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Microsoft Security Solutions Capabilities: Does Microsoft Defender for Cloud support hybrid and multi-cloud environments?

Can Microsoft Defender for Cloud protect AWS and Google Cloud resources?

Learn about Microsoft Defender for Cloud’s multi-cloud capabilities. Understand how it extends protection beyond Azure to hybrid and multi-cloud environments, including AWS and Google Cloud Platform, providing unified security management across different cloud platforms.

Question

Microsoft Defender for Cloud can only protect resources deployed within Azure and does not support hybrid or multi-cloud environments. Is this statement correct? [State True or False].

A. True
B. False

Answer

B. False

Explanation

Microsoft Defender for Cloud provides security for Azure, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. It integrates with AWS and Google Cloud through cloud connectors, enabling unified security management across different platforms. For more information, please refer to the “Microsoft Defender for Cloud – Overview” lecture.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is designed as a comprehensive cloud security posture management (CSPM) and cloud workload protection platform (CWPP) solution that extends well beyond Azure-only deployments. It provides security coverage across Azure, on-premises, and other cloud platforms.

Multi-Cloud Support

AWS Integration

Defender for Cloud connects to Amazon Web Services through native connectors that establish a trust relationship between your AWS account and Azure. Once connected, it can assess AWS resources against security best practices, identify misconfigurations, and provide security recommendations. It monitors EC2 instances, S3 buckets, RDS databases, Lambda functions, and other AWS services. Defender for Servers and Defender for Containers can extend protection to AWS workloads, providing threat detection and vulnerability assessment.

Google Cloud Platform Integration

Similar to AWS, Defender for Cloud integrates with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) through cloud connectors. It evaluates GCP resources for security compliance, identifies vulnerabilities, and provides recommendations for improving security posture. It can assess Compute Engine instances, Cloud Storage buckets, and other GCP services.

Hybrid Environment Support

On-Premises Resources

Defender for Cloud protects on-premises servers running Windows or Linux through Azure Arc. Azure Arc extends Azure management capabilities to machines running outside of Azure, enabling Defender for Cloud to monitor and protect these resources as if they were Azure VMs. This includes threat detection, vulnerability assessment, and compliance monitoring.

Arc-Enabled Infrastructure

Beyond traditional servers, Azure Arc can enable Defender for Cloud protection for Kubernetes clusters, SQL servers, and other resources running in your data center or at edge locations. This creates a consistent security management experience regardless of where workloads run.

Unified Security Management

The key value proposition is centralized visibility and control. From a single dashboard, security teams can view security posture, compliance status, and security alerts across all connected environments—Azure, AWS, GCP, and on-premises. This eliminates the need to manage separate security tools for each platform and provides consistent policy enforcement and reporting.

Cloud Connectors

The technology enabling multi-cloud support uses cloud-native APIs and authentication mechanisms. For AWS, this typically involves creating an IAM role with read permissions. For GCP, it uses service account credentials. These connectors continuously assess resources and send security data back to Defender for Cloud for analysis and presentation.

Microsoft Security Solutions Capabilities 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 Security Solutions Capabilities exam and earn Microsoft Security Solutions Capabilities certificate.