Defender for Business includes Threat & Vulnerability Management — a continuous assessment of your devices that identifies unpatched software and misconfigurations. Here's how to use it.
Key takeaways
- 1Unpatched software vulnerabilities — CVEs in operating systems, browsers, Office apps, and third-party software like Adobe Reader, Java, VLC, and Zoom
- 2Security misconfigurations — disabled firewalls, missing MFA, insecure RDP settings, PowerShell execution policy issues
- 3Software inventory — every application installed on every managed endpoint, with version numbers and EOL status
- 4Exposure score — a numerical measure of your current vulnerability posture with trend over time
Most businesses think about vulnerability management as something large enterprises do — running quarterly pen tests or annual security assessments. Defender for Business includes a continuous vulnerability management capability that's available to every Business Premium subscriber.
What Threat & Vulnerability Management finds
- Unpatched software vulnerabilities — CVEs in operating systems, browsers, Office apps, and third-party software like Adobe Reader, Java, VLC, and Zoom
- Security misconfigurations — disabled firewalls, missing MFA, insecure RDP settings, PowerShell execution policy issues
- Software inventory — every application installed on every managed endpoint, with version numbers and EOL status
- Exposure score — a numerical measure of your current vulnerability posture with trend over time
The remediation workflow
Each vulnerability recommendation links to a remediation action. For software vulnerabilities, this is typically a software update deployable through Intune. For misconfigurations, there's a direct link to the Intune or Defender policy to fix it. The workflow is: identify, prioritise by exploitability and impact, remediate via Intune, verify.
How Optimyze incorporates TVM
Optimyze includes a Threat & Vulnerability Management review in every monthly client report. We track the exposure score trend, identify the top five vulnerabilities by risk, and action them through Intune policy or patching. Clients see their exposure score decrease month over month as the managed IT programme matures.
