Microsoft Cloud Security Benchmark (MCSB)

The Microsoft Cloud Security Benchmark (MCSB, successor to the Azure Security Benchmark) is Microsoft's canonical, prescriptive set of cloud security best practices, with controls mapped to CIS, NIST SP 800-53, PCI DSS, and ISO 27001, and monitored natively in Microsoft Defender for Cloud. MCSB is the default initiative in Defender for Cloud - you are already being scored against it.

When to use

Use this skill when the user wants a recognised, framework-mapped cloud security baseline, needs to translate compliance obligations into concrete Azure controls, or is trying to prioritise where to start with Defender for Cloud recommendations.

Do not use this skill for:

• Tactical Defender for Cloud remediation work (use defender-for-cloud-hardening)
• Azure Policy authoring details (use azure-policy)
• Workload-specific threat modelling (use threat-modelling)

Pick the right MCSB control domain first