Custom standards in Microsoft Defender for Cloud allow organizations to create tailored security compliance frameworks that align with their specific business requirements, regulatory needs, and internal policies. While Microsoft Defender for Cloud includes built-in regulatory compliance standards …Custom standards in Microsoft Defender for Cloud allow organizations to create tailored security compliance frameworks that align with their specific business requirements, regulatory needs, and internal policies. While Microsoft Defender for Cloud includes built-in regulatory compliance standards like Azure Security Benchmark, PCI-DSS, ISO 27001, and NIST, custom standards enable security teams to define their own set of security controls and requirements.
To create custom standards, security administrators navigate to the Environment settings in Microsoft Defender for Cloud and select the relevant subscription or management group. From there, they can access the Security policies section and create new custom initiatives based on Azure Policy definitions. These custom initiatives can combine existing policy definitions or incorporate custom policy definitions created specifically for the organization.
Custom standards provide several key benefits. First, they enable organizations to map their unique compliance requirements that may not be covered by built-in standards. Second, they allow consolidation of multiple regulatory requirements into a single unified view. Third, they support industry-specific compliance needs that require specialized controls.
When implementing custom standards, security engineers should consider grouping related policies into logical control families, such as network security, identity management, or data protection. Each recommendation within the custom standard should have clear remediation guidance to help teams address findings effectively.
The custom standards appear alongside built-in standards in the Regulatory compliance dashboard, providing a comprehensive view of the organization's security posture. Security teams can track compliance scores, view assessment results, and export reports for audit purposes.
To maintain effectiveness, organizations should regularly review and update their custom standards to reflect changes in business requirements, threat landscape, or regulatory obligations. Integration with Microsoft Sentinel can enhance monitoring capabilities by triggering alerts when custom standard violations occur, enabling rapid response to compliance deviations.
Custom Standards in Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Why Custom Standards Are Important
Custom standards in Microsoft Defender for Cloud allow organizations to create tailored security compliance frameworks that align with their specific business requirements, industry regulations, or internal policies. While Microsoft provides built-in regulatory compliance standards like Azure Security Benchmark, PCI DSS, and ISO 27001, many organizations have unique security requirements that these predefined standards may not fully address.
What Are Custom Standards?
Custom standards are user-defined compliance frameworks that contain a collection of security recommendations. They enable you to:
• Define your own security baseline specific to your organization • Group existing recommendations into logical categories • Track compliance against internal policies • Create standards based on specific regulatory requirements not available as built-in options • Monitor security posture against custom criteria
How Custom Standards Work
Custom standards operate through the following mechanism:
1. Creation Process: Navigate to Microsoft Defender for Cloud → Environment settings → Select subscription → Security policies → Add a custom standard
2. Components: • Standard Name: A descriptive identifier for your compliance framework • Recommendations: Selected from existing built-in recommendations or custom Azure Policy definitions • Scope: Applied at subscription or management group level
3. Assessment: Once created, Defender for Cloud evaluates resources against your custom standard and displays compliance percentages in the Regulatory Compliance dashboard.
4. Policy Integration: Custom standards leverage Azure Policy underneath. You can include custom Azure Policy definitions to extend assessment capabilities beyond built-in recommendations.
Key Features to Remember
• Custom standards appear alongside built-in standards in the Regulatory Compliance dashboard • You can export compliance data for custom standards • Standards can be enabled or disabled per subscription • Custom initiatives must be assigned to take effect • Recommendations can belong to multiple standards simultaneously
Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Custom Standards
Tip 1: Remember that custom standards require Azure Policy custom initiatives as the underlying mechanism. If a question asks about implementing organization-specific compliance tracking, custom standards with policy initiatives is the answer.
Tip 2: Know the difference between built-in standards (Microsoft-managed, cannot be modified) and custom standards (user-created, fully configurable).
Tip 3: When questions mention tracking compliance against internal security policies or organization-specific requirements, think custom standards.
Tip 4: Remember the scope hierarchy: Custom standards can be assigned at management group or subscription level, allowing inheritance.
Tip 5: If asked about prerequisites, recall that you need Security Admin or Owner role to create custom standards.
Tip 6: Questions about combining multiple recommendations into a single compliance view point toward custom standards functionality.
Tip 7: Know that custom standards support continuous export to Log Analytics or Event Hub for external reporting and integration scenarios.
Tip 8: Understand that creating a custom standard involves creating an Azure Policy initiative first, then adding it to Defender for Cloud as a security standard.