Manage security defaults for Azure Local

Applies to: Hyperconverged deployments of Azure Local

This article describes how to manage default security settings for your Azure Local instance. You can also modify drift control and protected security settings defined during deployment so your device starts in a known good state.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure that you have access to an Azure Local system that is deployed, registered, and connected to Azure.

View security default settings in the Azure portal

To view the security default settings in the Azure portal, make sure that you have applied the MCSB initiative. For more information, see Apply Microsoft Cloud Security Benchmark initiative.

Use the security default settings to manage system security, drift control, and Secured-core settings on your system.

👁 Screenshot that shows Security defaults page in the Azure portal.

View the SMB signing status under the Data protections > Network protection tab. SMB signing allows you to digitally sign SMB traffic between an Azure Local instance and other systems.

👁 Screenshot that shows the SMB signing status in the Azure portal.

View security baseline compliance in the Azure portal

After you enroll your Azure Local instance with Microsoft Defender for Cloud or assign the built-in policy Windows machines should meet requirements of the Azure compute security baseline, a compliance report is generated. For the full list of rules your Azure Local instance is compared to, see Windows security baseline.

For an Azure Local host machine, when all the hardware requirements for Secured-core are met, the default expected compliance score is 99% of the rules are compliant.

The following table explains the rules that aren't compliant and the rationale of the current gap:

Fixing the compliance for the rules

To fix the compliance for the rules, run the following commands or use any other tool you prefer. On Azure Local, version 2604 and later, the legal notice is already configured by the baseline and protected by drift control — skip step 1 unless you intend to customize it (and first disable drift control).

1. Legal notice: Create a custom value for legal notice depending on your organization's needs and policies. Run the following commands:

   Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" -Name "LegalNoticeCaption" -Value "Legal Notice"
   Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" -Name "LegalNoticeText" -Value "LegalNoticeText"
   

2. Minimum password length: Set the minimum password length policy to 14 characters on the Azure Local machine. The default value is 7, and any value below 14 is still flagged by the monitoring baseline policy. Run the following commands:

   net accounts /minpwlen:14
   

Manage security defaults with PowerShell

With drift protection enabled, you can only modify nonprotected security settings. To modify protected security settings that form the baseline, you must first disable drift protection.

View and download security settings

Use the following table to view and download the complete list of security settings based on the software version you are running.

Modify security defaults

Start with the initial security baseline and then modify drift control and protected security settings defined during deployment.

Enable drift control

Use the following steps to enable drift control:

1. Connect to your Azure Local machine.

2. Run the following cmdlet:

   Enable-AzsSecurity -FeatureName DriftControl -Scope <Local | Cluster>
   

   • Local - Affects the local node only.
   • Cluster - Affects all nodes in the cluster using the orchestrator.

Disable drift control

Use the following steps to disable drift control:

1. Connect to your Azure Local machine.

2. Run the following cmdlet:

   Disable-AzsSecurity -FeatureName DriftControl -Scope <Local | Cluster>
   

   • Local - Affects the local node only.
   • Cluster - Affects all nodes in the cluster using the orchestrator.

Configure security settings during deployment

As part of deployment, you can modify drift control and other security settings that constitute the security baseline on your cluster.

The following table describes security settings that can be configured on your Azure Local instance during deployment.

Modify security settings after deployment

After deployment is complete, you can use PowerShell to modify security settings while maintaining drift control. Some features require a reboot to take effect.

PowerShell cmdlet properties

The following cmdlet properties are for the AzureStackOSConfigAgent module. The module is installed during deployment.

• Get-AzsSecurity  -Scope: <Local | PerNode | AllNodes | Cluster>

  • Local - Provides boolean value (true/False) on local node. Can be run from a regular remote PowerShell session.
  • PerNode - Provides boolean value (true/False) per node.
  • Report - Requires CredSSP or an Azure Local machine using a remote desktop protocol (RDP) connection.
    • AllNodes – Provides boolean value (true/False) computed across nodes.
    • Cluster – Provides boolean value from ECE store. Interacts with the orchestrator and acts to all the nodes in the cluster.

• Enable-AzsSecurity   -Scope <Local | Cluster>

• Disable-AzsSecurity  -Scope <Local | Cluster>

  • FeatureName - <CredentialGuard | DriftControl | DRTM | HVCI | SideChannelMitigation | SMBEncryption | SMBSigning | VBS>

    • Drift Control
    • Credential Guard
    • VBS (Virtualization Based Security)- We only support enable command.
    • DRTM (Dynamic Root of Trust for Measurement)
    • HVCI (Hypervisor-protected Code Integrity)
    • Side Channel Mitigation
    • SMB Signing
    • SMB Cluster encryption

    Important

    Enable AzsSecurity and Disable AzsSecurity cmdlets are only available on new deployments or on upgraded deployments after security baselines are properly applied to nodes. For more information, see Manage security after upgrading Azure Local.

The following table documents supported security features, whether they support drift control, and whether a reboot is required to implement the feature.

Next steps

• Understand BitLocker encryption.