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ConfigCobra vs Microsoft Secure Score
Microsoft Secure Score is a points-based view of your security posture inside the Microsoft Defender portal, built on Microsoft’s own recommended actions for Microsoft products and a set of connected apps. ConfigCobra is a separate read-only service that checks Microsoft 365, Azure, Google Cloud and AWS against CIS benchmarks and adds an inventory, impact analysis and daily monitoring; Secure Score suits teams working inside the Microsoft security portal, ConfigCobra suits teams that want CIS-based checks across several clouds.
At a glance
Facts about Secure Score come from Microsoft Learn, last checked 2026-11-02. Where those pages are silent, the table says “Not documented”.
| ConfigCobra | Microsoft Secure Score | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A read-only cloud posture service for Microsoft 365, Azure, Google Cloud and AWS, built around CIS benchmarks, an inventory and impact analysis | “A measurement of an organization’s security posture, with a higher number indicating more recommended actions taken”, found in the Microsoft Defender portal |
| Clouds covered | Microsoft 365, Azure, Google Cloud, AWS | Recommendations exist for Microsoft Entra ID, Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Microsoft Teams, several Defender products, Microsoft Purview Information Protection and connected apps such as GitHub, Okta, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Zoom, Docusign and Citrix ShareFile. Azure, Google Cloud and AWS resources are not in the documented product list |
| Benchmarks / checks | CIS Microsoft 365 Foundations v7.0.0 (160 controls); four CIS Azure benchmarks (339 controls); CIS Google Cloud Platform Foundation v5.0.0 (93 controls); four CIS AWS benchmarks (306 controls). Severity estimate and evidence per finding | Microsoft recommended actions, each worth 10 points or less. The pages I read do not mention CIS benchmarks |
| Asset inventory (what objects it collects) | One inventory across clouds. Microsoft 365: users, guests, admins, groups, devices, enterprise apps, app registrations, mailboxes, SharePoint sites, policies, domains, licences, directory roles. Azure, Google Cloud and AWS: resources with their security properties | Not documented |
| Risk views (inactive users, guests, app secrets…) | Built-in views such as users inactive 90 days, guests who never signed in, expired or soon-expiring app credentials, high-privilege app permissions | Not documented as views. Each recommended action lists the users affected |
| Cost and licence savings | Views for unused paid licences, licences of inactive users and unattached disks | Not documented. A “Current license score” view shows the score achievable with your current Microsoft licences |
| Remediation impact analysis | Yes: shows the affected users, groups, apps, policies or resources before you apply a fix, with impact level High / Medium / Low / None | Each recommended action shows user impact and the users affected, plus prerequisites and step-by-step implementation |
| Drift monitoring and scheduled scans | Every connected cloud is scanned automatically every day; an ad hoc scan can be started any time; drift detection alerts when a control regresses (no configurable schedule) | A History tab with a score graph, and a Regression trend of points lost through configuration, user or device changes. The score syncs daily. Scheduled scans: Not documented |
| Notifications | Email notifications for findings and drift | Not documented |
| Reports and evidence | PDF report, audit-ready evidence export, CSV export of the inventory, read-only auditor seat | History, score zones, comparison against similar-size organisations, risk acceptance trend and notes per action. Export or evidence packages: Not documented |
| AI assistant (MCP) | Yes: native MCP server for MCP-compatible assistants | Not documented |
| Multi-tenant / MSP use | Yes: multiple tenants from one workspace | Not documented |
| How it runs | Hosted service; read-only access, no agents | A page in the Microsoft Defender portal (security.microsoft.com/securescore) |
| Access it needs | Read-only: Microsoft Graph read permissions (Microsoft 365), Reader plus a read-only Graph policy permission (Azure), a viewer-level service account (Google Cloud), an assume-role (AWS) | Microsoft Entra roles such as Security Administrator (read and write) or Security Reader and Global Reader (read-only), or custom roles in Defender Unified RBAC |
| Licence / pricing model | 14-day free trial with full access; then annual subscription (Continuous Compliance) or per-tenant Assessment License for MSPs and auditors | Not documented as a price. The docs say it shows recommendations for a product “regardless of license edition, subscription, or plan” |
What Microsoft Secure Score does well
Secure Score lives where many Microsoft 365 administrators already work, and it speaks directly about Microsoft’s own products.
- Prioritised actions. Recommended actions are ranked by points left, implementation difficulty, user impact and complexity.
- Clear workflow. Each action has a status (To address, Planned, Risk accepted, Resolved through third party, Resolved through alternate mitigation, Completed), notes and tags.
- Credit for other tools. The score can reflect when a non-Microsoft solution or an alternate mitigation addresses an action.
- Trends and comparison. The History and Metrics & trends tabs show changes over time, and the score can be compared with organisations of similar seat count. The docs describe that comparison data as anonymised.
- Planning views. You can include a planned score, a current licence score and an achievable score.
- Coverage of connected apps. The list includes non-Microsoft apps such as GitHub, Okta and Salesforce, which ConfigCobra does not scan.
- Access control. Read-only roles exist, and Defender Unified RBAC supports custom roles.
Microsoft notes that Secure Score is not an absolute measure of breach likelihood and that the recommendations do not cover every attack surface of each product.
Where ConfigCobra is different
ConfigCobra measures against published CIS benchmarks rather than a points model, and it extends past Microsoft 365 to Azure, Google Cloud and AWS.
Modules
- CSPM. CIS benchmark checks for Microsoft 365, Azure, Google Cloud and AWS. Every finding carries evidence and a severity estimate. The severity is our own prioritisation estimate, because CIS publishes none. A dashboard shows the compliance score, passing and failing controls and the most severe failures.
- Inventory & Insights. One inventory with a per-cloud view and an All clouds view, a relation graph showing how objects connect, findings linked to the objects they concern, built-in risk views and CSV export.
- Cost & licence optimisation. Three views of the inventory: unused paid licences, licences of inactive users and unattached disks.
- Remediation impact analysis. For a failing control it shows what changes in your environment if you apply the fix, with the effect, a confidence level and a prepare step.
- Monitoring & drift detection. Daily automatic scans, ad hoc scans on demand, and email notifications when a control regresses.
- Reports & evidence. A PDF report with a timestamped tenant snapshot, an audit-ready evidence export and a read-only auditor seat for clients or external auditors.
- AI assistant. An MCP server so you can ask an MCP-compatible assistant about posture, findings and global admins, answered from live scan data.
- Multi-tenant workspace. Assess subsidiaries or client tenants from one place.
ConfigCobra is read-only and never changes your tenant. For each finding it generates a copy-paste remediation script or portal steps that you run yourself.
The free trial lasts 14 days with full access to every available module and control.
Which one to choose
- Secure Score alone may be enough if you work only in Microsoft 365, want Microsoft’s own recommendations in the Defender portal, and need to track progress with the score.
- ConfigCobra fits when you want checks mapped to CIS benchmark controls, a single view across Microsoft 365, Azure, Google Cloud and AWS, an inventory with risk views, licence and disk views, impact analysis before a fix, or several client tenants in one workspace.
- Both together is a sensible default for Microsoft 365 tenants. Secure Score gives the Microsoft-side recommendations; ConfigCobra gives CIS-based findings, evidence and the cross-cloud picture.
The two use different scoring, so a number in one does not translate to a number in the other.
How to move or run them side by side
- Keep Secure Score as it is. Nothing needs to be turned off.
- Start the 14-day ConfigCobra trial and connect your tenant with read-only access. ConfigCobra never changes the tenant.
- Compare the failing CIS controls in ConfigCobra with the open recommended actions in the Defender portal. Where both point at the same setting, decide once.
- Before applying a fix, open its impact analysis in ConfigCobra to see which users, groups, apps or policies would be affected.
- Apply the change yourself with the generated script or portal steps, then mark the Secure Score action as your own process requires.
- Start an ad hoc ConfigCobra scan to confirm the control passes. Daily scans then alert you if it regresses.
- Add Azure, Google Cloud or AWS connections if those are in scope, which Secure Score’s documented product list does not include.
Sources
- learn.microsoft.comhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/defender-xdr/microsoft-secure-score
- learn.microsoft.comhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/defender-xdr/microsoft-secure-score-improvement-actions
- learn.microsoft.comhttps://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/defender-xdr/microsoft-secure-score-history-metrics-trends
Facts about Microsoft Secure Score come from its public documentation, last checked 1 Nov 2026. Product names and trademarks belong to their owners. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
See where your cloud stands
ConfigCobra checks Microsoft 365, Azure, Google Cloud and AWS against the CIS benchmarks, read-only.