Description
Defender for Cloud’s Free tier includes basic security features, but may not include paid threat protection required by a workload. Setting Standard does not enable every resource type and extension at once. Coverage and cost depend on the selected plan, subplan and extensions.
Potential impact
- Missing required threat detection features may leave organizational protection requirements unmet.
- Enabling a plan without checking its scope and cost can incur unexpected charges.
Remediation
- Review workload requirements and existing security tools to choose the necessary Defender plans.
- If paid protection is required for a plan, set pricingTier to Standard on Microsoft.Security/pricings and configure supported subplans and extensions. Verify coverage, cost and the actual protection status.
Examples
These subscription-scope excerpts compare tiers for the VirtualMachines plan in a historical API. Check current plan options and scope before use.
Before
bicep
resource securityPricing 'Microsoft.Security/pricings@2017-08-01-preview' = {
name: 'VirtualMachines'
properties: {
pricingTier: 'Free'
}
}
The Free tier is selected for VirtualMachines. Also review whether required capabilities are provided by other means.
After
bicep
resource securityPricing 'Microsoft.Security/pricings@2017-08-01-preview' = {
name: 'VirtualMachines'
properties: {
pricingTier: 'Standard'
}
}
Standard is selected for that plan. This does not enable every Defender plan and feature.