4.2.1 Ensure that Microsoft Defender for SQL is set to 'On' for critical SQL Servers

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Information

Enable 'Microsoft Defender for SQL' on critical SQL Servers.

Rationale:

Microsoft Defender for SQL is a unified package for advanced SQL security capabilities. Microsoft Defender is available for Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Managed Instance, and Azure Synapse Analytics. It includes 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. It provides a single go-to location for enabling and managing these capabilities.

Impact:

Microsoft Defender for SQL is a paid feature and will incur additional cost for each SQL server.

Solution

From Azure Portal

Go to SQL servers

For each 'critical' server instance (e.g. production SQL servers)

Click on the Security Center blade

Click configure, next to 'Microsoft Defender for SQL:'

Set Microsoft defender for SQL is toggled to On

From Powershell
Enable Advanced Data Security for a SQL Server:

Set-AzSqlServerThreatDetectionPolicy -ResourceGroupName <resource group name> -ServerName <server name> -EmailAdmins $True

Note:

Enabling 'Microsoft Defender for SQL' from the Azure portal enables Threat Detection

Using Powershell command Set-AzSqlServerThreatDetectionPolicy enables Microsoft Defender for SQL for a SQL server

Default Value:

By default, Microsoft Defender for SQL is set to Off.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/4052