Which Azure service is recommended for continuous security assessment?

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is specifically designed for continuous security assessment of your Azure resources, providing a wide range of security features and capabilities. It integrates deeply with various Azure services to monitor and analyze your security posture in real-time. Microsoft Defender for Cloud continuously assesses your environments for vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and compliance with security best practices, helping organizations maintain a strong security posture over time. Its proactive approach delivers alerts, recommendations, and actionable insights to enhance the security of applications and services deployed in Azure.

In contrast, Azure Security Center, while initially a standalone product that focused on security management and compliance, has largely been integrated into Microsoft Defender for Cloud. This means that while Azure Security Center contributes to security assessments, it is now encompassed within the broader capabilities of Microsoft Defender for Cloud.

Azure Active Directory primarily focuses on identity and access management, which is crucial for securing user access but does not provide the same continuous security assessment features for cloud resources as Microsoft Defender for Cloud.

Azure Sentinel is a security information and event management (SIEM) solution that analyzes security data from across your entire environment, but it is centered around security incident response and analytics rather than continuous security assessment specifically for Azure services.

Thus, Microsoft Defender for Cloud stands out as the preferred choice for