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Unified cloud security

Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Start protecting your hybrid and multicloud environments with unified security across the full application lifecycle, from code to runtime.
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Get the latest news

Redefining security for the AI era

Explore the latest Defender for Cloud innovations—from protecting AI workloads to unified posture management across multicloud environments.
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Overview

Help secure your hybrid and multicloud
environments with confidence

Strengthen your security posture, help protect cloud and AI workloads from evolving cyberthreats, and build more secure applications with Defender for Cloud.
  • Gain end-to-end visibility across your hybrid and multicloud environments, prioritize your most critical risks with contextual insights, and remediate at scale from code to runtime with built-in workflows.
  • Get multicloud protection across your infrastructure, apps, and sensitive business data with intelligent, cloud-native cyberthreat detection and response integrated into the Microsoft Defender portal.
  • Streamline collaboration between development and security teams to fix security issues at the source—helping prevent vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and secrets from reaching production with unified DevOps security across multicloud and multi-pipeline environments.
Market Statistics

The Total Economic Impact™ Of Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Get faster threat remediation and fewer false positives. Defender for Cloud boosts SecOps efficiency and delivers measurable productivity gains.
Get the study
Use cases

See Defender for Cloud in action

Help simplify security with a unified cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) that provides end-to-end visibility and protection across hybrid and multicloud environments.
Ship more secure code
Integrate security into development
Build a more secure infrastructure
Reduce misconfigurations
Strengthen your cloud posture
Stay ahead of emerging security threats
Protect apps and infrastructure
Get multilayered protection
Mitigate cyberthreats
Detect and respond faster

Improve the security of your software supply chain and prevent vulnerabilities and secrets in code.

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Unify cloud security—from code to runtime

Strengthen the security of your cloud and AI applications from code to runtime with unified visibility, contextual risk insights, and near real-time threat detection and response.
Get the e-book
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Integrations

Products integrated with Defender for Cloud

Protect your cloud-native applications across hybrid and multicloud environments. Learn how these products work together with Defender for Cloud to deliver comprehensive cloud security.

GitHub Advanced Security

Empower developers and security teams to work together to accelerate the delivery of secure software.
Learn more

Microsoft Security Exposure Management

Reduce risk and optimize your security posture with comprehensive visibility into your attack surface and exposure to cyberthreats.
Learn more

Microsoft Defender XDR

Empower developers and security teams to work together to accelerate the delivery of secure software.
Learn more
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Microsoft Sentinel

Confidently secure your multicloud, multiplatform environment with an innovative, AI-powered security and information and event management (SIEM) solution.
Learn more

Microsoft Security Copilot

Help protect your organization at the speed and scale of AI with a generative AI-powered assistant for daily operations in security and IT.
Learn more

Defender External Attack Surface Management

See your business the way a cyberattacker does—with visibility across your resources and multicloud environment.
Learn more
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Pricing

Flexible plans and transparent pricing

Start your 30-day free trial of Defender for Cloud with a new or existing Azure account. Then choose between commitment tiers for greater cost savings, or a pay-as-you-go model.
Sign in to your Azure account or create a new account for free.
Plans and pricing Try Azure for free
Industry recognition

Recognition and research by top industry analyst firms

  • Learn why Microsoft was named a Leader in the IDC Marketscape: Worldwide Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform 2025 Vendor Assessment.2
    Read the assessment
  • Learn why Frost & Sullivan named Microsoft a leader in the Frost Radar: Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms 2024 report.3
    Read the report
  • Read The Total Economic Impact™ Of Microsoft Defender for Cloud, a commissioned study by Forrester Consulting, January 2025.1
    Read the study
  • Discover why Microsoft was recognized by Frost & Sullivan with the 2024 Global Market Leadership Award in Cloud Workload Protection Platforms.4
    Read the report
Customer stories

What customers are saying

  1. mia logo
  2. KMG Logo
  3. CIVICA Logo
  4. Icertis logo
  5. eliringklinger logo
  6. GBC logo
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mia logo
“We’ve successfully resisted multiple jailbreak attempts. Defender for Cloud shows us how to design our processes with optimal security and monitor where jailbreak attempts may have originated.”
Marwan Kodeih, Chief Product Officer, Mia Labs, Inc.
KMG Logo
“As KPMG looks into the future, Microsoft will help us revolutionize adoption of AI responsibly.”
Kenneth Zhen, Senior Associate, Digital Security Group, KPMG
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CIVICA Logo
“From a security standpoint, this is fundamental. I can’t protect what I don’t know. The ability to identify risks across our entire environment has been a game changer.”
Renata Vincoletto, Chief Information Security Officer, Civica
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Icertis logo
“Microsoft Defender for Cloud emerged as our natural choice for the first line of defense against AI-related threats …[its] capabilities empower our Security Operations Center (SOC) teams to make more informed decisions based on AI detections, ensuring that our AI-driven contract management remains secure, reliable, and ahead of emerging threats.”
Subodh Patil, Principal Cyber Security Architect, Icertis
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eliringklinger logo
“Without our Microsoft Security tools, we wouldn’t be able to protect as many employees as we do with our small cybersecurity team. It’s an umbrella that covers every aspect of security, so we have a single source of truth.”
Alexander Maute, Director, IT Technology, ElringKlinger
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GBC logo
“The three things that keep me up at night are phishing, ransomware, and cloud misconfigurations … We have Defender for Cloud to point out configuration weaknesses and suggest changes.”
Neil Natic, Chief Information Officer, Georgia Banking Company
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Resources

Explore Defender for Cloud resources

  1.
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E-book

Adopt a CNAPP strategy

Explore best practices for deploying and operationalizing a CNAPP solution in your organization.
Read the e-book
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White paper

The next era of cloud security

Get insights from IDC research on defending against cyberthreats and strengthening your security posture.
Read the white paper
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Video

Protecting Azure Storage with Defender for Cloud

Learn about the latest storage security capabilities in Defender for Cloud, including malware scanning.
Watch the video
E-book

Learn about generative AI threats

Explore this guide to stopping AI threats—learn about common attack vectors and how to fix them.
Read the e-book
Product review

SANS expert product review

Uncover expert insights: SANS reviews Defender for Cloud in this technical guide sponsored by Microsoft.
Read the product review
A blurry computer screen showing a blue background with white text reading Microsoft Security SANS Code Reachability in Defender for Cloud Lara Goldstein, Senior Product Manager.
Video

Cloud security tech talk at SANS cyber solutions fest

Learn about code reachability with Defender for Cloud in this tech talk.
Watch the video
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Video

Mastering cloud threats

Learn about Microsoft’s approach to cloud detection and response (CDR), including the latest innovations in Defender for Cloud.
Watch the webinar
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Frequently asked questions

  • Microsoft Defender for Cloud is an integrated cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) that helps protect your applications and infrastructure across hybrid and multicloud environments. It delivers unified security across the application lifecycle with cloud security posture management (CSPM), workload protection, and DevOps security capabilities—empowering organizations to detect threats, reduce risk, and stay compliant from code to runtime.
  • Microsoft Defender for Cloud offers both free and paid tiers, depending on the features and scope of protection you need.
  • You can get started with a free 30-day trial of Defender for Cloud. After the trial, choose pay-as-you-go pricing or save up to 22% when you pre-purchase Microsoft Defender for Cloud Commit Units. Both free and paid tiers are available depending on your needs.
  • Yes. Azure Security Center was renamed Microsoft Defender for Cloud in 2021 to better reflect its expanded capabilities and support for protecting hybrid and multicloud environments.
  • Defender for Cloud is a unified cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) that provides cloud security posture management, DevOps security management, and cloud workload protection across hybrid and multicloud environments. Defender for Cloud Apps is a comprehensive SaaS security solution that enables organizations to prevent and protect against SaaS-related threats by combining SaaS app discovery, security posture management, app-to-app protection, and integrated threat protection.

Get started

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Start protecting your cloud environments

Get started with Defender for Cloud by signing in to your Azure account or create one for free.
Get started with Azure Sign in to your Azure account
  1. [1]
    The Total Economic Impact™ Of Microsoft Defender for Cloud, a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting, August 2024, updated January 2025.

    To understand benefits, costs, and risks, Forrester interviewed five representatives with experience using Defender for Cloud. For the purposes of this study, Forrester aggregated the results from these customers into a single composite organization.
  2. [2]
    IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform 2025 Vendor Assessment, by Philip Bues and Frank Dickson, June 2025, IDC #US53549925.
  3. [3]
    Anhtien Vu, Frost RadarTM: Cloud-Native Application Protection Platforms, Frost & Sullivan, November 2024.
  4. [4]
    Frost & Sullivan, 2024 Best Practices Award, 2024 Market Leader in the Global CWPP Industry.

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