Deep Dive: Insider Risk Management in Microsoft Purview
Hi everyone I recently explored the Insider Risk Management (IRM) workflow in Microsoft Purview and how it connects across governance, compliance, and security. This end-to-end process helps organizations detect risky activities, triage alerts, investigate incidents, and take corrective action. Key Phases in the IRM Workflow: Policy: Define rules to detect both accidental (data spillage) and malicious risks (IP theft, fraud, insider trading). Alerts: Generate alerts when policies are violated. Triage: Prioritize and classify alerts by severity. Investigate: Use dashboards, Content Explorer, and Activity Explorer to dig into context. Action: Take remediation steps such as user training, legal escalation, or SIEM integration. Key takeaways from my lab: Transparency is essential (balancing privacy vs. protection). Integration across Microsoft 365 apps makes IRM policies actionable. Defender + Purview together unify detection + governance for insider risk. This was part of my ongoing security lab series. Curious to hear from the community — how are you applying Insider Risk Management in your environments or labs?Securing Data with Microsoft Purview IRM + Defender: A Hands-On Lab
Hi everyone I recently explored how Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management (IRM) integrates with Microsoft Defender to secure sensitive data. This lab demonstrates how these tools work together to identify, investigate, and mitigate insider risks. What I covered in this lab: Set up Insider Risk Management policies in Microsoft Purview Connected Microsoft Defender to monitor risky activities Walkthrough of alerts triggered → triaged → escalated into cases Key governance and compliance insights Key learnings from the lab: Purview IRM policies detect both accidental risks (like data spillage) and malicious ones (IP theft, fraud, insider trading) IRM principles include transparency (balancing privacy vs. protection), configurable policies, integrations across Microsoft 365 apps, and actionable alerts IRM workflow follows: Define policies → Trigger alerts → Triage by severity → Investigate cases (dashboards, Content Explorer, Activity Explorer) → Take action (training, legal escalation, or SIEM integration) Defender + Purview together provide unified coverage: Defender detects and responds to threats, while Purview governs compliance and insider risk This was part of my ongoing series of security labs. Curious to hear from others — how are you approaching Insider Risk Management in your organizations or labs?
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE) Live Response and Performance Script.
Importance of MDE Live Response and Scripts Live Response is crucial for incident response and forensic investigations. It enables analysts to: Collect evidence remotely. Run diagnostics without interrupting users. Remediate threats in real time. For more information on MDE Live Response visit the below documentation. Investigate entities on devices using live response in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint - Microsoft Defender for Endpoint | Microsoft Learn PowerShell scripts enhance this capability by automating tasks such as: Performance monitoring. Log collection. Configuration validation. This automation improves efficiency, consistency, and accuracy in security operations. For more details on running performance analyzer visit the below link. Performance analyzer for Microsoft Defender Antivirus - Microsoft Defender for Endpoint | Microsoft Learn While performance analyzer is run locally on the system to collect Microsoft Defender Anti-Virus performance details , in this document we are describing on running the performance analyzer from MDE Live Response console. This is a situation where Security administrators do not have access to the servers managed by Infra administrators. Prerequisites Required Roles and Permissions To use Live Response in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE), specific roles and permissions are necessary. The Security Administrator role, or an equivalent custom role, is typically required to enable Live Response within the portal. Users must possess the “Manage Portal Settings” permission to activate Live Response features. Permissions Needed for Live Response Actions Active Remediation Actions under Security Operations: Take response actions Approve or dismiss pending remediation actions Manage allowed/blocked lists for automation and indicators Unified Role-Based Access Control (URBAC): From 16/02/2025, new customers must use URBAC. Roles are assigned to Microsoft Entra groups. Access must be assigned to device groups for Live Response to function properly. Setup Requirements Enable Live Response: Navigate to Advanced Features in the Defender portal. Only users with the “Manage Portal Settings” permission can enable this feature. Supported Operating System Versions: Windows 10/11 (Version 1909 or later) Windows Server (2012 R2 with KB5005292, 2016 with KB5005292, 2019, 2022, 2025) macOS and Linux (specific minimum versions apply) Actual Script Details and Usage The following PowerShell script records Microsoft Defender performance for 60 seconds and saves the output to a temporary file: # Get the default temp folder for the current user $tempPath = [System.IO.Path]::GetTempPath() $outputFile = Join-Path -Path $tempPath -ChildPath "DefenderTrace.etl" $durationSeconds = 60 try { Write-Host "Starting Microsoft Defender performance recording for $durationSeconds seconds..." Write-Host "Recording will be saved to: $outputFile" # Start performance recording with duration New-MpPerformanceRecording -RecordTo $outputFile -Seconds $durationSeconds Write-Host "Recording completed. Output saved to $outputFile" } catch { Write-Host "Failed to start or complete performance recording: $_" } 🔧 Usage Notes: Run this script in an elevated PowerShell session. Ensure Defender is active, and the system supports performance recording. The output .etl file can be analyzed using performance tools like Windows Performance Analyzer. Steps to Initiate Live Response Session and Run the script. Below are the steps to initiate a Live Response session from Security.Microsoft.com portal. Below screenshot shows that console session is established. Then upload the script file to console library from your local system. Type “Library” to list the files. You can see that script got uploaded to Library. Now you execute the script by “run <file name>” command. Output of the script gets saved in the Library. Run “getfile <path of the file>” to get the file downloaded to your local system download folder. Then you can run Get-MpPerformanceReport command from your local system PowerShell as shown below to generate the report from the output file collected in above steps. Summary and Benefits This document outlines the use of MDE Live Response and PowerShell scripting for performance diagnostics. The provided script helps security teams monitor Defender performance efficiently. Similar scripts can be executed from Live Response console including signature updates , start/stop services etc. These scripts are required as a part of security investigation or MDE performance troubleshooting process. Benefits: Faster incident response through remote diagnostics. Improved visibility into endpoint behaviour. Automation of routine performance checks. Enhanced forensic capabilities with minimal user disruption.Making the Most of Attack Simulation Training: Dynamic Groups, Automation, and User Education
Learn how to maximize the impact of Attack Simulation Training in Microsoft Defender for Office 365. This guide covers dynamic groups, automation, localization, and reporting to help you build a scalable and effective security awareness program.
New Blog Post | Prioritize Risk remediation with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Attack Path Analysis
Prioritize Risk remediation with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Attack Path Analysis - Microsoft Community Hub Our previous blogs “A Proactive Approach to Cloud Security Posture Management with Microsoft Defender for Cloud,” and "Proacting Hunting with Cloud Security Explorer in Defender for Cloud - Microsoft Community Hub" emphasized the importance of proactive security posture management and outlined a successful organizational structure for security teams. As a follow up article here we walk you through the scenarios how to identify and mitigate the biggest security risk issues while distinguishing them from less risky issues. Cloud environments are dynamically changing and to support rapidly changing threat and business environments in near real time, security teams need to act rapidly and effectively to mitigate risks and protect sensitive data and critical systems. Though cloud security solutions detect vulnerabilities and misconfigurations, growing number of assets can mean hundreds or thousands of security recommendations, overwhelming the security professionals to remediate the risks. By using Microsoft Defender for Cloud Attack Path Analysis, organizations can gain a better understanding of the potential attack paths that an attacker may take to compromise their cloud environment. This enables security professionals to prioritize risk remediation efforts and focus their resources on the most critical vulnerabilities and risks, to improve their overall security posture. To understand the prerequisites to Identify and remediate attack paths, visit: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/how-to-manage-attack-path#availability Security administrators can use attack path analysis for risk remediation by following these steps: Identify the Attack Paths: The first step is to identify the attack paths that an attacker might take to exploit vulnerabilities in the system. This includes mapping out the various components of the system, identifying the entry points, and analyzing the potential paths that an attacker might take. Analyze the Risks: After identifying the attack paths, the next step is to analyze the risks associated with each path. This includes evaluating the likelihood and impact of a successful attack and identifying the potential consequences for the organization. Prioritize Remediation Efforts: Based on the analysis of the risks, security administrators should prioritize their remediation efforts. This includes focusing on the most critical vulnerabilities and attack paths that present the greatest risk to the organization. Develop and Implement Mitigation Strategies: After prioritizing remediation efforts, security administrators should develop and implement mitigation strategies to address the identified vulnerabilities and attack paths. Test and Monitor: After implementing mitigation strategies, it is important to monitor the system to ensure that the vulnerabilities have been addressed and the attack paths have been closed. Security administrators need to proactively use the https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/how-to-manage-attack-path to ensure all critical paths are remediatedMicrosoft Defender ATP and Microsoft Flow Integration
Hi Community, I want to share with you the latest about Microsoft Defender ATP and Microsoft Flow integration, not only from technical side, but show you a real-scenario on how to use this feature, to detect and respond to emerging threats with one click from your mobile device. With the help of fellow MVPs, I created a demo that ensures your security teams are alerted by email at all times about threats across your organization, and they can take actions from within that email whether they are at work, traveling and from their mobile devices. Here is a link to the full demo in a https://blog.ahasayen.com/ms-flow-and-ms-defender-atp-integration/ and on a https://youtu.be/uT2RQf_uPKA Please let me know if you have any questions regarding this integration by connecting to me on Twitter @ammarhasayen. Bonus Demo: You can also watch a real scenario demo showing how to https://blog.ahasayen.com/protect-your-ceo-machine-with-microsoft-flow-microsoft-defender-atp/
