Cis Azure Foundations 8.1.7.3

8.1.7.3 Ensure That Microsoft Defender for (Managed Instance) Azure SQL Databases Is Set To 'On' (Automated)

Description

Turning on Microsoft Defender for Azure SQL Databases enables threat detection for Managed Instance Azure SQL databases, providing threat intelligence, anomaly detection, and behavior analytics in Microsoft Defender for Cloud.

Rationale

Enabling Microsoft Defender for Azure SQL Databases allows for greater defense-in-depth, includes functionality for discovering and classifying sensitive data, surfacing and mitigating potential database vulnerabilities, and detecting anomalous activities that could indicate a threat to your database.

Impact

Turning on Microsoft Defender for Azure SQL Databases incurs an additional cost per resource.

Audit Procedure

From Azure Portal:

1. Go to Microsoft Defender for Cloud.
2. Under Management, select Environment Settings.
3. Click on the subscription name.
4. Select the Defender plans blade.
5. Click Select types > in the row for Databases.
6. Ensure the toggle switch next to Azure SQL Databases is set to On.

From Azure CLI:

az security pricing show -n SqlServers

Ensure -PricingTier is set to Standard.

From PowerShell:

Get-AzSecurityPricing -Name 'SqlServers' | Select-Object Name,PricingTier

Ensure the -PricingTier is set to Standard.

From Azure Policy:

• Policy ID: 7fe3b40f-802b-4cdd-8bd4-fd799c948cc2 - Name: 'Azure Defender for Azure SQL Database servers should be enabled'
• Policy ID: abfb7388-5bf4-4ad7-ba99-2cd2f41cebb9 - Name: 'Azure Defender for SQL should be enabled for unprotected SQL Managed Instances'
• Policy ID: 3bc8a0d5-38e0-4a3d-a657-2cb64468fc34 - Name: 'Azure Defender for SQL should be enabled for unprotected MySQL flexible servers'
• Policy ID: d38668f5-d155-42c7-ab3d-9b57b50f8fbf - Name: 'Azure Defender for SQL should be enabled for unprotected PostgreSQL flexible servers'
• Policy ID: d31e5c31-63b2-4f12-887b-e49456834fa1 - Name: 'Microsoft Defender for SQL should be enabled for unprotected Synapse workspaces'
• Policy ID: 938c4981-c2c9-4168-9cd6-972b8675f906 - Name: 'Microsoft Defender for SQL status should be protected for Arc-enabled SQL Servers'

Expected Result

The pricing tier for SqlServers should be Standard.

Remediation

From Azure Portal:

1. Go to Microsoft Defender for Cloud.
2. Under Management, select Environment Settings.
3. Click on the subscription name.
4. Select the Defender plans blade.
5. Click Select types > in the row for Databases.
6. Set the toggle switch next to Azure SQL Databases to On.
7. Select Continue.
8. Select Save.

From Azure CLI:

az security pricing create -n SqlServers --tier 'standard'

From PowerShell:

Set-AzSecurityPricing -Name 'SqlServers' -PricingTier 'Standard'

Default Value

By default, Microsoft Defender plan is off.

References

1. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/alerts-overview
2. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/defenderforcloud/pricings/list
3. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/defenderforcloud/pricings/update
4. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/az.security/get-azsecuritypricing

Profile

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