Description:
Microsoft Defender for App Services is part of Microsoft Defender for Cloud and provides advanced security capabilities for your web applications and services hosted in Azure App Service. It offers vulnerability assessments, threat detection, and security monitoring to help protect applications from potential security threats and exploits. When Microsoft Defender for App Services is enabled, it ensures that all app services are continuously monitored for potential risks, including malicious activity, misconfigurations, and vulnerabilities.
By setting Microsoft Defender for App Services to 'On', you enable robust monitoring and protection for all web apps deployed in Azure App Service, helping to identify and mitigate security threats proactively.
Rationale:
Enabling Microsoft Defender for App Services helps:
Improve security: Protects web applications from vulnerabilities, threats, and potential attacks by enabling real-time monitoring and threat detection.
Enhance compliance: Helps your organization comply with industry standards by continuously monitoring for vulnerabilities and weaknesses in your applications.
Reduce risks: Automatically identifies security misconfigurations, potential exploits, and other security issues, allowing for quicker remediation.
Prevent breaches: Provides proactive alerts to administrators about suspicious activities or security incidents, reducing the likelihood of successful attacks.
Impact:
Turning Microsoft Defender for App Services to 'On' will:
Enhance security by enabling continuous monitoring of Azure App Services.
Increase operational visibility by providing detailed security insights into your web applications' behavior and any detected anomalies.
Generate more alerts about security issues, which will require the team to manage and respond to these alerts proactively.
Increase resource usage due to the monitoring, but the benefits in terms of risk mitigation and proactive defense against attacks will outweigh the costs.
Default Value:
By default, Microsoft Defender for App Services may not be enabled. You need to manually configure it to 'On' to start monitoring and securing your App Services.
Pre-requisites:
Azure subscription with Microsoft Defender for Cloud enabled.
Azure App Services deployed within the subscription.
Global Administrator or Security Administrator permissions to enable and configure Microsoft Defender for App Services.
Audit:
Sign in to Azure portal as a Global Administrator or Security Administrator.
Navigate to Microsoft Defender for Cloud > Environment settings.
Ensure that Microsoft Defender for App Services is enabled and configured to 'On' for your App Service environments.
Implementation Steps (Automated):
Sign in to Azure portal:
Use an account with Global Administrator or Security Administrator permissions.Navigate to Microsoft Defender for Cloud:
In the Azure portal, go to Microsoft Defender for Cloud.
Go to Environment Settings:
Under the Microsoft Defender for Cloud dashboard, select Environment settings.
Enable Microsoft Defender for App Services:
In Environment settings, find Microsoft Defender for App Services and ensure it is set to 'On'. This will ensure that Defender for App Services is enabled across your App Services.
Save the Configuration:
After setting Microsoft Defender for App Services to 'On', click Save to apply the changes.
Verify the Setting:
After saving, confirm that Microsoft Defender for App Services is enabled for the App Services by navigating to your App Service environment and checking the security configuration. You should see security alerts and suggestions based on your App Service environment's configuration.
Monitor Alerts and Security Insights:
Start monitoring Defender for App Services for security alerts, recommendations, and vulnerabilities in your applications.
Use Azure Monitor or Microsoft Defender for Cloud dashboards to get alerts related to App Services vulnerabilities and security misconfigurations.
Test the Configuration:
You can test by deploying a test application on your Azure App Service and ensure that Microsoft Defender starts showing security insights or alerts about the app's vulnerabilities.
Communicate to Development Teams:
Notify relevant teams (e.g., DevOps or application developers) that Microsoft Defender for App Services is now active and they can monitor and act on security alerts provided by Defender for Cloud.
Backout Plan (Automated):
Sign in to Azure portal:
Use an account with Global Administrator or Security Administrator permissions.
Navigate to Microsoft Defender for Cloud:
Go to Microsoft Defender for Cloud.
Go to Environment Settings:
In Environment settings, find Microsoft Defender for App Services and set it to 'Off' to disable the monitoring and protection for App Services.
Save the Configuration:
After disabling the setting, click Save to apply the changes.
Test the Reverted Configuration:
Verify that the security monitoring for App Services is no longer active and that no alerts are being generated.
Monitor the Reversion:
Ensure that no further Defender for App Services alerts are triggered by checking the Defender for Cloud security dashboard.