Cis Azure Foundations 8.1.7.4

8.1.7.4 Ensure That Microsoft Defender for SQL Servers on Machines Is Set To 'On' (Automated)

Description

Turning on Microsoft Defender for SQL servers on machines enables threat detection for SQL servers on machines, providing threat intelligence, anomaly detection, and behavior analytics in Microsoft Defender for Cloud.

Rationale

Enabling Microsoft Defender for SQL servers on machines allows for greater defense-in-depth, 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 SQL servers on machines 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 SQL servers on machines is set to On.

From Azure CLI:

az security pricing show -n SqlServerVirtualMachines

Ensure the 'PricingTier' is set to 'Standard'.

From PowerShell:

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

Ensure the 'PricingTier' is set to 'Standard'.

From Azure Policy:

• Policy ID: 6581d072-105e-4418-827f-bd446d56421b - Name: 'Azure Defender for SQL servers on machines should be enabled'
• Policy ID: abfb4388-5bf4-4ad7-ba82-2cd2f41ceae9 - Name: 'Azure Defender for SQL should be enabled for unprotected Azure SQL servers'

Expected Result

The pricing tier for SqlServerVirtualMachines 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 SQL servers on machines to On.
7. Select Continue.
8. Select Save.

From Azure CLI:

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

From PowerShell:

Set-AzSecurityPricing -Name 'SqlServerVirtualMachines' -PricingTier 'Standard'

Default Value

By default, Microsoft Defender plan is off.

References

1. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/defender-for-sql-usage
2. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/alerts-overview
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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