Add Defender for Cloud data to Power BI

You can connect Microsoft Defender for Cloud data to Microsoft Power BI. Use this setup to track security metrics and spot threats. This article shows how to link Defender for Cloud to Power BI and create clear visuals from your security data. Before you begin, review the prerequisites to ensure you have the required setup and permissions.

Prerequisites

Before you connect Defender for Cloud data to Power BI, make sure you complete the following prerequisites:

Download and install Power BI Desktop.
Ensure you have the correct permissions to access Azure Resource Graph.

Connect Power BI to Azure Resource Graph

To connect Power BI to Azure Resource Graph:

On your desktop open Power BI Desktop.
Select Blank report.
Select Get data > more.
Search for and select Azure Resource Graph.
Select Connect.

Query Defender for Cloud data into Power BI

Use Azure Resource Graph queries in Power BI to retrieve Defender for Cloud data. To query Defender for Cloud data into Power BI:

Run Defender for Cloud queries

Once Power BI Desktop is connected to Azure Resource Graph, you can use Azure Resource Graph to query various data sources from Defender for Cloud into Power BI.

The following sample queries are examples that return sample results. Azure Resource Graph supports many data queries, and you can customize them to meet your requirements.

Copy and paste one of the provided queries into the query editor in Power BI Desktop.

This query retrieves security recommendations by risk from Defender for Cloud, allowing you to analyze assessments and identify areas that need attention.

securityresources 
        | where type =~ "microsoft.security/assessments"
        | extend assessmentType = iff(type == "microsoft.security/assessments", tostring(properties.metadata.assessmentType), dynamic(null))
        | where (type == "microsoft.security/assessments" and (assessmentType in~ ("BuiltIn", "CustomerManaged")))
        | extend assessmentTypeSkimmed = iff(type == "microsoft.security/assessments", case(
                    tostring(properties.metadata.assessmentType) == "BuiltIn", "BuiltIn",
                    tostring(properties.metadata.assessmentType) == "BuiltInPolicy", "BuiltIn",
                    tostring(properties.metadata.assessmentType) == "CustomPolicy", "Custom",
                    tostring(properties.metadata.assessmentType) == "CustomerManaged", "Custom",
                    tostring(properties.metadata.assessmentType) == "ManualCustomPolicy", "Custom",
                    tostring(properties.metadata.assessmentType) == "ManualBuiltInPolicy", "BuiltIn",
                    dynamic(null)
                ), dynamic(null))
        | extend assessmentId = tolower(id)
        | extend assessmentKey = iff(type == "microsoft.security/assessments", name, dynamic(null))
        | extend source = iff(type == "microsoft.security/assessments", trim(' ', tolower(tostring(properties.resourceDetails.Source))), dynamic(null))
        | extend statusCode = iff(type == "microsoft.security/assessments", tostring(properties.status.code), dynamic(null))
        | extend resourceId = iff(type == "microsoft.security/assessments", trim(" ", tolower(tostring(case(source =~ "azure", properties.resourceDetails.Id,
            (type == "microsoft.security/assessments" and (source =~ "aws" and isnotempty(tostring(properties.resourceDetails.ConnectorId)))), properties.resourceDetails.Id,
            (type == "microsoft.security/assessments" and (source =~ "gcp" and isnotempty(tostring(properties.resourceDetails.ConnectorId)))), properties.resourceDetails.Id,
            source =~ "aws", properties.resourceDetails.AzureResourceId,
            source =~ "gcp", properties.resourceDetails.AzureResourceId,
            extract("^(?i)(.+)/providers/Microsoft.Security/assessments/.+$",1,id)
            )))), dynamic(null))
        | extend resourceName = iff(type == "microsoft.security/assessments", tostring(coalesce(properties.resourceDetails.ResourceName, properties.additionalData.CloudNativeResourceName, properties.additionalData.ResourceName, properties.additionalData.resourceName, split(resourceId, '/')[-1], extract(@"(.+)/(.+)", 2, resourceId))), dynamic(null))
        | extend resourceType = iff(type == "microsoft.security/assessments", tolower(properties.resourceDetails.ResourceType), dynamic(null))
        | extend riskLevelText = iff(type == "microsoft.security/assessments", tostring(properties.risk.level), dynamic(null))
        | extend riskLevel = iff(type == "microsoft.security/assessments", case(riskLevelText =~ "Critical", 4,
                  riskLevelText =~ "High", 3,
                  riskLevelText =~ "Medium", 2,
                  riskLevelText =~ "Low", 1,
                  0), dynamic(null))
        | extend riskFactors = iff(type == "microsoft.security/assessments", iff(isnull(properties.risk.riskFactors), dynamic([]), properties.risk.riskFactors), dynamic(null))
        | extend attackPaths = array_length(iff(type == "microsoft.security/assessments", iff(isnull(properties.risk.attackPathsReferences), dynamic([]), properties.risk.attackPathsReferences), dynamic(null)))           
        | extend displayName = iff(type == "microsoft.security/assessments", tostring(properties.displayName), dynamic(null))
        | extend statusCause = iff(type == "microsoft.security/assessments", tostring(properties.status.cause), dynamic(null))
        | extend isExempt = iff(type == "microsoft.security/assessments", iff(statusCause == "Exempt", tobool(1), tobool(0)), dynamic(null))
        | extend statusChangeDate = tostring(iff(type == "microsoft.security/assessments", todatetime(properties.status.statusChangeDate), dynamic(null)))
        | project assessmentId,
                    statusChangeDate,
                    isExempt,
                    riskLevel,
                    riskFactors,
                    attackPaths,
                    statusCode,
                    displayName,
                    resourceId,               
                    assessmentKey,
                    resourceType,
                    resourceName,
                    assessmentTypeSkimmed               
            | join kind=leftouter (
                securityresources
                | where type == 'microsoft.security/assessments/governanceassignments'
                | extend assignedResourceId = tolower(iff(type == "microsoft.security/assessments/governanceassignments", tostring(properties.assignedResourceId), dynamic(null)))
                | extend dueDate = iff(type == "microsoft.security/assessments/governanceassignments", todatetime(properties.remediationDueDate), dynamic(null))
                | extend owner = iff(type == "microsoft.security/assessments/governanceassignments", iff(isempty(tostring(properties.owner)), "unspecified", tostring(properties.owner)), dynamic(null))
                | extend governanceStatus = iff(type == "microsoft.security/assessments/governanceassignments", case(
                            isnull(todatetime(properties.remediationDueDate)), "NoDueDate",
                            todatetime(properties.remediationDueDate) >= bin(now(), 1d), "OnTime",
                            "Overdue"
                        ), dynamic(null))
                | project assignedResourceId, dueDate, owner, governanceStatus
            ) on $left.assessmentId == $right.assignedResourceId
            | extend completionStatusNumber = case(governanceStatus == "Overdue", 5,
                                                       governanceStatus == "OnTime", 4,
                                                       statusCode == "Unhealthy", 3, 
                                                       isExempt, 7,
                                                       1)
                | extend completionStatus = case(completionStatusNumber == 5, "Overdue",
                                                 completionStatusNumber == 4, "OnTime",
                                                 completionStatusNumber == 3, "Unassigned",
                                                 completionStatusNumber == 7, "Exempted",
                                                 "Completed")
            | where completionStatus in~ ("OnTime","Overdue","Unassigned")
            | project-away assignedResourceId, governanceStatus, isExempt
                       | order by riskLevel desc, attackPaths desc, displayName

Use this query to fetch attack path data, providing insights into potential attack vectors within your cloud environment.

securityresources
| where type == "microsoft.security/attackpaths"
| extend riskCategories = tostring(properties.riskCategories)
| extend riskCategories = tostring(split(riskCategories, "[")[1])
| extend riskCategories = tostring(split(riskCategories, "]")[0])
| extend riskCategory = iff('{riskCategories}' == "All", riskCategories, '{riskCategories}')
| where riskCategories has(riskCategory)
| project apId = name, apTemplate = tostring(properties.displayName), riskCategories
| summarize Path_Count = count() by Attack_Path = apTemplate, riskCategories
| project Attack_Path, Path_Count, riskCategories

This query retrieves secure score data, helping you understand your overall security posture and prioritize remediation efforts.

securityresources 
| where type == "microsoft.security/securescores" 
| where name == "ascScore"
| extend environment = tostring(properties.environment)
| extend scopeMaxScore = toint(properties.score.max)
| extend scopeWeight = toint(properties.weight)
| extend scopeScorePerc = round(todouble(properties.score.percentage), 0)

Use this query to get data on governance rules, enabling you to manage compliance and governance policies effectively.

securityresources         
| where type == "microsoft.security/assessments"
| where isnull(properties.resourceDetails.AwsResourceId) and isnull(properties.resourceDetails.GcpResourceId)
| extend DisplayName = tostring(properties.displayName)
| where isempty(DisplayName) == false
| join kind=leftouter   (securityresources         
| where type == "microsoft.security/assessments/governanceassignments"
| extend  assignedResourceId = tostring(todynamic(properties).assignedResourceId)
| extend remediationDueDate = todatetime(properties.remediationDueDate)
| project id = assignedResourceId, governanceassignmentsProperties = todynamic(properties), remediationDueDate) on id
| extend hasAssignment = isempty( governanceassignmentsProperties) == false and isnull( governanceassignmentsProperties) == false
| extend assignmentStatus = iif(tostring(properties.status.code) == "Unhealthy",iif(hasAssignment == true, iif(bin(remediationDueDate, 1d) < bin(now(), 1d), "Overdue", "Ontime"), "Unassigned") , "Completed")
| summarize count() by assignmentStatus

This query retrieves compliance data from Defender for Cloud, which is essential for maintaining and demonstrating adherence to various regulatory requirements.

securityresources
| where type == "microsoft.security/regulatorycompliancestandards/regulatorycompliancecontrols/regulatorycomplianceassessments" | extend scope = properties.scope
| where isempty(scope) or  scope in~("Subscription", "MultiCloudAggregation")
| parse id with * "regulatoryComplianceStandards/" complianceStandardId "/regulatoryComplianceControls/" complianceControlId "/regulatoryComplianceAssessments" *
| extend complianceStandardId = replace( "-", " ", complianceStandardId)
| extend Status = properties.state

Select Ok.

Note

By default, Resource Graph limits any query to returning only 1,000 records. This control protects both you and the service from unintentional queries that would result in large data sets. If you want query results not to be truncated by the 1,000 records limit, set the value of the "Advanced Option - $resultTruncated (optional)" to FALSE.
Select Load.

Next steps

Add visualizations in Power BI

Last updated on 2026-08-08