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Microsoft Defender for Cloud, previously known as Azure Security Center, is a tool that provides unified security management and advanced threat protection across hybrid cloud workloads. When preparing for the SC-200 Microsoft Security Operations Analyst exam, understanding how to configure Microsoft Defender for Cloud is essential. Here we’ll delve into planning and configuring settings, focusing on targeting the appropriate subscriptions and workspaces.
To begin using Microsoft Defender for Cloud, you must first set up your account. This involves:
Microsoft Defender for Cloud can monitor multiple subscriptions. When selecting target subscriptions, consider the scope of your security operations and the nature of the resources within each subscription. To include a subscription:
Here’s an example of a simple table that highlights the consideration for subscription inclusion:
Subscription ID | Include in Defender for Cloud | Reason |
---|---|---|
Subs-A-123 | Yes | Contains production workloads |
Subs-B-456 | No | Development environment |
Subs-C-789 | Yes | Contains critical data assets |
A workspace in Defender for Cloud is essentially an Azure Monitor Log Analytics workspace that collects, analyzes, and acts on telemetry data. You must connect your resources to a workspace to enable advanced threat detection capabilities. The data from the resources is sent to this workspace for analysis and storage.
To link your workspaces:
Consider the geographic location and data sovereignty requirements when configuring workspaces:
Workspace Name | Subscription ID | Geographic Location | Use Case |
---|---|---|---|
Workspace-Prod | Subs-A-123 | East US | Production telemetry |
Workspace-Dev | Subs-B-456 | Central US | Development telemetry |
Workspace-EU | Subs-C-789 | West Europe | GDPR Compliance |
Configuring your security policy is critical for compliance and maintaining good security practices. Microsoft Defender for Cloud offers a default security policy applied to all registered Azure subscriptions. This policy aligns with Azure’s best practices for security.
Custom policies can also be created and assigned using Azure Policy. Here’s how you can manage them:
To take full advantage of Defender for Cloud’s security capabilities, you can enable various Microsoft Defender Plans such as:
These plans can be enabled on a per-subscription basis following these steps:
For example:
Feature | Enable for Subscription Subs-A-123 | Enable for Subscription Subs-B-456 | Enable for Subscription Subs-C-789 |
---|---|---|---|
Defender for Servers | Yes | No | Yes |
Defender for App Service | No | Yes | No |
Defender for Storage | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Defender for SQL | Yes | No | Yes |
By following the guidance above, you can effectively plan and configure Microsoft Defender for Cloud settings to ensure your Azure and hybrid cloud workloads are adequately protected. It’s essential to tailor these settings to align with your organization’s security requirements and compliance obligations. Regularly reviewing and updating these configurations ensures your security posture remains robust as your cloud environment evolves.
Explanation: Microsoft Defender for Cloud is enabled at the subscription level, not the resource level. You will set policies that apply to all resources within the subscription.
Answer: A, B, C
Explanation: Defender for Cloud can protect various Azure resources including Virtual Machines, SQL databases, and Kubernetes services. Defender for Office 365 is a separate service specific to Office
Explanation: You can select multiple Azure subscriptions to be monitored and protected by Microsoft Defender for Cloud.
Answer: D
Explanation: Email filtering is not a feature included in Microsoft Defender for Cloud; it is typically part of Defender for Office
Explanation: While Microsoft Defender for Cloud utilizes Log Analytics workspaces for storing data, you can configure it to use a single workspace for multiple subscriptions.
Answer: A, B, D
Explanation: Creating additional workspaces may be necessary for data segregation due to regulatory compliance, data residency requirements, or different monitoring needs. It does not necessarily avoid extra costs.
Explanation: Microsoft Defender for Cloud can also provide security features for non-Azure resources, such as those hosted on other clouds or on-premises.
Answer: A
Explanation: When you enable Microsoft Defender for Cloud, various common Azure resource types like Virtual Machines are automatically protected with default security settings.
Explanation: Azure Policy can be used to enforce and configure Microsoft Defender for Cloud security settings consistently across multiple subscriptions.
Answer: D
Explanation: A Security admin role or equivalent permissions are needed to configure Microsoft Defender for Cloud settings.
Explanation: While Microsoft Defender for Cloud provides default settings for certain resources, you may need to configure or customize security policies to suit specific needs or comply with regulatory standards.
Answer: A
Explanation: Microsoft Defender for Cloud uses integrated threat intelligence to detect and respond to threats. While it can automate some security responses, it does not automate data encryption across services or integrate with Microsoft Teams for alerts.
Microsoft Azure Security Center is a cloud security management service that provides visibility of the security state of an organization’s Azure resources.
A management group is a level of scope in Azure that provides a way to manage access, policies, and compliance across multiple subscriptions.
Management Groups in Azure Security Center can be used to organize and manage multiple subscriptions and apply policies and recommendations to them.
Continuous Export in Azure Security Center is a feature that allows exporting of Azure Security Center alerts to external data stores, such as Azure Event Hubs or Log Analytics.
Continuous Export can be enabled in Azure Security Center by configuring it in the Security Center’s Continuous Export blade.
Continuous Export provides the ability to integrate Azure Security Center alerts with external systems, such as SIEM tools, and store them for longer periods of time.
The data retention period for Azure Monitor Logs can be changed by modifying the data retention setting for the relevant Log Analytics workspace.
The factors to consider when changing the data retention period for Azure Monitor Logs include the cost of storing the data, compliance requirements, and the need to retain data for future analysis.
The data retention options available for Azure Monitor Logs include 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 120 days, 180 days, and 365 days.
Configuring target subscriptions and workspaces in Microsoft Defender for Cloud is important to ensure that the right data is being collected and analyzed to provide effective threat protection.
Target subscriptions can be configured in the Microsoft Defender Security Center by adding subscriptions to the list of target subscriptions.
A workspace in Microsoft Defender for Cloud is a container for data and configuration information that is used to store and analyze security data.
A workspace can be configured in Microsoft Defender for Cloud by creating a new workspace in the Azure portal and associating it with the relevant Defender for Cloud components.
Configuring target subscriptions and workspaces in Microsoft Defender for Cloud ensures that the right data is being analyzed to provide effective threat protection and helps to organize and manage the security data.
Yes, it is possible to use multiple workspaces in Microsoft Defender for Cloud to store and analyze different types of security data.
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