Microsoft Defender for Cloud Customer Newsletter
What's new in Defender for Cloud? Now in public preview, DCSPM (Defender for Cloud Security Posture Management) extends its capabilities to cover serverless workloads in both Azure and AWS, like Azure Web Apps and AWS Lambda. For more information, see our public documentation. Defender for Cloud’s integration with Endor Labs is now GA Focus on exploitable open-source vulnerabilities across the application lifecycle with Defender for Cloud and Endor Lab integration. This feature is now generally available! For more details, please refer to this documentation. Blogs of the month In December, our team published the following blog posts: Defender for AI Alerts Demystifying AI Security Posture Management Breaking down security silos: Defender for Cloud expands into the Defender portal Part 3: Unified Security Intelligence – Orchestrating Gen AI Threat Detection with Microsoft Sentinel Defender for Cloud in the field Watch the latest Defender for Cloud in the Field YouTube episode here: Malware Automated Remediation New Secure score in Defender for Cloud GitHub Community Check out Module 27 in the Defender for Cloud lab on GitHub. This module covers gating mechanisms to enforce security policies and prevent deployment of insecure container images. Click here for MDC Github lab module 27 Customer journeys Discover how other organizations successfully use Microsoft Defender for Cloud to protect their cloud workloads. This month we are featuring Ford Motor Company. Ford Motor Company, an American multinational automobile manufacturer, and its innovative and evolving technology footprint and infrastructure needed equally sophisticated security. With Defender and other Microsoft products like Purview, Sentinel and Entra, Ford was able to modernize and deploy end-to-end protection, with Zero-trust architecture, and reduce vulnerabilities across the enterprise. Additionally, Ford’s SOC continues to respond with speed and precision with the help of Defender XDR. Join our community! JANUARY 20 (8:00 AM- 9:00 AM PT) What's new in Microsoft Defender CSPM We offer several customer connection programs within our private communities. By signing up, you can help us shape our products through activities such as reviewing product roadmaps, participating in co-design, previewing features, and staying up-to-date with announcements. Sign up at aka.ms/JoinCCP. We greatly value your input on the types of content that enhance your understanding of our security products. Your insights are crucial in guiding the development of our future public content. We aim to deliver material that not only educates but also resonates with your daily security challenges. Whether it’s through in-depth live webinars, real-world case studies, comprehensive best practice guides through blogs, or the latest product updates, we want to ensure our content meets your needs. Please submit your feedback on which of these formats do you find most beneficial and are there any specific topics you’re interested in https://aka.ms/PublicContentFeedback. Note: If you want to stay current with Defender for Cloud and receive updates in your inbox, please consider subscribing to our monthly newsletter: https://aka.ms/MDCNewsSubscribeBecome a Microsoft Defender for Cloud Ninja
[Last update: 12/31/2025] 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 Breaking down security silos: Microsoft Defender for Cloud Expands into the Defender Portal (12/2025) 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 Cloud posture management adds serverless protection for Azure and AWS (12/2025) Integrate AWS CloudTrail logs with Microsoft Defender for Cloud (12/2025) 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 Defender for Storage: Malware Scan Error Message Update Protecting Cloud Storage in the Age of AI Key findings from product telemetry: top storage security alerts across industries (12/2025) 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 Threat 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 Learn Live: Enable advanced threat protection for AI workloads with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Microsoft AI Security Story: Protection Across the Platform Microsoft Defender for AI Alerts (12/2025) Demystifying AI Security Posture Management (12/2025) Part 3: Unified Security Intelligence - Orchestrating GenAI Threat Detection with Microsoft Sentinel (12/2025) 🚀 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 PMBreaking down security silos: Microsoft Defender for Cloud Expands into the Defender Portal
Picture this: You’re managing security across Azure, AWS, and GCP. Alerts are coming from every direction, dashboards are scattered and your team spends more time switching portals than mitigating threats. Sound familiar? That’s the reality for many organizations today. Now imagine a different world—where visibility, control and response converge into one unified experience, where posture management, vulnerability insights and incident response live side by side. That world is no longer a dream: Microsoft Defender for Cloud (MDC) is now integrated into Defender XDR in public preview. The expansion of MDC into the Defender portal isn’t just a facelift. It’s a strategic leap forward toward a Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) that scales with your business. With Microsoft Defender for Cloud’s deep integration into the unified portal, we eliminate security silos and bring a modern, streamlined experience that is more intuitive and purpose-built for today’s security teams, while delivering a single pane of glass for hybrid and multi-cloud security. Here’s what makes this release a game-changer: Unified dashboard See everything with a single pane of glass—security posture, coverage, trends—across Azure, AWS and GCP. No more blind spots. Risk-based recommendations Prioritize by exploitability and business impact. Focus on what matters most, not just noise. Attack path analysis across all Defenders Visualize potential breach paths and cut them off before attackers can exploit them. Unified cloud assets inventory A consolidated view of assets, health data and onboarding state—so you know exactly where you stand. Cloud scopes & unified RBAC Create boundaries between teams, ensure each persona has access to the right level of data in the Defender portal. The enhanced in-portal experience includes all familiar Defender for Cloud capabilities and adds powerful new cloud-native workflows — now accessible directly within the Defender portal. Over time, additional features will be rolled out so that security teams can rely on a single pane of glass for all their pre- and post-breach operations. Unified cloud security dashboard A brand-new “Cloud Security→ Overview” page in Defender portal gives you a central place to assess your cloud posture across all connected clouds and environments (Azure, AWS, GCP, on-prem and onboarded environments such as Azure DevOps, Github, Gitlab, DockerHub, Jfrog). The unified dashboard displays the new Cloud Security Score, Threat Detection alerts and Defender coverage statistics. Amongst the high-level metrics, you can find the number of assessed resources, count of active recommendations, security alerts and more, giving you at-a-glance insight into your environment’s health. From here, you can drill into individual areas: Security posture, Exposure Management bringing visibility over Recommendations and Vulnerability Management, a unified asset inventory, workload specific insights and historical security posture data going back up to 6 months. Cloud Assets Inventory The cloud asset inventory view provides a unified, contextual inventory of all resources you have connected to Defender for Cloud — across cloud environments or on-premises. Assets are categorized by workload type, criticality, Defender coverage status, with integrated health data, risk signals, associated exposure management data, recommendations and related attack paths. Resources with unresolved security recommendations or alerts are clearly flagged — helping you quickly prioritize on risky or non-compliant assets. While you will get a complete list of cloud assets under "All assets", the rest of the tabs show you the complete view into each workload, with detailed and specific insights on each workload (VMs, Data, Containers, AI, API, DevOps, Identity and Serverless). Posture & Risk Management: From Secure Score to risk-based recommendations The traditional posture-management and CSPM capabilities of Defender for Cloud expand into the Defender portal under “Exposure Management.” A key upgrade is the new Cloud Secure Score — a risk-based model that factors in asset criticality and risk factors (e.g. internet exposure, data sensitivity) to give a more accurate, prioritized view of cloud security posture. The score ranges from 0 to 100, where 100 means perfect posture. It aggregates across all assets, weighting each asset by its criticality and the risk of its open recommendations. You can view the Cloud Secure Score overall, by subscription, cloud environment or workload type. This allows security teams to quickly understand which parts of their estate require urgent attention, and track posture improvements over time. Defender for Cloud continues to generate security recommendations based on assessments against built-in (or custom) security standards. When you have the Defender CSPM plan enabled in the Defender portal, these recommendations are surfaced with risk-based prioritization, where recommendations are tied to high-risk or critical assets show up first — helping you remediate what matters most. Each recommendation shows risk level, number of attack paths, MITRE ATT&CK tactics and techniques. For each recommendation you will see the remediation steps, attack map and the initiatives it contributes to - such as the Cloud Secure score. Continued remediation — across all subscriptions and environments — is the path toward a hardened cloud estate. Proactive Attack Surface Management: Attack path analysis A powerful addition is the "Attack paths" overview, which helps you visualize potential paths attackers could use — from external exposure zones to your most critical business assets to infiltrate your environment and access sensitive data. Defender’s algorithm models your network, resource interactions, vulnerabilities and external exposures to surface realistic, exploitable attack paths, rather than generic threat scenarios, while putting focus on the top targets, entry points and choke points involved in attack paths. The Attack Paths page organizes findings by risk level and correlates data across all Defender solutions, allowing users to rapidly detect high-impact attack paths and focus remediation on the most vulnerable assets. For some workloads, for example container-based or runtime workloads, additional prerequisites may apply (e.g. enabling agentless scanning or relevant Defender plans) to get full visualization. Governance, Visibility and Access: Cloud Scopes and Unified RBAC The expansion into the Defender portal doesn’t just bring new dashboards — it also brings unified access and governance using a single identity and RBAC model for the Defender solutions. Now you can manage cloud security permissions alongside identity, device and app permissions. Cloud Scopes ensure that teams with appropriate roles within the defined permission groups (e.g. Security operations, Security posture) can access the assets and features they need, scoped to specific subscriptions and environments. This unified scope system simplifies operations, reduces privilege sprawl and enforces consistent governance across cloud environments and across security domains. The expansion of Defender for Cloud into the Defender portal is more than a consolidation—it’s a strategic shift toward a truly integrated security ecosystem. Cloud security is no longer an isolated discipline. It is intertwined with exposure management, threat detection, identity protection and organizational governance. To conclude, this new experience empowers security teams to: Understand cloud risk in full context Prioritize remediation that reduces real-world threats Investigate attacks holistically across cloud and non-cloud systems Govern access and configurations with greater consistency Predict and prevent attack paths before they happen In this new era, cloud security becomes a continuous, intelligent and unified journey. The Defender portal is now the command center for that journey—one where insights, context and action converge to help organizations secure the present while anticipating the future. Ready to Explore? Defender for Cloud in the Defender portal Integration FAQ Enable Preview Features Azure portal vs Defender portal feature comparison What’s New in Defender for Cloud
Unleashing the Power of Microsoft Defender for Cloud – Unique Capabilities for Robust Protection
So you have implemented a non-native Cloud Security Posture Management solution but there are security gaps that you might not have considered. How Defender for Cloud is uniquely positioned to secure your cloud attack surface.Deploy Microsoft Defender for Cloud via Terraform
Terraform is an Infrastructure as a Code tool created by Hashicorp. It’s used to manage your infrastructure in Azure, as well as other clouds. In this article, we’ll be showing you how to deploy Microsoft Defender for Cloud (MDC) using Terraform from scratch.Policy Distribution Dashboard for Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Understanding the current state of your environment is the first step towards improving its security posture. Microsoft Defender for Cloud is designed to strengthen the three pillars every enterprise relies on which is Protection, Detection & Response providing you CSPM & CWPP functionalities. In Defender for Cloud, the posture management features provide Visibility and hardening guidance and the central feature that enables you to achieve these goals is Secure Score. Defender for Cloud continually assesses your resources, subscriptions and organization for security issues, and it aggregates all the findings into a single score by providing you list of recommendations. Typically, these are gaping holes that need to be fixed ASAP, while some recommendations are more long-term or just less critical and some more critical. Current Challenge One of the questions we constantly get asked is, How do I ensure that the Security posture will not start deteriorating again after the fixes have been made (or) how do I ensure I apply guardrails at the beginning of deployment phase for every service in Azure. It is often the case that development teams have full control of their subscriptions/resources. As a result, the configurations start to drift. The cure is simple, we need to have a security baseline defined. Before you start reading about the proposed solution, it is important to understand, Defender for Cloud and Azure policies work together to help monitor and report on compliance in your environment. Like security policies, Defender for Cloud initiatives are also created in Azure Policy. You can use Azure policy to manage your policies, build initiatives, and assign initiatives to multiple subscriptions or for entire management groups. The default initiative automatically gets assigned to every subscription in Defender for Cloud and that is Azure Security Benchmark. Azure Security Benchmark (ASB) consolidates Microsoft security best practices in Azure. It’s a great resource for design decisions, and the controls are mapped to industry standards. We have also created a policy set in Azure which can be used for monitoring resource compliance against the baseline. This widely respected benchmark builds on the controls from the Center for Internet Security (CIS) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) with a focus on cloud-centric security. Almost every recommendation from Defender for Cloud has an underlying policy that is derived from a requirement in the benchmark. To learn about the built-in policies that are monitored by Defender for Cloud, check this out. Here you can find all the Azure Policy definitions in the Defender for Cloud category. Proposed Solution Up until now, there was no single view with which you could visualize all the policies you have assigned to monitor compliance of your environment. You had to browse through many different blades in Azure to assess and obtain this information. With this blog, I’m introducing you to a workbook that acts as a single pane of glass representing the policies and baselines across multiple subscriptions in Azure, in your environment as the first crucial step is to inventory and gain visibility. What’s in the Dashboard The new Policy Distribution Dashboard for Microsoft Defender for Cloud provides a unified view and deep visibility into the configuration of your overall policy structure in Azure. The dashboard is powered by Azure Resource Graph (ARG) queries and divided into different sections. The workbook can be edited, and all queries can be modified to meet your needs. The workbook provides different sections like: Initiatives that’s assigned to the subscriptions The recommendations that are exempted and that are policy disabled List of Custom policies Regulatory Compliance Assessment State Policies by effect Compliance by policy assignment How to Deploy The Policy Distribution Dashboard is available in the Microsoft Defender for Cloud GitHub Repo page, under Workbooks and can be accessed directly with its direct URL The workbook can be deployed quickly in the Azure Commercial and Gov cloud environments by clicking the respective “Deploy to Azure” buttons on the workbook page. How to Use To use this dashboard, you need at least Reader permission at the subscription level. Assuming you have the required permissions, watch the screen capture below to learn about how to navigate through and use the dashboard. Conclusion The Policy Distribution dashboard provides valuable information about your policy assignments and it’s status. The workbook is available to all customers free of charge and does not require you to be a paid customer of Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Additional Resources To learn more about Microsoft Defender for Cloud, visit: https://aka.ms/ascninja To learn about Microsoft Defender for Cloud workbooks, visit: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security-center/custom-dashboards-azure-workbooks Acknowledgements Special thanks to Lior Arviv for the partnership in reviewing and providing feedbacks on the artifact and reviewing article. Many thanks to @Rebecca Halla & YuriDiogenes in supporting this initiative and suggesting feedbacks.Microsoft Defender for Cloud PoC Series - Multicloud with GCP
Introduction The purpose of this article is to provide specific guidelines on how to perform a Proof of Concept (PoC) for Microsoft Defender for Cloud’s native GCP (Google Cloud Platform) support. This article is part of a series of articles called The Microsoft Defender for Cloud PoC Series, each providing specific guidelines on how to perform a PoC for a specific Microsoft Defender for Cloud plan. For a more holistic approach and where you need to validate Microsoft Defender for Cloud’s Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) and Cloud Workload Protection (CWP) capabilities all up, see the How to Effectively Perform an Microsoft Defender for Cloud PoC article. Planning This section highlights important considerations and availability information that you should be aware of when planning for the PoC. NOTE: At the time of writing this article, Microsoft Defender for Cloud native GCP support isn’t available for national clouds (such as Azure Government and Azure China 21Vianet). For most actual information, see Feature support in government and national clouds. The first step of the PoC begins with gaining a clear understanding of the benefits the native GCP support in Microsoft Defender for Cloud brings to your organization. This includes: Native Agentless CSPM for GCP resources Native CWP support for GCP GKE clusters Native CWP support for GCP Virtual Machine instances Native CWP support for SQL servers running on GCP Compute instances The CSPM for GCP resources is completely agentless and at the time of writing this article, supports the data types in GCP as mentioned towards the end of this article. Additionally, Microsoft Defender for Cloud currently also supports assessing your GCP resources against regulatory standards which currently include: GCP Default, GCP CIS 1.1.0, GCP CIS 1.2.0, GCP ISO 27001, GCP NIST 800 53, and PCI DSS 3.2.1. NOTE: Standards are added to the dashboard as they become available. The preceding list might not contain recently added standards. Keep in mind that the CSPM plan for GCP resources is available for Free. Refer to this document for additional information. The CWP support for GCP GKE clusters offers a wide set of capabilities including discovery of unprotected clusters, advanced threat detection for the control plane and workload level, Kubernetes data plane recommendations (through the Azure Policy extension) and more. The CWP support for GCP VM instances offers a wide set of capabilities, including automatic provisioning of pre-requisites on existing and new machines, vulnerability assessment, integrated license for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE), file integrity monitoring and more. The CWP support for SQL servers running on GCP Compute Instances offers a wide set of capabilities, including advanced threat protection, vulnerability assessment scanning, and more. Now that we’ve touched briefly on the benefits that Microsoft Defender for Cloud’s native GCP support provides, let’s move onto the next step. Next up is identifying which use cases the PoC should cover. A few common use cases are ensuring that Compute instances do not have public IP addresses, ensuring that the default network does not exist in a project, or ensuring that VM disks for critical VMs are encrypted with Customer-Supplied Encryption Keys. Preparation and Implementation: This section highlights the requirements that you should be aware of before starting the PoC. For the complete list of permission requirements and additional pre-requisites, see the Availability section. There are three main steps when preparing to enable Microsoft Defender for Cloud’s native GCP support. Determining which capabilities are in the scope of the PoC At the time of writing this article, Defender for Cloud supports the following GCP capabilities: (see Figure 1): Native Agentless CSPM for GCP resources Native CWP support for GCP GKE clusters Native CWP support for GCP Virtual Machine instances Native CWP support for SQL servers running on GCP Compute Engine Figure 1: Native CSPM and CWP capabilities for GCP in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Selecting the GCP projects on which you’d like to perform the PoC For the purposes of this PoC, it’s important that you identify which GCP project(s) are going to be used to perform the PoC of Defender for Cloud’s native GCP support. You can choose a single GCP project or optionally, you can choose your GCP organization, which will include each project discovered under the provisioned organization. Connecting GCP projects Microsoft Defender for Cloud Figure 2: Connecting GCP accounts to Microsoft Defender for Cloud To connect GCP projects to Microsoft Defender for Cloud you need to perform a series of steps in Azure and GCP. For detailed technical guidance see Connect your GCP projects. For a video of step-by-step guidance on how this process looks like end-to-end in Azure and GCP, see this short video. NOTE: If you’ve enabled sending control plane audit logs from the GKE control plane to your project’s Cloud Logging and are exporting data out of GCP (i.e. to Azure or an external SIEM), you will incur additional costs on the GCP side. Validation Once you’ve created the connector, you can validate it by analyzing the data relevant to the use cases that your PoC covers. When validating recommendations for GCP resources and adding custom assessments, you can consult Custom assessments and standards in Microsoft Defender for Cloud for GCP workloads (Preview) - Microsoft Tech Community. When validating alerts for GCP VM instances, you can consult reference list of alerts for machines. When validating alerts for GKE clusters, you can consult reference list of alerts for containers – Kubernetes clusters. When validating alerts for SQL servers running on GCP VM instances, you can consult reference list of alerts. You can also export Defender for Cloud security alerts to a SIEM (i.e. Azure Sentinel or 3 rd party SIEM). Learn more about how to stream alerts to a SIEM, SOAR or ITSM. Learn more about how to investigate Microsoft Defender for Cloud alerts using Microsoft Sentinel. Closing Considerations: By the end of this PoC, you should be able to determine the value of the native GCP integration in Defender for Cloud. The native GCP support provides agentless CSPM for GCP resources and advanced CWP capabilities for servers, containers, and databases. For a more holistic approach where you need to validate Microsoft Defender for Cloud’s CSPM and CWP capabilities, see How to Effectively Perform an Microsoft Defender for Cloud PoC article. P.S. To stay up to date on helpful tips and new release, subscribe to our Microsoft Defender for Cloud Newsletter and join our Tech Community where you can be one of the first to hear the latest Defender for Cloud news, announcements and get your questions answered by Azure Security experts.
