Ensure Microsoft Defender for Storage is set to 'On'

Overview

Turning on Microsoft Defender for Storage enables threat detection, providing threat intelligence, anomaly detection, and behavior analytics in the Microsoft Defender for Cloud.

Rationale

Enabling Microsoft Defender for Storage allows for greater defense-in-depth, with threat detection provided by the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC).

Impact

Turning on Microsoft Defender for Storage incurs an additional cost per resource.

Default Value

By default, the Microsoft Defender plan is off.

Remediation guidance

From Azure Console

Open Microsoft Defender for Cloud | Environment settings
Select a subscription
Under Settings, select Defender plans
For Storage, select On for Status
Select Save

Using Azure Command Line Interface

az security pricing create -n 'Storage' --tier 'Standard'

Using Azure PowerShell

Set-AzSecurityPricing -Name 'Storage' -PricingTier 'Standard'

Service-wide remediation

Recommended when many resources are affected: fix the platform baseline first so new resources inherit the secure setting, then remediate the existing flagged resources in batches.

Azure

Use management group or subscription Azure Policy assignments, remediation tasks where supported, landing-zone standards, and IaC modules so drift is prevented at scale.

Operational rollout

Fix the baseline first at the account, subscription, project, cluster, or tenant scope that owns this control.
Remediate the currently affected resources in batches, starting with internet-exposed and production assets.
Re-scan and track approved exceptions with an owner and expiry date.

Query logic

These are the stored checks tied to this control.

Azure Subscriptions without Microsoft Defender for Storage

Connectors

Microsoft Azure

Covered asset types

Connector

Expected check: eq []

{
  connectors(
    where: { pricing_SOME: { name: "StorageAccounts", pricingTier: "Free" } }
  ) {
    ...AssetFragment
  }
}