Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management is a fantastic tool that offers all-encompassing solution to identify, assess, remediate, and track vulnerabilities across your organization’s most critical assets. The best part? It’s included in E5 and A5 Microsoft 365 licensing.
The Need for a Comprehensive Security Solution
In an age of increasing digital threats, a comprehensive, risk-based vulnerability management program is not just a luxury, it’s a necessity. Businesses require continuous real-time discovery and assessment of vulnerabilities to keep their digital fortress secure. Enter Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management. It delivers asset visibility, context-aware threat & business prioritization, and built-in remediation processes, enabling your teams to intelligently assess, prioritize, and seamlessly remediate the biggest risks to your organization.
Unleashing the Power of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management
Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management stands out with its range of features, designed to provide a holistic view of your organization’s cybersecurity landscape. It offers continuous asset discovery and monitoring, even when devices aren’t connected to the corporate network. This expanded asset coverage consolidates software applications, digital certificates, browser extensions, and hardware and firmware into a single inventory view.
Built-in and agentless scanners continuously detect risk while intelligent systems leverage Microsoft’s threat intelligence, breach likelihood predictions, business contexts, and device assessments to quickly prioritize the biggest vulnerabilities in your organization. This helps you efficiently remediate the biggest threats to your most critical assets.
Enhanced Functionality, Enhanced Security
Among its various advanced features, Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management offers network shares analysis, which helps protect vulnerable network shares. It also comes with a Vulnerable devices report that displays vulnerable device trends and current statistics, giving you insights into your device exposure.
One of its unique offerings is the security baseline assessment, allowing you to continuously monitor your organization’s compliance against industry security benchmarks in real-time. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management supports Center for Internet Security (CIS) benchmarks as well as Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIG) benchmarks.
Integration with E5 and A5 Microsoft 365 Licensing
The good news is that all these robust features of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management come bundled with the E5 and A5 Microsoft 365 licenses. This not only brings convenience but also adds significant value to these premium subscriptions, delivering a high level of security without the need for additional expenses.
Wrapping Up
With an eye towards creating a comprehensive and dynamic cybersecurity environment, Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management has emerged as a trailblazer in the realm of digital security. Its inclusion in the E5 and A5 Microsoft 365 licenses brings incredible value, helping organizations secure their digital assets without straining their budgets.
Getting Started with Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management
Great! Now that we have a solid understanding of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management, let’s delve into the practical steps to get you started with this cutting-edge platform.
Step 1: Setting Up Your Trial
First things first, you need to set up your trial. Be aware that you need to have the global admin role defined in Azure AD to onboard the trial.
The Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management trial can be accessed in several ways:
- Via the Microsoft 365 Defender portal under Trials.
- Via the Microsoft Admin Center (for global admins only).
Signing up for the trial will depend on whether you already have Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Plan 2 or not. If you have it, choose Defender Vulnerability Management Add-on. If not, opt for the Defender Vulnerability Management Standalone.
Note that once you activate the trial, it can take up to 6 hours for the new features to become available in the portal.
Step 2: Understanding Your Assets
Once you’re set up, take time to understand and protect your assets. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management continuously monitors your software applications, browser extensions, digital certificates, hardware and firmware, giving you an inclusive view of your organization’s digital landscape.
Remember, you can assign a value to each device, helping to differentiate between asset priorities. This value is used to calculate the Defender Vulnerability Management exposure score.
Step 3: Track and Mitigate Remediation Activities
Now that you’ve identified your assets and their vulnerabilities, the next step is to remediate these vulnerabilities. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management makes this easy by bridging the gap between Security and IT administrators.
Security admins can request IT Administrators to remediate a vulnerability from the Recommendations pages. Once a request is submitted, a remediation ticket is created in Microsoft Intune.
In addition, you can block all currently known vulnerable versions of an application until the remediation request is completed, reducing the risk of a vulnerability being exploited.
Step 4: Setting Up Security Baseline Assessments
For a proactive approach, set up security baseline assessments. This feature is an add-on and it continuously monitors your organization’s compliance against industry security benchmarks in real-time.
Step 5: Creating Reports Using APIs and Advanced Hunting
Last, but certainly not least, create meaningful reports using Defender Vulnerability Management APIs and Advanced Hunting. These features provide custom views into your security posture and automate vulnerability management workflows.
Armed with this knowledge, you’re now ready to begin your journey with Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management. The detailed, comprehensive, and real-time monitoring of your organization’s digital landscape will provide valuable insights and aid in maintaining a strong security posture. Happy securing!
Wrapping Up
With an eye towards creating a comprehensive and dynamic cybersecurity environment, Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management has emerged as a trailblazer in the realm of digital security. Its inclusion in the E5 and A5 Microsoft 365 licenses brings incredible value, helping organizations secure their digital assets without straining their budgets.
By choosing the E5 or A5 license, your organization can experience the full power of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management and protect your assets more effectively. Stay ahead of threats and keep your digital environment safe with Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management.
Thanks for reading, and remember – in the realm of digital security, staying informed is staying safe!