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Description

Enable automatic provisioning of the monitoring agent to collect security data.

DEPRECATION PLANNED: The Log Analytics Agent is slated for deprecation in August 2024. The Microsoft Defender for Endpoint agent, in tandem with new agentless capabilities will be providing replacement functionality. More detail is available here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-defender-for-cloud/microsoft-defender-for-cloud-strategy-and-plan-towards-log/ba-p/3883341.

Rationale​

When Log Analytics agent for Azure VMs is turned on, Microsoft Defender for Cloud provisions the Microsoft Monitoring Agent on all existing supported Azure virtual machines and any new ones that are created. The Microsoft Monitoring Agent scans for various security-related configurations and events such as system updates, OS vulnerabilities, endpoint protection, and provides alerts.

Audit​

From Azure Portal​

  1. From Azure Home select the Portal Menu.
  2. Select Microsoft Defender for Cloud.
  3. Under Management, select Environment Settings.
  4. Select a subscription.
  5. Click on Settings & monitoring.
  6. Ensure that Log Analytics agent is set to On.

Repeat the above for any additional subscriptions.

From Azure CLI​

Ensure the output of the below command is On:

az account get-access-token --query "{subscription:subscription,accessToken:accessToken}" --out tsv | xargs -L1 bash -c 'curl -X GET -H "Authorization: Bearer $1" -H "Content-Type: application/json" https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/<subscriptionID>/providers/Microsoft.Security/autoProvisioningSettings?api-version=2017-08-01-preview' | jq '.|.value[] | select(.name=="default")'|jq '.properties.autoProvision'

From PowerShell​

Connect-AzAccount Get-AzSecurityAutoProvisioningSetting | Select-Object Name, AutoProvision

Ensure output for Id, Name, AutoProvision is /subscriptions/providers/Microsoft.Security/autoProvisioningSettings/default, default, On.

From Azure Policy​

If referencing a digital copy of this Benchmark, clicking a Policy ID will open a link to the associated Policy definition in Azure.

Default Value​

By default, Automatic provisioning of monitoring agent is set to On.

References​

  1. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security-center/security-center-data-security
  2. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security-center/security-center-enable-data-collection
  3. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt704062.aspx
  4. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt704063.aspx
  5. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/securitycenter/autoprovisioningsettings/list
  6. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/securitycenter/autoprovisioningsettings/create
  7. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/security/benchmark/azure/mcsb-logging-threat-detection#lt-5-centralize-security-log-management-and-analysis
  8. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/security/benchmark/azure/mcsb-logging-threat-detection#lt-3-enable-logging-for-security-investigation
  9. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/security/benchmark/azure/mcsb-incident-response#ir-2-preparation---setup-incident-notification

Additional Information​

  • Excluding any of the entries in input.json may disable the specific setting by default.
  • Microsoft has recently changed APIs to get and Update Automatic Provisioning Setting. This recommendation is updated accordingly.

DEPRECATION PLANNED: The Log Analytics Agent is slated for deprecation in August 2024. The Microsoft Defender for Endpoint agent, in tandem with new agentless capabilities will be providing replacement functionality. More detail is available here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-defender-for-cloud/microsoft-defender-for-cloud-strategy-and-plan-towards-log/ba-p/3883341.