as part of Defender for Servers Plan 2, and integration with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint in both Defender for Servers plans as a unified security agent. With this blog, we are sharing a thorough approach that you can use to make sure you are prepared for upcoming changes and that you can track your progress across your environment.
