Description:

Security defaults in Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) make it easier to be secure and help protect your organization. Security defaults contain preconfigured security settings for common attacks. Microsoft is making security defaults available to everyone. The goal is to ensure that all organizations have a basic level of security-enabled at no extra cost. You turn on security defaults in the Azure portal.


Rationale:

Security defaults provide secure default settings that we manage on behalf of organizations to keep customers safe until they are ready to manage their own identity security settings.

For example, doing the following:

  • Requiring all users and admins to register for MFA.

  • Challenging users with MFA - mostly when they show up on a new device or app, but more often for critical roles and tasks.

  • Disabling authentication from legacy authentication clients, which can’t do MF


Impact:

Enabling security defaults may negatively impact the functionality of other Microsoft services, such as MS365. This recommendation should be implemented initially and then maybe overridden by other services/product-specific CIS Benchmarks.


Default Value:

By default, the Enable Security defaults is set to Yes.


Audit:

  1. Sign in to the Azure portal as a security administrator, Conditional Access administrator, or global administrator.

  2. Browse to Azure Active Directory and select Properties.

  3. Select Manage security defaults.

  4. Check the status of Enable security defaults setting (in this scenario it is set to Yes as default)


Remediation:

Pre-requisites:

  1. Azure account

  2. Azure AD associated with the subscription

  3. User with appropriate role permissions to modify the setting (User Admin/ Conditional access admin/ Global Admin)


Implementation Steps:

  1. Sign in to the Azure portal as a security administrator/ Conditional Access administrator/ global administrator.

  2. Browse to Azure Active Directory and select Properties.

  3. Select Manage security defaults.

  4. Set the Enable security defaults toggle to Yes and click on Save.


Backout Plan:

  1. Sign in to the Azure portal as a security administrator/ Conditional Access administrator/ global administrator.

  2. Browse to Azure Active Directory and select Properties.

  3. Select Manage security defaults.

  4. Set the Enable security defaults toggle to No and click on Save(to revoke the from default).


References: