3.1.1.1 Ensure that Auto provisioning of 'Log Analytics agent for Azure VMs' is Set to 'On'

Information

Enable automatic provisioning of the monitoring agent to collect security data.

DEPRECATION PLANNED: The Log Analytics Agent is slated for deprecation in August 2024. The Microsoft Defender for Endpoint agent, in tandem with new agentless capabilities will be providing replacement functionality. More detail is available here: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-defender-for-cloud/microsoft-defender-for-cloud-strategy-and-plan-towards-log/ba-p/3883341.

Rationale:

When Log Analytics agent for Azure VMs is turned on, Microsoft Defender for Cloud provisions the Microsoft Monitoring Agent on all existing supported Azure virtual machines and any new ones that are created. The Microsoft Monitoring Agent scans for various security-related configurations and events such as system updates, OS vulnerabilities, endpoint protection, and provides alerts.

Solution

Remediate from Azure Portal

From Azure Home select the Portal Menu

Select Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Under Management, select Environment Settings

Select a subscription

Click on Settings & monitoring

Set the Status of Log Analytics agent to On

Select a Workspace

Click Apply

Click Continue

Repeat the above for any additional subscriptions.
Remediate from Azure CLI
Use the below command to set Automatic provisioning of monitoring agent to On.

az account get-access-token --query '{subscription:subscription,accessToken:accessToken}' --out tsv | xargs -L1 bash -c 'curl -X PUT -H 'Authorization: Bearer $1' -H 'Content-Type: application/json' https://management.azure.com/subscriptions/subscriptionID/providers/Microsoft.Security/autoProvisioningSettings/default?api-version=2017-08-01-preview -d@'input.json''

Where input.json contains the Request body json data as mentioned below.

{
'id': '/subscriptions/<Your_Subscription_Id>/providers/Microsoft.Security/autoProvisioningSettings/default',
'name': 'default',
'type': 'Microsoft.Security/autoProvisioningSettings',
'properties': {
'autoProvision': 'On'
}
}

Default Value:

By default, Automatic provisioning of monitoring agent is set to On.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/benchmarks/16820

Item Details

Category: RISK ASSESSMENT

References: 800-53|RA-5, CSCv7|3.1

Plugin: microsoft_azure

Control ID: 4785856260dccdeb715d1e35800a76b2652259573f9811376e9d62e830455baa