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AZ-500: How Does Microsoft Defender for SQL Perform Automated Weekly Vulnerability Scans?

Can You Configure Recurring Scans in Defender for SQL Vulnerability Assessment?

Pass your AZ-500 exam by learning how Microsoft Defender for SQL (formerly Azure Defender for SQL) uses its vulnerability assessment feature to automatically perform weekly scans. Understand how this key automated security tool identifies, tracks, and helps remediate database vulnerabilities.

Question

Azure Defender for SQL can scan your databases weekly to identify vulnerabilities.

A. TRUE
B. FALSE

Answer

A. TRUE

Explanation

The correct answer is A. TRUE. The vulnerability assessment feature within Microsoft Defender for SQL is designed to automatically run a scan on a weekly basis to proactively identify and report on database vulnerabilities.

Optionally, Azure Defender for SQL will scan your databases for vulnerabilities weekly.

Vulnerability Assessment in Microsoft Defender for SQL

This feature is a core component of Microsoft’s database security offering. It provides a comprehensive service that discovers, tracks, and helps remediate potential security issues and misconfigurations in your SQL environments.

The Automated Weekly Scan

  • Default Behavior: Once you enable the vulnerability assessment feature on a database, it is configured by default to run a comprehensive scan once every seven days. This recurring scan ensures continuous monitoring of your database’s security posture without manual intervention.
  • Scan Process: The scan runs against a built-in knowledge base of rules based on Microsoft’s security best practices. It checks for a wide range of issues, including excessive permissions, weak authentication methods, unprotected sensitive data, and deviations from security baselines.
  • On-Demand Scans: In addition to the automated weekly scans, administrators have the flexibility to trigger a scan manually at any time. This is useful after making configuration changes or to get an immediate assessment of the database’s security state.

How Results Are Handled

  • Scan Reports: After each scan completes, a detailed report is generated. This report lists all the vulnerabilities found, categorizes them by severity (High, Medium, Low), and provides actionable remediation steps for each finding.
  • Baseline Management: You can set the results of a scan as an acceptable baseline. Subsequent scans will then only report on deviations from this established baseline, helping you focus on new or changed risks.
  • Integration: The findings from the vulnerability assessment are displayed within Microsoft Defender for Cloud, providing a centralized view of your security posture across all Azure resources.

The “Optional” nature mentioned in the explanation refers to the fact that an administrator must first choose to enable the vulnerability assessment feature for their databases. However, once enabled, the weekly scan is the standard, automated behavior. This provides a powerful, low-effort way to maintain continuous oversight of your SQL database security.

Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer Associate AZ-500 certification exam assessment practice question and answer (Q&A) dump including multiple choice questions (MCQ) and objective type questions, with detail explanation and reference available free, helpful to pass the Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer Associate AZ-500 exam and earn Microsoft Certified Azure Security Engineer Associate AZ-500 certification.