Become a Microsoft Defender for Cloud Ninja
[Last update: 03/30/2026] 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 Microsoft Defender for Cloud Customer Newsletter (03/2026) New innovations in Microsoft Defender to strengthen multi-cloud, containers, and AI model security (03/2026) 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 Storage How to Effectively Perform an Microsoft Defender for Cloud PoC 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 Cloud secure score in Microsoft Defender for Cloud - Microsoft Defender for Cloud Enhance your Secure Score in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Security recommendations Active User (Public Preview) Resource exemption Create custom security standards and recommendations - Microsoft Defender for Cloud Deliver a Security Score weekly briefing Send Microsoft Defender for Cloud Recommendations to Azure Resource Stakeholders User roles and permissions - Microsoft Defender for Cloud Secure Score Reduction Alert 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 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 Integrate AWS CloudTrail logs with Microsoft Defender for Cloud 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 Exempt resources at scale - Microsoft Defender for Cloud 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 What’s New in 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 Fast-Start Checklist for Microsoft Defender CSPM: From Enablement to Best Practices 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 File Integrity Monitoring requires MDE agent version 10.8799+ for legacy Windows machines (03/2026) Microsoft Defender for Containers Basics of Defender for Containers Secure your Containers from Build to Runtime Guarding Kubernetes Deployments: Runtime Gating for Vulnerable Images Now Generally Available 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 Defending Container Runtime from Malware with Microsoft Defender for Containers (03/2026) 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 Malware scan results now in blob tags (ADLS Gen2 HNS | Public Preview) (03/2026) 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 Modern Database Protection: From Visibility to Threat Detection with Microsoft Defender for Cloud (03/2026) 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 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 Stream alerts to monitoring solutions - Microsoft Defender for Cloud | Microsoft Learn 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 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 Extending Defender’s AI Threat Protection to Microsoft Foundry Agents 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 Demystifying AI Security Posture Management Part 3: Unified Security Intelligence - Orchestrating GenAI Threat Detection with Microsoft Sentinel A new era of agents, a new era of posture Defending the AI Era: New Microsoft Capabilities to Protect AI (03/2026) 🚀 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 PMUpdating best practices for Domain Controllers
Customers are on a journey and hybrid identity environments will be an important state for many customers for a long time. Domain Controllers still act as a pivotal piece of infrastructure for many organizations, and the identities that Active Directory holds are often the target for attackers.Unlock Proactive Defense: Microsoft Security Exposure Management Now Generally Available
As the digital landscape grows increasingly interconnected, defenders face a critical challenge: the data and insights from various security tools are often siloed or, at best, loosely integrated. This fragmented approach makes it difficult to gain a holistic view of threats or assess their potential impact on critical assets. In a world where a single compromised asset can trigger a domino effect across connected resources, thinking in graphs has become essential for defenders. This approach breaks down silos, allowing them to visualize relationships between assets, vulnerabilities, and threats, ultimately enabling proactive risk management and strengthening their stance against attackers. Traditional vulnerability management is no longer sufficient. While patching every potential weakness might seem like a solution, it's neither practical nor effective. Instead, modern security strategies must focus on the exposures that are easiest for attackers to exploit, prioritizing vulnerabilities that present the greatest risk. This shift marks the evolution of vulnerability management into what we now call exposure management. Earlier this year, we launched Microsoft Security Exposure Management in public preview, introducing defenders to powerful foundational capabilities for holistic exposure management. Backed by extensive threat research and Microsoft’s vast visibility into security signals, these tools provide coverage for commonly observed attack techniques. Exposure Management includes Attack Surface Management, Attack Path Analysis, and Unified Exposure Insights— solutions that offer security teams unmatched visibility and insight into their risk landscape. Attack Surface Management offers a complete, continuous view of an organization’s attack surface, enabling teams to fully explore assets, uncover interdependencies, and monitor exposure across the entire digital estate. Central to this is the identification of critical assets, which are often prime targets for attackers. By highlighting these key assets, security teams can prioritize their efforts and better understand which areas require the most protection. By giving security teams a clear map of their exposure points, Attack Surface Management empowers a more informed and comprehensive defense strategy. Attack Path Analysis takes this a step further, guiding teams in visualizing and prioritizing high-risk attack paths across diverse environments, with a specific focus on critical assets. This capability allows for targeted, effective remediation of vulnerabilities that impact these key assets, helping to significantly reduce exposure and the likelihood of a breach by focusing on the most impactful pathways an attacker might exploit. Unified Exposure Insights gives decision-makers a clear view of an organization's threat exposure, helping security teams address key questions about their posture. Through Security Initiatives, teams focus on priority areas like cloud security and ransomware, supported by actionable metrics to track progress, prioritize risks, and align remediation with business goals for proactive risk management. Exposure Management translates vulnerabilities and exposures into more understandable language about risk and actionable initiatives related to our environment, which helps stakeholders and leadership grasp the impact more clearly. - Bjorn Pauwels Cyber Security Architect Atlas Copco Throughout the public preview, we collaborated closely with customers and industry experts, refining Microsoft Security Exposure Management based on real-world usage and feedback. This partnership revealed that the biggest challenges extended beyond deploying the right tools; they involved enhancing organizational maturity, evolving processes, and fostering a proactive security mindset. These insights drove strategic enhancements to features and user experience, ensuring the solution effectively supports organizations aiming to shift from reactive to proactive threat management. For example, several organizations created a 'RiskOps' role specifically to champion cross-domain threat exposure reduction, breaking down silos and unifying teams around common security goals. Security Operations (SecOps) teams now report significantly streamlined processes by leveraging asset criticality in incident prioritization, helping them address the most impactful threats faster than previously possible. Likewise, vulnerability management teams are using enhanced attack map and path analysis features to refine patching strategies, focusing more precisely on vulnerabilities most likely to lead to real risks. These examples underscore Exposure Management's ability to drive practical, measurable improvements across diverse teams, empowering them to stay ahead of evolving threats with a targeted, collaborative approach to risk management. Exposure Management enables organizations to zero in on their most critical exposures and act quickly. By breaking down silos and connecting security insights across the entire digital estate, organizations gain a holistic view of their risk posture. This comprehensive visibility is crucial for making faster, more informed decisions—reducing exposure before attackers can exploit it. We are excited to announce the general availability of Microsoft Security Exposure Management This release includes several new capabilities designed to help you build and enhance a Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) program, ensuring that you stay ahead of threats by continuously identifying, prioritizing, and mitigating risks across your digital landscape. Global rollout started 19 Nov, 2024 so keep an eye out for Exposure Management in your Defender portal, https://security.microsoft.com Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management To help you establish a comprehensive, single source of truth for your assets, we are expanding our signal collection beyond Microsoft solutions to include third-party integrations. The new Exposure connectors gallery offers a range of connectors to popular security vendors. Data collected through these connectors is normalized within our exposure graph, enhancing your device inventory, mapping relationships, and revealing new attack paths for comprehensive attack surface visibility. Additional insights like asset criticality, internet exposure and business application or operational affiliation are incorporated from the connected tools to enrich the context that Exposure Management can apply on the collected assets. This integrated data can be visualized through the Attack Map tool or explored using advanced hunting queries via KQL (Kusto Query Language). External data connectors to non-Microsoft security tools are currently in public preview, we are continuously working to add more connectors for leading market solutions, ensuring you have the broadest possible visibility across your security ecosystem. Discover more about data connectors in our documentation. Extended Attack Path Analysis Attack Path Analysis provides organizations with a crucial attacker’s-eye perspective, revealing how adversaries might exploit vulnerabilities and move laterally across both cloud and on-premise environments. By identifying and visualizing potential paths – from initial access points, such as internet-exposed devices, to critical assets – security teams gain valuable insight into the paths attackers could take, including hybrid attack paths that traverse cloud and on-prem infrastructure. Microsoft Security Exposure Management addresses the challenge of fragmented visibility by offering defenders an integrated view of their most critical assets and the likely routes attackers might exploit. This approach moves beyond isolated vulnerabilities, allowing teams to see their environment as a connected landscape of risks across hybrid infrastructures, ultimately enhancing their ability to secure critical assets and discover potential entry points. We are excited to update on our solution’s latest enhancement, which includes a high-level overview experience, offering a clear understanding of top attack scenarios, entry points, and common target types. Additionally, Exposure Management highlights chokepoints with a dedicated experience – these chokepoints are assets that appear in multiple attack paths, enabling cost-effective mitigation. Chokepoints also support blast radius querying, showing how attackers might exploit these assets to reach critical targets. In addition, we are adding support for new adversarial techniques including: DACL Support: We now include Discretionary Access Control Lists (DACLs) in our attack path analysis, through which more extensive attack paths are uncovered, particularly those that exploit misconfigurations or excessive permissions within access control lists. Hybrid Attack Paths: Our expanded analysis now identifies hybrid attack paths, capturing routes that originate on-premises and extend into cloud environments, providing defenders with a more complete view of potential threats across both infrastructures. In essence, attack path management allows defenders to transform isolated vulnerabilities into actionable insights across hybrid infrastructures. This comprehensive perspective enables security teams to shift from reactive to proactive defense, strengthening resilience by focusing on the most critical threats across their entire environment. Unified Exposure Insights With Microsoft Security Exposure Management, organizations can transform raw technical data into actionable insights that bridge the gap between cybersecurity teams and business decision-makers. By offering clear, real-time metrics, this platform answers key questions such as "How secure are we?", "What risks do we face?", and "Where should we focus first to reduce our exposure?" These insights not only provide a comprehensive view of your security posture but also guide prioritization and remediation efforts. To help your organization embrace a proactive security mindset, we introduced Security Initiatives—a strategic framework to focus your teams on critical aspects of your attack surface. These initiatives help teams to scope, discover, prioritize, and validate security findings while ensuring effective communication with stakeholders. Now, we are enhancing these capabilities to offer even greater visibility and control. The expanded initiative catalog now features new programs targeting high-priority areas like SaaS security, IoT, OT, and alongside existing domain and threat-focused initiatives. Each initiative continues to provide real-time metrics, expert-curated recommendations, and progress tracking, empowering security teams to drive maturity across their security programs. With this expanded toolset, organizations can further align their security efforts with evolving risks, ensuring a continuous, dynamic response to the threat landscape. SaaS Security Initiative (Powered by Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps): Effective SaaS posture management is essential for proactively preventing SaaS-related attacks. The SaaS Security initiative delivers a comprehensive view of your SaaS security coverage, health, configuration, and performance and consolidates all best-practice recommendations for configuring SaaS apps into measurable metrics to help security teams efficiently manage and prioritize critical security controls. To optimize this initiative, activate key application connectors in Defender for Cloud Apps, including Microsoft 365, Salesforce, ServiceNow, GitHub, Okta, Citrix ShareFile, DocuSign, Dropbox, Google Workspace, NetDocuments, Workplace (preview), Zendesk, Zoom (preview), and Atlassian. For more information, check out https://aka.ms/Ignite2024MDA OT Security Initiative (Powered by Microsoft Defender for IoT): The convergence of Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT) has transformed industries worldwide, but it has also introduced significant new security challenges, particularly for industrial operations and critical infrastructure. The modern threat landscape, now accelerated by the growing capabilities of AI, demands specialized security solutions for these sensitive environments. The OT Security Initiative addresses these challenges by providing practitioners with a comprehensive solution to identify, monitor, and mitigate risks within OT environments, ensuring both operational reliability and safety. By leveraging Microsoft Defender for Endpoint discovery, the initiative offers unified visibility across enterprise and OT networks, empowering organizations to identify unprotected OT assets, assess their risk levels, and implement security measures across all physical sites. Enterprise IoT Security Initiative (Powered by Microsoft Defender for IoT): This initiative delivers comprehensive visibility into the risks associated with IoT devices within the enterprise, enabling organizations to assess their resilience against these emerging threats. As IoT devices frequently connect to endpoints, one another, or the internet, they become prime targets for cyberattacks. Therefore, businesses must continuously monitor the security of these devices, tracking their distribution, configuration, connectivity, exposure, and behavior to prevent the introduction of hidden vulnerabilities. By leveraging this initiative, organizations can proactively manage IoT risks and safeguard their digital landscape. Proactively understand how system updates affect scores The new versioning feature offers proactive notifications about upcoming version updates, giving users advanced visibility into anticipated metric changes and their impact on related initiatives. A dedicated side panel provides comprehensive details about each update, including the expected release date, release notes, current and updated metric values, and any changes to related initiative scores. Additionally, users can share direct feedback on the updates within the platform, fostering continuous improvement and responsiveness to user needs. Exposure History With the new history-reasoning feature, users can investigate metric changes by reviewing detailed asset exposure updates. In the initiative's history tab, selecting a specific metric now reveals a list of assets where exposure has been either added or removed, providing clearer insight into exposure shifts over time. Unified Role-Based Access Control (URBAC) Support We are excited to introduce the capability to manage user privileges and access to Microsoft Security Exposure Management through custom roles within the Microsoft Defender XDR Unified Role-Based Access Control (URBAC) system. This enhancement ensures higher productivity and efficient access control on a single, centralized platform. The unified RBAC permissions model offers administrators an alternative to Entra ID directory roles, allowing for more granular permission management and customization. This model complements Entra ID global roles by enabling administrators to implement access policies based on the principle of least privilege, thereby assigning users only the permissions they need for their daily tasks. We recommend maintaining three custom roles that align with organizational posture personas: Posture Reader: Users with read-only access to Exposure Management data. Posture Contributor: Users with read and manage permissions, enabling them to handle security initiatives and metrics, as well as manage posture recommendations. Posture Admin: Users who likely already hold higher-level permissions within the Microsoft Defender portal and can now perform sensitive posture-related actions within Exposure Management experiences. To learn more about the Microsoft XDR Unified RBAC permissions model, click here. For more information on Microsoft Security Exposure Management access management with unified RBAC, click here. How to get Microsoft Security Exposure Management Exposure Management is available in the Microsoft Defender portal at https://security.microsoft.com. Access to the exposure management blade and features in the Microsoft Defender portal is available with any of the following licenses: Microsoft 365 E5 or A5 Microsoft 365 E3 Microsoft 365 E3 with the Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security E5 add-on Microsoft 365 A3 with the Microsoft 365 A5 security add-on Microsoft Enterprise Mobility + Security E5 or A5 Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (Plan 1 and 2) Microsoft Defender for Identity Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Microsoft Defender for Office 365 (Plans 1 and 2) Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management Integration of data from the above tools, as well as other Microsoft security tools like Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Microsoft Defender Cloud Security Posture Management, and Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management, is available with these licenses. Integration of non-Microsoft security tools will incur a consumption-based cost based on the number of assets in the connected security tool. The external connectors are currently in public preview, with plans to reach general availability (GA) by the end of Q1 2025. Pricing will be announced before billing for external connectors begins at GA. Learn More The threat landscape is constantly shifting, and the attack surface continues to grow, leaving organizations exposed. Outpacing threat actors through patching alone is no longer feasible. Now is the time to evolve your vulnerability management strategy to be smarter, more dynamic, and more powerful — focused on exposures and built on a proactive mindset. By adopting a Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) process, you can stay ahead of attackers. Microsoft Security Exposure Management equips you with the tools to scope, discover, prioritize, validate, and mobilize your teams, empowering you to defend your organization with precision and confidence. Embrace the future of cybersecurity resilience—contact us today to learn more, sign up for a demo, or speak with our team about how Microsoft Security Exposure Management can transform your defense strategy. Don’t wait to secure your organization. Get started today. Explore overview and core scenarios on our website Learn about capabilities and scenarios in blog posts written by our engineering and research teamsPlanning your move to Microsoft Defender portal for all Microsoft Sentinel customers
In November 2023, Microsoft announced our strategy to unify security operations by bringing the best of XDR and SIEM together. Our first step was bringing Microsoft Sentinel into the Microsoft Defender portal, giving teams a single, comprehensive view of incidents, reducing queue management, enriching threat intel, streamlining response and enabling SOC teams to take advantage of Gen AI in their day-to-day workflow. Since then, considerable progress has been made with thousands of customers using this new unified experience; to enhance the value customers gain when using Sentinel in the Defender portal, multi-tenancy and multi-workspace support was added to help customers with more sophisticated deployments. Our mission is to unify security operations by bringing all your data, workflows, and people together to unlock new capabilities and drive better security outcomes. As a strong example of this, last year we added extended posture management, delivering powerful posture insights to the SOC team. This integration helps build a closed-loop feedback system between your pre- and post-breach efforts. Exposure Management is just one example. By bringing everything together, we can take full advantage of AI and automation to shift from a reactive to predictive SOC that anticipates threats and proactively takes action to defend against them. Beyond Exposure Management, Microsoft has been constantly innovating in the Defender experience, adding not just SIEM but also Security Copilot. The Sentinel experience within the Defender portal is the focus of our innovation energy and where we will continue to add advanced Sentinel capabilities going forward. Onboarding to the new unified experience is easy and doesn’t require a typical migration. Just a few clicks and permissions. Customers can continue to use Sentinel in the Azure portal while it is available even after choosing to transition. Today, we’re announcing that we are moving to the next phase of the transition with a target to retire the Azure portal for Microsoft Sentinel by July 1, 2026. Customers not yet using the Defender portal should plan their transition accordingly. “Really amazing to see that coming, because cross querying with tables in one UI is really cool! Amazing, big step forward to the unified [Defender] portal.” Glueckkanja AG “The biggest benefit of a unified security operations solution (Microsoft Sentinel + Microsoft Defender XDR) has been the ability to combine data in Defender XDR with logs from third party security tools. Another advantage developed has been to eliminate the need to switch between Defender XDR and Microsoft Sentinel portals, now having a single pane of glass, which the team has been wanting for some years.” Robel Kidane, Group Information Security Manager, Renishaw PLC Delivering the SOC of the future Unifying threat protection, exposure management and security analytics capabilities in one pane of glass not only streamlines the user experience, but also enables Sentinel customers to realize security outcomes more efficiently: Analyst efficiency: A single portal reduces context switching, simplifies workflows, reduces training overhead, and improves team agility. Integrated insights: SOC-focused case management, threat intelligence, incident correlation, advanced hunting, exposure management, and a prioritized incident queue enriched with business and sensitivity context—enabling faster, more informed detection and response across all products. SOC optimization: Security controls that can be adjusted as threats and business priorities change to control costs and provide better coverage and utilization of data, thus maximizing ROI from the SIEM. Accelerated response: AI-driven detection and response which reduces mean time to respond (MTTR) by 30%, increases security response efficiency by 60%, and enables embedded Gen AI and agentic workflows. What’s next: Preparing for the retirement of the Sentinel Experience in the Azure Portal Microsoft is committed to supporting every single customer in making that transition over the next 12 months. Beginning July 1, 2026, Sentinel users will be automatically redirected to the Defender portal. After helping thousands of customers smoothly make the transition, we recommend that security teams begin planning their migration and change management now to ensure continuity and avoid disruption. While the technical process is very straightforward, we have found that early preparation allows time for workflow validation, training, and process alignment to take full advantage of the new capabilities and experience. Tips for a Successful Migration to Microsoft Defender 1. Leverage Microsoft’s help: Leverage Microsoft documentation, instructional videos, guidance, and in-product support to help you be successful. A good starting point is the documentation on Microsoft Learn. 2. Plan early: Engage stakeholders early including SOC and IT Security leads, MSSPs, and compliance teams to align on timing, training and organizational needs. Make sure you have an actionable timeline and agreement in the organization around when you can prioritize this transition to ensure access to the full potential of the new experience. 3. Prepare your environment: Plan and design your environment thoroughly. This includes understanding the prerequisites for onboarding Microsoft Sentinel workspaces, reviewing and deciding on access controls, and planning the architecture of your tenant and workspace. Proper planning will ensure a smooth transition and help avoid any disruptions to your security operations. 4. Leverage Advanced Threat Detection: The Defender portal offers enhanced threat detection capabilities with advanced AI and machine learning for Microsoft Sentinel. Make sure to leverage these features for faster and more accurate threat detection and response. This will help you identify and address critical threats promptly, improving your overall security posture. 5. Utilize Unified Hunting and Incident Management: Take advantage of the enhanced hunting, incident, and investigation capabilities in Microsoft Defender. This provides a comprehensive view for more efficient threat detection and response. By consolidating all security incidents, alerts, and investigations into a single unified interface, you can streamline your operations and improve efficiency. 6. Optimize Cost and Data Management The Defender portal offers cost and data optimization features, such as SOC Optimization and Summary Rules. Make sure to utilize these features to optimize your data management, reduce costs, and increase coverage and SIEM ROI. This will help you manage your security operations more effectively and efficiently. Unleash the full potential of your Security team The unified SecOps experience available in the Defender portal is designed to support the evolving needs of modern SOCs. The Defender portal is not just a new home for Microsoft Sentinel - it’s a foundation for integrated, AI-driven security operations. We’re committed to helping you make this transition smoothly and confidently. If you haven’t already joined the thousands of security organizations that have done so, now is the time to begin. Resources AI-Powered Security Operations Platform | Microsoft Security Microsoft Sentinel in the Microsoft Defender portal | Microsoft Learn Shifting your Microsoft Sentinel Environment to the Defender Portal | Microsoft Learn Microsoft Sentinel is now in Defender | YouTubeUnderstanding and mitigating security risks in MCP implementations
Introducing any new technology can introduce new security challenges or exacerbate existing security risks. In this blog post, we’re going to look at some of the security risks that could be introduced to your environment when using Model Context Protocol (MCP), and what controls you can put in place to mitigate them. MCP is a framework that enables seamless integration between LLM applications and various tools and data sources. MCP defines: A standardized way for AI models to request external actions through a consistent API Structured formats for how data should be passed to and from AI systems Protocols for how AI requests are processed, executed, and returned MCP allows different AI systems to use a common set of tools and patterns, ensuring consistent behavior when AI models interact with external systems. MCP architecture MCP follows a client-server architecture that allows AI models to interact with external tools efficiently. Here’s how it works: MCP Host – The AI model (e.g., Azure OpenAI GPT) requesting data or actions. MCP Client – An intermediary service that forwards the AI model's requests to MCP servers. MCP Server – Lightweight applications that expose specific capabilities (APIs, databases, files, etc.). Data Sources – Various backend systems, including local storage, cloud databases, and external APIs. MCP security controls Any system which has access to important resources has implied security challenges. Security challenges can generally be addressed through correct application of fundamental security controls and concepts. As MCP is only newly defined, the specification is changing very rapidly and as the protocol evolves. Eventually the security controls within it will mature, enabling a better integration with enterprise and established security architectures and best practices. Research published in the Microsoft Digital Defense Report states that 98% of reported breaches would be prevented by robust security hygiene and the best protection against any kind of breach is to get your baseline security hygiene, secure coding best practices and supply chain security right – those tried and tested practices that we already know about still make the most impact in reducing security risk. Let's look at some of the ways that you can start to address security risks when adopting MCP. MCP server authentication (if your MCP implementation was before 26th April 2025) Problem statement: The original MCP specification assumed that developers would write their own authentication server. This requires knowledge of OAuth and related security constraints. MCP servers acted as OAuth 2.0 Authorization Servers, managing the required user authentication directly rather than delegating it to an external service such as Microsoft Entra ID. As of 26 April 2025, an update to the MCP specification allows for MCP servers to delegate user authentication to an external service. Risks: Misconfigured authorization logic in the MCP server can lead to sensitive data exposure and incorrectly applied access controls. OAuth token theft on the local MCP server. If stolen, the token can then be used to impersonate the MCP server and access resources and data from the service that the OAuth token is for. Mitigating controls: Thoroughly review your MCP server authorization logic, here some posts discussing this in more detail - Azure API Management Your Auth Gateway For MCP Servers | Microsoft Community Hub and Using Microsoft Entra ID To Authenticate With MCP Servers Via Sessions · Den Delimarsky Implement best practices for token validation and lifetime Use secure token storage and encrypt tokens Excessive permissions for MCP servers Problem statement: MCP servers may have been granted excessive permissions to the service/resource they are accessing. For example, an MCP server that is part of an AI sales application connecting to an enterprise data store should have access scoped to the sales data and not allowed to access all the files in the store. Referencing back to the principle of least privilege (one of the oldest security principles), no resource should have permissions in excess of what is required for it to execute the tasks it was intended for. AI presents an increased challenge in this space because to enable it to be flexible, it can be challenging to define the exact permissions required. Risks: Granting excessive permissions can allow for exfiltration or amending data that the MCP server was not intended to be able to access. This could also be a privacy issue if the data is personally identifiable information (PII). Mitigating controls: Clearly define the permissions that the MCP server has to access the resource/service it connects to. These permissions should be the minimum required for the MCP server to access the tool or data it is connecting to. Indirect prompt injection attacks Problem statement: Researchers have shown that the Model Context Protocol (MCP) is vulnerable to a subset of Indirect Prompt Injection attacks known as Tool Poisoning Attacks. Tool poisoning is a scenario where an attacker embeds malicious instructions within the descriptions of MCP tools. These instructions are invisible to users but can be interpreted by the AI model and its underlying systems, leading to unintended actions that could ultimately lead to harmful outcomes. Risks: Unintended AI actions present a variety of security risks that include data exfiltration and privacy breaches. Mitigating controls: Implement AI prompt shields: in Azure AI Foundry, you can follow these steps to implement AI prompt shields. Implement robust supply chain security: you can read more about how Microsoft implements supply chain security internally here. Established security best practices that will uplift your MCP implementation’s security posture Any MCP implementation inherits the existing security posture of your organization's environment that it is built upon, so when considering the security of MCP as a component of your overall AI systems it is recommended that you look at uplifting your overall existing security posture. The following established security controls are especially pertinent: Secure coding best practices in your AI application - protect against the OWASP Top 10, the OWASP Top 10 for LLMs, use of secure vaults for secrets and tokens, implementing end-to-end secure communications between all application components, etc. Server hardening – use MFA where possible, keep patching up to date, integrate the server with a third party identity provider for access, etc. Keep devices, infrastructure and applications up to date with patches Security monitoring – implementing logging and monitoring of an AI application (including the MCP client/servers) and sending those logs to a central SIEM for detection of anomalous activities Zero trust architecture – isolating components via network and identity controls in a logical manner to minimize lateral movement if an AI application were compromised. Conclusion MCP is a promising development in the AI space that enables rich data and context access. As developers embrace this new approach to integrating their organization's APIs and connectors into LLMs, they need to be aware of security risks and how to implement controls to reduce those risks. There are mitigating security controls that can be put in place to reduce the risks inherent in the current specification, but as the protocol develops expect that some of the risks will reduce or disappear entirely. We encourage you to contribute to and suggest security related MCP RFCs to make this protocol even better! With thanks to OrinThomas, dasithwijes, dendeli and Peter Marcu for their inputs and collaboration on this post.Uncover the latest cloud data security capabilities from Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Learn about the latest multicloud data security capabilities from Microsoft Defender for Cloud to strengthen your data security posture and protect your cloud data estate against data breaches and malware distribution.
