Webinar Recap Webinar · On-Demand
Reduce Cloud Risk Fast: Practical CSPM with Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Overview
As organizations expand into multi-cloud environments at pace, point-in-time security reviews are no longer enough. This session explored how continuous, automated cloud posture management changes the equation, and what a practical path to implementation looks like. In this co-hosted session, Ascent Solutions and Microsoft brought together security leaders and practitioners to tackle one of the most pressing challenges in cloud security today: how do you manage risk in environments that are constantly changing?
The answer is continuous posture management. Organizations that move from reactive, point-in-time security audits to automated, continuous risk assessment are the ones staying ahead of exposure in dynamic cloud environments.
What you'll walk away knowing.
CSPM is the foundation of cloud security, not an add-on
Cloud security posture management must be continuous and automated. Point-in-time reviews leave organizations exposed between assessments, cloud environments change too fast.
Microsoft's CNAPP approach unifies posture and protection
Defender for Cloud's Cloud Native Application Protection Platform integrates CSPM with cloud workload protection (CWPP) and DevOps security, eliminating the need for separate point solutions.
AI workloads introduce new attack surface. CSPM covers it
Defender CSPM now includes AI security posture management, discovering AI workload components and providing recommendations to reduce exposure across generative AI applications and agents.
You can begin reducing risk in weeks, not months
Through structured Rapid Adoption engagements, organizations can operationalize Defender for Cloud quickly, discovering, assessing, prioritizing, and remediating cloud risks at scale from day one.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud: CNAPP in practice.
The session walked through how Microsoft Defender for Cloud operationalizes CSPM as part of a broader Cloud Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) strategy. Rather than treating cloud security as a collection of point tools, the CNAPP approach integrates posture management, cloud workload protection, and DevOps security under one platform.
The session highlighted a critical insight: most organizations already have Microsoft E5 licensing that includes Defender for Cloud capabilities, but haven't fully activated or operationalized them. The security investment is already made. The question is whether it's working.
Securing AI-driven workloads.
One of the most forward-looking segments of the session addressed a risk category most security teams are still catching up to: AI workload security posture. As organizations deploy generative AI applications and agents across their cloud environments, they introduce a new category of exposure that traditional security tooling wasn't designed to address.
Defender CSPM now includes AI security posture management capabilities that discover the generative AI Bill of Materials (AI BOM), mapping the components, data sources, and AI artifacts that make up AI-powered applications from code to cloud, then surfaces recommendations and uses attack path analysis to identify and remediate risks specific to AI workloads.
Meeting compliance in dynamic environments.
The session also addressed how organizations use Defender for Cloud to meet regulatory compliance requirements across constantly changing cloud environments. By default, Defender for Cloud assesses resources against the Microsoft Cloud Security Benchmark (MCSB), with support for custom compliance standards and continuous monitoring, so compliance posture is always current, not just documented at point-in-time audit intervals.
Who This Webinar Is For
Security leaders shaping Zero Trust and AI governance strategies
CIOs and CISOs evaluating how Microsoft's AI roadmap impacts enterprise security posture
IT and security teams preparing for Copilot, custom agents, and broader AI-enabled workflows
Organizations looking to reduce tool sprawl and better align Microsoft investments to future-state security needs
A practical path to implementation.
Organizations don't need to wait for a long implementation cycle to begin reducing cloud risk. Through Ascent's Defender for Cloud Rapid Adoption engagement, Defender for Cloud can be deployed, configured, and producing actionable posture insights in weeks, covering the full posture management lifecycle: enabling CSPM, connecting multi-cloud environments, configuring compliance standards, tuning recommendations, and delivering a prioritized remediation roadmap.