Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management Add-On Server is an extension of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, designed to enhance vulnerability management capabilities for server environments.
 
Features of Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management Add-On Server:
 
1. Enhanced Vulnerability Scanning for Servers:
Server-Specific Vulnerability Detection: Scans servers (Windows Server, Linux Server, etc.) for vulnerabilities, including critical system vulnerabilities that could affect the server's performance and security.
Comprehensive Coverage for Server Workloads: Identifies vulnerabilities in server configurations, operating systems, services, applications, and installed third-party software on your servers.
Application and OS Vulnerability Discovery: Scans both the operating system (Windows Server, Linux) and applications running on the server for known vulnerabilities, including missing patches, insecure configurations, and outdated software.
2. Risk-Based Prioritization of Vulnerabilities:
Server-Specific Risk Scoring: Prioritizes vulnerabilities based on the potential impact on server environments, considering factors such as exploitability, severity, exposure, and criticality of the server.
Exploitability Insights: Leverages threat intelligence to assess the likelihood that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild, helping you prioritize the most dangerous vulnerabilities first.
Risk Scores Based on Server Role: Takes into account the criticality of each server in the organization (e.g., domain controllers, database servers) to help security teams prioritize remediation efforts based on the server's role.
3. Integration with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and Server:
Endpoint Protection Integration: Seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint to provide a unified view of vulnerabilities and threats across your servers and endpoints.
Server Management: Integrates with Defender for Endpoint to ensure your servers are protected from known threats and vulnerabilities by applying appropriate mitigations, patches, or configuration changes.
Cross-Platform Support: In addition to Windows-based servers, the add-on can scan and remediate vulnerabilities on Linux-based servers, providing cross-platform vulnerability management capabilities.
4. Automated Vulnerability Remediation for Servers:
Patch Management for Servers: Helps identify missing or outdated patches across server environments and provides guidance for patch deployment or other remediation strategies.
Automated Remediation Actions: Offers automated remediation workflows for vulnerabilities on servers, including applying patches or configuration changes where possible, reducing the time to resolution.
Server-Specific Mitigation Guidance: Provides specific recommendations for server environments, such as disabling unnecessary services, closing unneeded ports, or applying specific configuration changes to mitigate risk.
5. Comprehensive Vulnerability Reporting and Dashboards:
Dedicated Server Vulnerability Dashboards: Provides visualizations and dashboards dedicated to tracking vulnerabilities across your server fleet, offering an overview of exposed servers and their associated risks.
Customizable Reporting: Create tailored reports based on server vulnerabilities, critical patches, or server roles, helping teams track progress over time and meet compliance or auditing requirements.
Detailed Server-Specific Insights: Delivers in-depth information for each vulnerability, including the CVE identifier, affected servers, available patches, and recommended actions for remediation.
6. Integration with Server Security Policies:
Security Policy Enforcement: Aligns with your organization's security policies, ensuring that servers remain compliant with internal and external security requirements.
Configuration Hardening: Provides recommendations to harden server configurations by identifying insecure settings, unpatched vulnerabilities, and configurations that could lead to exploitation.
Granular Access Controls: Allows administrators to configure specific server policies for vulnerability management, ensuring that only authorized personnel can apply remediation actions.
7. Cloud and Hybrid Server Management:
Vulnerability Management in Hybrid Environments: Works in hybrid infrastructures, where your servers may be hosted both on-premises and in the cloud (e.g., Azure virtual machines, AWS), ensuring comprehensive vulnerability management for both environments.
Azure VM Support: Identifies vulnerabilities on Azure-based virtual machines and other cloud-based servers, offering a unified approach to vulnerability management in multi-cloud environments.
On-Premises and Cloud Integration: Ensures visibility and management of vulnerabilities across both on-premises physical servers and virtual servers running in the cloud.
8. Advanced Threat Intelligence for Servers:
Threat Intelligence Correlation: Uses Microsoft’s global threat intelligence to identify vulnerabilities that are actively being targeted by cybercriminals, helping prioritize remediation efforts for high-risk servers.
Real-Time Threat Detection: Integrates threat intelligence feeds into vulnerability scanning and prioritization, ensuring security teams are aware of emerging threats that could exploit known server vulnerabilities.
9. Server Risk Insights and Exposure Metrics:
Server Exposure Analysis: Provides visibility into how exposed each server is to external threats, including open ports, services, and applications, helping security teams understand which servers are the most vulnerable.
Exploitation Probability: Delivers risk insights based on server-specific context, such as the likelihood of exploitation, to help prioritize which vulnerabilities pose the greatest risk to your server infrastructure.
10. Comprehensive Compliance and Audit Capabilities:
Compliance Reporting: Helps organizations track and maintain compliance with industry regulations and security frameworks (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, NIST), offering specific vulnerability reporting and remediation recommendations for server systems.
Audit-Ready Reports: Generates detailed reports that show server vulnerabilities, mitigation status, and compliance adherence, supporting auditing and regulatory compliance efforts.