# Microsoft Defender for Cloud **Entity class:** Cloud-native application protection platform **Architecture:** [[wiki/Signals, Silos, and Sovereign Software|Signals, Silos, and Sovereign Software]] ## Definition **Microsoft Defender for Cloud** combines cloud security posture management with workload protection across Azure, hybrid, and multicloud resources. ## Modern Defense and Cybersecurity Role It continuously evaluates configuration, exposure, vulnerabilities, and active threats across cloud workloads. In national-security infrastructure, this makes cloud posture and workload telemetry part of the same operational picture as endpoints and identities. ## Chronological Proximity Originally Azure Security Center, it was renamed Microsoft Defender for Cloud in 2021 as Microsoft expanded protection beyond Azure-only infrastructure. ## Relational Proximity [[wiki/Azure Arc|Azure Arc]] brings non-Azure and edge assets into a common management plane; Defender for Cloud evaluates and protects those resources; [[wiki/Microsoft Sentinel|Sentinel]] and [[wiki/Microsoft Defender XDR|Defender XDR]] correlate incidents. ## Collection Routes [[collections/The Civilian Intelligence Marketplace|The Civilian Intelligence Marketplace]] · [[collections/Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and the Intelligence Environment|Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and the Intelligence Environment]] ## Sources / Provenance - [Primary documentation](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/defender-for-cloud-introduction)