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TechWorkshop L300 Understanding XDR

Exercise 00: Build the environment

Required accounts and permissions

  • Active Azure subscription is mandatory.

  • Lab environment: use the Owner role on the subscription to simplify setup and avoid permission issues.

  • Real-world deployments: granular RBAC assignments are recommended:

  • Contributor (or higher) on the subscription to enable Defender for Cloud plan settings.

  • Contributor (or higher) on the resource group to deploy the VM and template resources.

  • Security Reader (minimum) on Microsoft Defender XDR (security.microsoft.com) to verify device onboarding.

  • Security Administrator or Global Administrator if tenant-level security configurations need to be changed.

Licensing and environment

  • An active Microsoft 365 tenant with security.microsoft.com access.

  • Licensing covering each workload:

    • Microsoft Defender XDR (via Microsoft 365 E5, Enterprise Mobility + Security E5).

    • Defender for Endpoint Plan 2, Defender for Office 365 Plan 2, Defender for Identity, Defender for Cloud Apps, Microsoft Entra ID P2 (for risk-based policies & Identity Protection)

  • At least 1-2 test users, mailboxes, and onboarded devices (Windows 10/11/Server) to services MDE, MDI, MDO and MDCA for real telemetry.

Roles and permissions

  • Lab environment: Global Admin role for the lab

  • Real-world deployments: granular RBAC assignments are recommended:

    • Security Reader (read-only) or Security Analyst / Security Administrator for M365 Defender.

    • Global Reader or Service Support Admin to view M365 Service Health.

    • Microsoft Sentinel Reader/Contributor on the Sentinel workspace (via Azure RBAC).

    • Exchange Admin/ Security Admin (read) for Email & Collaboration policy visibility.

    • Defender for Identity permissions (to view identity health & entities).

    • Cloud App Security Admin/Reader (for Defender for Cloud Apps).

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