SC-5004: Defend against cyberthreats with Microsoft Defender XDR

Course Prerequisites

To get the most out of this course, participants should have:

• A basic understanding of cybersecurity principles and network security.
• Familiarity with Microsoft 365 and Azure security services.
• Knowledge of Windows Server and Endpoint protection tools is helpful but not required.
• Previous experience in security administration or incident response would be beneficial.
• No specific experience with Microsoft Defender is required, although familiarity with the Microsoft Defender suite is a plus.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

1. Understand the core features and capabilities of Microsoft Defender XDR and how it integrates with Microsoft’s broader security ecosystem.
2. Configure and deploy Microsoft Defender XDR solutions to protect your organization’s assets, including endpoints, emails, cloud workloads, and identities.
3. Implement and optimize threat detection mechanisms across different layers of your infrastructure (identity, endpoint, email, etc.).
4. Respond to and investigate security alerts within the Microsoft Defender Security Center, applying best practices for mitigation and incident management.
5. Leverage automated threat response capabilities within Microsoft Defender to streamline the incident response process and reduce response time.
6. Monitor and analyze alerts and incidents generated by Microsoft Defender XDR using the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) capabilities.
7. Create custom detection rules to address specific security needs and ensure comprehensive monitoring.
8. Implement and optimize security policies for advanced threat protection, ransomware defense, and endpoint detection and response (EDR) using Microsoft Defender XDR.
9. Integrate Microsoft Defender with other security solutions like Microsoft Sentinel for extended threat visibility and enhanced detection capabilities.
10. Understand how to track and report security metrics related to your organization’s cyber defense posture using Microsoft Defender and Microsoft Sentinel.

Target Audience

This course is designed for:

• Security professionals, including security operations center (SOC) analysts, incident responders, and cybersecurity architects, seeking to enhance their ability to defend against cyberthreats using Microsoft Defender XDR.
• IT administrators and security engineers responsible for implementing and managing security solutions across Microsoft 365, Azure, and on-premises environments.
• Cybersecurity specialists aiming to improve their expertise in threat detection, incident response, and security monitoring using Microsoft Defender.
• Compliance officers and risk management professionals looking to ensure their organization complies with security standards and cybersecurity regulations.
• Organizations transitioning to cloud-native environments who need to ensure comprehensive protection against cloud-based and hybrid cyberthreats.