Defender for Endpoint Vulnerability Fixing — ASR Remediation

This service helps organizations identify and remediate device vulnerabilities using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint vulnerability data together with attack surface reduction (ASR) rules. IT Partner assesses vulnerabilities across devices and network infrastructure, creates a remediation plan, implements it, and reports the findings.

The service includes a vulnerability assessment based on Microsoft Defender for Endpoint data (Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management), a comprehensive remediation plan, implementation of that plan including the creation and deployment of ASR rules, and final reporting. The intended outcome is to reduce the number of affected devices by applying the necessary rules to eliminate identified vulnerabilities.

IT Partner delivers this service over 3 days per project. The actual schedule depends on coordination with the client, access to required systems, and the availability of the client’s point of contact and any outside vendor resources.

The service is $900 per project, quoted fixed-price in writing before work begins. If the environment has special requirements or needs work beyond the stated scope, the pricing impact is confirmed with IT Partner before starting.

The engagement follows five milestones: kickoff meeting, vulnerability assessment, remediation plan development, remediation implementation, and final reporting. IT Partner uses Defender for Endpoint vulnerability data and ASR rules to identify issues, plan fixes, apply the necessary rules, and summarize the results.

Success is measured by identifying the vulnerabilities to be fixed, creating and applying the necessary rules to eliminate those vulnerabilities, and significantly reducing the number of devices affected by them. In some cases the number of affected devices may be reduced to zero, but the stated goal is significant reduction based on the findings and applicable remediation.

ASR rules are built into Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and constrain behaviors that attackers commonly abuse on endpoints. In this service they are created and applied — through Microsoft Intune, Group Policy, or another approved management tool — to reduce exposure to the identified vulnerabilities and reduce the number of affected devices.

Yes. In-scope devices should be onboarded to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint with eligible licensing and reporting sufficient security telemetry before the assessment begins. Initial deployment or full onboarding of unmanaged devices is scoped separately.

The client provides a dedicated point of contact, coordinates any outside vendor resources and schedules, configures networking equipment such as load balancers, routers, firewalls, and switches, and provides access to required physical and virtual servers, systems, or services. The client should also identify business-critical applications that may require ASR rule testing, exclusions, or staged deployment.

ASR rules can affect application behavior. Pilot testing, audit mode, staged deployment, or exclusions are used to reduce business disruption, and deployment follows the client’s approved change windows and change management process, including rollback planning where appropriate.

The service does not include license purchases, initial Defender for Endpoint onboarding of unmanaged devices, full Intune or Group Policy platform implementation, remediation requiring third-party vendor action or hardware and OS replacement, network equipment configuration, incident response and forensics, or ongoing managed detection and response after the project.

No. The service aims to identify vulnerabilities, apply rules to eliminate them, and significantly reduce the number of affected devices — in some cases to zero — but not every vulnerability can be remediated by ASR rules, and some findings require patching, upgrades, or third-party remediation outside this scope.