Microsoft Defender for cloud Series, Part 1 - What is it and how to choose the right plan?

calendarFeb 4, 2025 · 8 min read · Security Defender for Cloud  ·
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Introduction

As a security Architect, I mostly get the question, which defender for cloud plans should be enabled and why. Aldo it really depends on the Azure Landscape of the organisation, it is good to have a good understanding in all the possibilities. To get a better understanding, in all the plans, I've wrote this blog, to give more clearance. This information can be found at Microsoft Learn.

What Does Microsoft Defender for Cloud Offer?

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is an integrated cloud security suite that helps organizations protect their cloud workloads, whether they're hosted on Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP). It provides a wide range of features that enhance the security of your resources, protect against threats, and help with compliance and regulatory needs. Here's a breakdown of what Microsoft Defender for Cloud offers:

1. Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)

Defender for Cloud continuously assesses the security posture of your cloud resources and identifies vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and compliance gaps.

  • Security Posture Management: Continuously assesses your cloud resources and identifies security risks, misconfigurations, and compliance gaps;
  • Secure Score: A feature that helps you evaluate the overall security posture of your environment by providing actionable recommendations to improve security;
  • Regulatory Compliance Dashboards: Keeps track of your cloud infrastructure’s compliance with regulations like PCI-DSS, HIPAA, GDPR, ISO 27001, and others. It generates reports and highlights compliance violations;
  • Best Practices: Defender for Cloud offers built-in best practices based on industry standards to help you secure your cloud environment. It continuously checks your environment against those best practices and provides remediation advice.

2. Threat Protection

Defender for Cloud offers advanced threat detection capabilities that help identify potential security risks across your hybrid and multicloud environments.

  • Advanced Threat Protection (ATP): Monitors cloud resources like virtual machines, databases, and storage accounts for suspicious behavior, malicious activity, or configuration issues;
  • Built-in Threat Intelligence: Uses Microsoft’s vast security intelligence to spot emerging threats, like vulnerabilities or anomalous behaviors within your cloud workloads;
  • Threat Detection: Detects and alerts on anomalies and security incidents such as SQL injection attacks, port scanning, or unauthorized access attempts;
  • Azure Defender: This feature extends threat protection to specific Azure services (like Azure VMs, API's, Server, Storage accounts, Kubernetes, SQL databases, etc.), providing deep visibility and detection capabilities;
  • Network Threat Detection: Monitors and identifies potential network-based attacks or abnormal traffic patterns that could indicate malicious activity;
  • Identity Protection: Integrates with Microsoft Defender for Identity and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint to detect attacks on identities, such as brute force attacks or privilege escalation.

3. Vulnerability Management

Regular vulnerability assessments help you identify weaknesses in your cloud infrastructure that could be exploited by attackers.

  • Vulnerability Scanning: Scans virtual machines, containers, and other resources for known vulnerabilities. This helps ensure that your cloud-based applications and infrastructure are free from common security flaws;
  • Container and Image Scanning: Provides scanning of container images in Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Amazon EKS, or Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) to identify vulnerabilities in containerized environments;
  • Infrastructure Security: Protects the integrity of your virtual machines and other infrastructure by continuously monitoring for vulnerabilities in operating systems, applications, and configurations.

4. Secure DevOps and Cloud-Native App Security

DevOps integration is crucial for modern cloud applications. Defender for Cloud offers security features tailored to cloud-native applications and DevOps teams.

  • DevSecOps Integration: With tools like Microsoft Defender for DevOps, it enables organizations to embed security directly into their CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery) pipelines. This ensures that security is addressed at every stage of development and deployment;
  • Application Control: Defender for Cloud allows you to define and enforce policies around which applications can run on your cloud infrastructure, ensuring that only trusted software is deployed;
  • Kubernetes and Containers Security: Provides advanced protection for containerized applications and Kubernetes clusters, with features like runtime protection, image scanning, and anomaly detection.

5. Incident Response and Investigation

When a security issue arises, Defender for Cloud assists with real-time alerts, investigation, and response.

  • Security Alerts: Alerts are triggered when abnormal activity or threats are detected. Alerts are prioritized based on severity;
  • Automated Response: Allows you to set up automated responses to security events, such as triggering a playbook, a remediation action, or an alert to the security team;
  • Investigation Tools: Provides rich investigation capabilities, allowing you to drill down into security incidents, track their progression, and understand the root cause.

6. Multi-Cloud Support

Defender for Cloud is not just limited to Azure—it supports multicloud environments, including AWS and GCP, allowing for a unified view of your security posture across all your cloud environments. This means you can monitor, secure, and assess workloads in all major public clouds from a single interface, allowing for a unified security management experience across your cloud infrastructure.

  • Cross-Cloud Visibility: Provides consolidated visibility across Azure, AWS, and GCP, making it easier to manage security in multicloud environments;
  • Consistency in Policy Management: You can enforce consistent security policies across different cloud environments, making it easier to manage security across hybrid or multicloud infrastructures;
  • Consistent Security Posture: Helps maintain consistent security policies, threat protection, and compliance checks across different cloud providers.

7. Identity and Access Management (IAM) Security

Securing identities and access controls is essential for defending against unauthorized access or insider threats.

  • Entra ID Integration: Integrates with EntraID to monitor and secure user identities;
  • Identity Protection: Uses Microsoft Defender for Identity to detect suspicious identity activities, such as impossible travel or privilege escalation;
  • Just-in-Time (JIT) Access: Provides secure, temporary access to resources only when needed, reducing the risk of exposed credentials.

8. Security for Hybrid Environments

For organizations with hybrid environments (both on-premises and in the cloud), Microsoft Defender for Cloud offers seamless protection for on-prem resources as well as cloud workloads.

  • On-Premises Security: Extends threat protection and security posture management to on-premises servers, including monitoring and protecting Windows and Linux-based machines;
  • Hybrid Cloud Integration: Provides hybrid security features to secure workloads and network traffic that span both on-premises and cloud environments.

9. Integration with Microsoft Sentinel

Defender for Cloud works seamlessly with Microsoft Sentinel, a cloud-native SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) platform, for deeper insights and response capabilities.

  • Log Collection and Analysis: Security logs from Defender for Cloud can be sent to Sentinel for more advanced analysis, correlation, and threat hunting;
  • Incident Management: You can manage and investigate security incidents directly from Microsoft Sentinel, making it easier to take immediate action and perform post-incident analysis.

10. Automation and Policy Enforcement

Defender for Cloud allows you to automate security workflows and customize policies to fit your organization’s needs.

  • Policy Enforcement: Allows applying security policies to match your organization’s security requirements, ensuring that the right controls are in place for all types of workloads;
  • Automation: Automate common security workflows, such as responding to threats or applying configurations, to streamline security operations and reduce manual effort.

How to Choose the Right Microsoft Defender for Cloud Plan

Microsoft Defender for Cloud offers different pricing plans, each designed to meet the needs of organizations of various sizes and security maturity levels. Choosing the right plan depends on your organization’s security needs, budget, and cloud strategy.

1. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Free Plan

Features:

  • Basic security posture management (secure score and recommendations).
  • Limited security alerts and monitoring.
  • Cloud security best practices for Azure resources.

When to Choose It:

  • Ideal for small businesses or startups with minimal cloud usage and no immediate advanced security needs.
  • A good choice if you’re just starting with cloud security or exploring Defender for Cloud without a big financial commitment.

2. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Plan 1 (Defender for Cloud Standard)

Features:

  • Advanced threat protection for Azure workloads (VMs, databases, etc.).
  • Vulnerability management and container security.
  • Network threat detection for Azure services.
  • Regulatory compliance checks with built-in policies.
  • Integration with Microsoft Sentinel.

When to Choose It:

  • Suitable for medium-sized organizations with growing cloud infrastructure.
  • Organizations needing advanced security features like threat detection and vulnerability management but don’t yet need the full capabilities of Plan 2.
  • Businesses with a focus on compliance and best practices for securing cloud workloads.

3. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Plan 2 (Defender for Cloud Premium)

Features:

  • Comprehensive threat protection for Azure, AWS, and GCP.
  • Extended detection and response (XDR) for a deeper threat hunting experience.
  • Security for hybrid and multicloud environments.
  • Proactive vulnerability management, including container and Kubernetes security.
  • Identity protection and enhanced cloud-native app security.

When to Choose It:

  • Best for large enterprises with complex, hybrid, or multicloud environments that require advanced security tools.
  • Organizations with high security needs that require comprehensive protection across a variety of workloads (VMs, containers, databases, IoT, etc.).
  • Companies that need to meet regulatory standards and desire robust security monitoring, threat detection, and incident response across their cloud footprint.

4. Microsoft Defender for Cloud: Defender for Kubernetes and Containers

Features:

  • Kubernetes security for AKS, EKS, and GKE clusters.
  • Container image scanning and runtime protection.
  • Anomaly detection within container environments.

When to Choose It:

  • For development teams or organizations heavily invested in containerized applications and microservices.
  • If your organization is leveraging Kubernetes or Docker containers in production and needs specialized security for these workloads.
  • DevSecOps teams looking to integrate security into their containerized application lifecycle.

Conclusion: How to Make the Right Choice

The right Microsoft Defender for Cloud plan for your organization will depend on the scale of your cloud resources, security maturity, and compliance needs. Here’s a quick guide:

  • Small businesses or those just starting with cloud security should go for the Free Plan.
  • Medium-sized organizations with growing workloads and basic security needs should opt for Plan 1 (Standard).
  • Large enterprises or businesses with complex, multicloud, and hybrid environments, and advanced security requirements, should consider Plan 2 (Premium).
  • Organizations focused on container security or DevOps should add the specialized Defender for Kubernetes and Containers plan.

By understanding your organization's security needs, you can choose the plan that fits best, giving you the right level of protection without overspending on unnecessary features.