Policy: Azure > CIS v3.0 > 03 - Security > 03.01 - Microsoft Defender for Cloud > 03.01.01 - Microsoft Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)

Microsoft Defender for Cloud offers foundational and advanced Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) solutions to protect across multi-cloud and hybrid environments. Both solutions cover PaaS as well as IaaS. CSPM provides reporting functionality on security and regulatory frameworks including NIST 800 series, ISO 27001, PCI-DSS, CIS Benchmarks and Controls, and many more. CSPM also provides the ability to create your own custom framework, but this will require significant work. Regulatory standards are reported in a compliance dashboard which offers a summarized view against deployed standards and presents the ability to download compliance reports in various formats.

CSPM has two types of implementations: 1. Foundational (Free): This implementation is free and enabled by default with a limited set of features including: • Continuous assessment of the security configuration of cloud resources • Security recommendations to fix misconfigurations and weaknesses • Secure score summarizing current overall security posture 2. Full CSPM (Paid): Full CSPM is a paid product offering additional functionality including: • Identity and role assignments discovery • Network exposure detection • Attack path analysis • Cloud security explorer for risk hunting • Agentless vulnerability scanning • Agentless secrets scanning • Governance rules to drive timely remediation and accountability • Regulatory compliance and industry best practices • Data-aware security posture • Agentless discovery for Kubernetes • Agentless container vulnerability assessment It is recommended that for full CSPM a cost review is undertaken particularly if your tenant is heavy on IaaS prior to implementing and matched to security requirements.