Cloud environments are dynamic. New resources are provisioned, permissions are granted, configurations are adjusted. In a well-governed environment, these changes are reviewed and documented. In most environments, they accumulate without systematic oversight — creating a growing gap between the intended security posture and the actual one.
What Cloud Security Posture Management Is
Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM) tools continuously assess the configuration of cloud resources against security benchmarks and policies. In the Microsoft ecosystem, Microsoft Defender for Cloud provides CSPM for Azure resources, while Microsoft Secure Score covers Microsoft 365. Together they provide a continuous assessment of configuration drift and security control gaps.
Configuration Drift in Practice
A storage account provisioned for a project with public access enabled. A virtual machine firewall rule opened for testing and never closed. A service account with Global Administrator rights created as a shortcut. These are typical examples of configuration drift that CSPM tools surface. Left unaddressed, they represent an expanding attack surface.
Governance Foundations
CSPM tools surface problems but cannot fix the underlying governance gaps. Effective cloud security posture management requires: a change management process that includes security review for significant cloud changes, defined configuration baselines for common resource types, a regular review cycle for CSPM findings, and clear ownership of remediation.
Does Microsoft Defender for Cloud require Azure workloads?
Microsoft Defender for Cloud's CSPM capabilities can assess Azure resources at no cost. The paid Defender plans add workload-specific protections for virtual machines, databases, containers, and other resource types. For businesses primarily running Microsoft 365 without significant Azure infrastructure, Secure Score covers the M365 posture management use case without requiring Defender for Cloud.
