During incident response, what does MDE do if it identifies high-risk activities occurring on user endpoints?

When MDE (Microsoft Defender for Endpoint) identifies high-risk activities on user endpoints, it changes the device risk status and restricts access as an immediate response to protect the integrity of the network and mitigate potential threats. This action is crucial in preventing the further spread of risks or malware and in safeguarding sensitive data.

By adjusting the device risk status, MDE provides a more accurate contextual understanding of the endpoint's security posture. Restrictions on access serve as a preventative measure against any malicious activities, ensuring that compromised devices cannot communicate with the network or access sensitive resources. This proactive step allows for containment of the threat while allowing the security operations team to investigate the high-risk activities more thoroughly.

In contrast to this approach, notifying the security operations team is also an essential part of incident response but does not directly mitigate the risk in real-time or prevent potential data breaches. While blocking all user access immediately may seem definitive, it could disrupt operations unnecessarily without a detailed assessment of the situation. Similarly, collecting additional data for further analysis is important for understanding the threat, but it doesn't provide an immediate solution for securing the network against high-risk activities.