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Microsoft MS-102: Does Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Block Access to Specific IP Addresses Based on Device Groups?

Learn how Microsoft Defender for Endpoint applies IP address indicator blocking rules to devices based on their assigned device groups. Understand the behavior for Windows and Android devices.

Table of Contents

Question

You have a Microsoft 365 E5 subscription.

You have devices onboarded to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint as shown in the following table.

Name Platform
Device1 Windows 11
Computer2 Windows 11
Device3 Android

You create the device groups shown in the following table.

Rank Name Matching rule
1 Group1 Name Starts with Dev
2 Group2 OS In Windows 11
Last Ungrouped device (default) Not applicable

IP address indicators are defined as shown in the following table.

IP address Action Scope
131.107.10.50 Block Group2
20.30.40.50 Block Group1
2.23.10.15 Block UnassignedGroup

For each of the following statements, select Yes if the statement is true. Otherwise, select No.

NOTE: Each correct selection is worth one point.

Statements:

  • Defender for Endpoint blocks access to IP address 20.30.40.50 from Device1.
  • Defender for Endpoint blocks access to IP address 2.23.10.15 from Computer2.
  • Defender for Endpoint blocks access to IP address 131.107.10.50 from Computer3.

Answer

Defender for Endpoint blocks access to IP address 20.30.40.50 from Device1: Yes

Defender for Endpoint blocks access to IP address 2.23.10.15 from Computer2: No

Defender for Endpoint blocks access to IP address 131.107.10.50 from Computer3: No

Explanation

Yes, Defender for Endpoint blocks access to IP address 20.30.40.50 from Device1.
Explanation: Device1 starts with “Dev”, so it matches the rule for Group1 which has a rank of 1. Group1 has a block rule defined for IP address 20.30.40.50, so access to this IP will be blocked from Device1.

No, Defender for Endpoint does not block access to IP address 2.23.10.15 from Computer2.
Explanation: The IP address 2.23.10.15 has a block action scoped to the “UnassignedGroup”. However, no such group is defined in the device groups table. Computer2 matches Group2 based on its OS being Windows 11. Since Computer2 is assigned to a defined group, the block rule for the undefined “UnassignedGroup” does not apply.

No, Defender for Endpoint does not block access to IP address 131.107.10.50 from Computer3.
Explanation: The block rule for 131.107.10.50 is scoped to Group2, which matches devices with Windows 11 OS. However, Computer3 is an Android device, so it does not match the criteria for Group2 and will not have that block rule applied. The device groups are evaluated in rank order, and Computer3 does not match the higher ranked Group1 either, so it falls into the “Ungrouped devices (default)” group which has no block rules defined.

In summary, Defender for Endpoint will apply the IP address block rules based on the device group assignments, which are determined by the matching rules and rank order. Block rules scoped to undefined groups will not apply. The device platform also factors into group matching.

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