Windows - A security baseline is configured and assigned

Overview

Without properly configured and assigned Intune security baselines for Windows, devices remain vulnerable to a wide array of attack vectors that threat actors exploit to gain persistence and escalate privileges. Adversaries leverage default Windows configurations that lack hardened security settings to perform lateral movement using techniques like credential dumping, privilege escalation via unpatched vulnerabilities, and exploitation of weak authentication mechanisms. In the absence of enforced security baselines, threat actors can bypass critical security controls, maintain persistence through registry modifications, and exfiltrate sensitive data through unmonitored channels. Failing to implement a defense-in-depth strategy makes devices easier to exploit as attackers progress through the attack chain—from initial access to data exfiltration—ultimately compromising the organization’s security posture and increasing the risk of compliance violations.

Applying security baselines ensures Windows devices are configured with hardened settings, reducing attack surface, enforcing defense-in-depth, and supporting Zero Trust by standardizing security controls across the environment.

Remediation

Configure and assign Intune security baselines to Windows devices to enforce standardized security settings and monitor compliance:

• Deploy security baselines to help secure Windows devices
• Monitor security baseline compliance

Run it

The check runs as part of the whole assessment, with the ZeroTrustAssessment module installed:

Install-Module ZeroTrustAssessment -Scope CurrentUser
Connect-Maester
Invoke-Maester -Pack ZTA -SkipBuiltIn

Leave out -SkipBuiltIn to run Maester’s own checks in the same run.

About this check

Severity	High
Effort to fix	High
Impact on users	Low
Pillar	Devices
Category	Device management
Product	Intune
Feature	Endpoint security
Area	Devices and endpoints
ATT&CK	T1003 OS Credential Dumping, T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation
Licence	Intune
Tenant	Workforce

Product, feature, area and ATT&CK are Maester’s: the assessment does not record them, so Maester keeps them in the pack’s taxonomy.json.

A Microsoft check, part of the Zero Trust Assessment pack. Text from ZeroTrustAssessment 3.1.0, © Microsoft, MIT licence.