Skip to main content

Managed ISPM Fast Start Rollout Guide

Melissa
  • Updated

Team: Huntress Managed Identity Security Posture Management (ISPM)
Environment: Microsoft 365 Cloud
Summary: This guide helps you verify readiness, enable Huntress Managed ISPM, and move your environment toward a secure, control-aligned state.

 

In this Article

 

Before You Begin

This guide is a single Fast Start document for Huntress Managed ISPM. It focuses on confirming readiness, enabling ISPM, and helping you move to a Huntress ISPM Control Aligned state for a more secure Microsoft 365 environment. Use this when you are preparing to enable ISPM for a Microsoft 365 organization.

  1. Identify the specific Microsoft 365 organization in scope for managed ISPM.

  2. If Huntress Managed Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) is active, verify that the Huntress application version is 6 or higher.

  3. Confirm that the organization is not mapped via a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) or Control Panel Vendor (CPV).

  4. Verify that the organization is not a Government Community Cloud (GCC) or GCC High environment.

For a complete list of baseline requirements, see the official Huntress Managed ISPM Readiness and Requirements documentation.

 

Phase 1: Enable ISPM

Activate the capabilities directly within the interface to begin importing and assessing data.

  1. Log in to Huntress and go to the main dashboard.

  2. Select the ISPM option from the left hand menu to complete the platform enrollment flow.

  3. Enable the individual organization for ISPM from the dashboard.

  4. Once onboarded, review the recommended settings and apply any control changes you would like to use.

Allow time for the dashboard to populate findings while Huntress imports and evaluates tenant configuration data.

 

Phase 1 Result

  • You have reviewed and compared the recommended settings against your current organization configuration.

  • You understand the Managed Deployment control use process. 

    • Huntress schedules these low-risk controls to roll out after your organization completes onboarding.

    • Each automatically deployed control supports a rollback option. 

    • You can schedule these deployments later if you need to follow an internal change control process.

    • After the foundational rollout, review additional controls to further harden your Microsoft 365 environment and develop a deployment plan.

      • If required, resolve settings one at a time and decide where active remediation is appropriate.


Phase 2: Track Control Alignment Progress

Record the current Huntress ISPM Control alignment as your primary starting point and metric.

  • Reference Scorecards: Use Microsoft Secure Score as a secondary reference point to show improvement over time, but remember it is heavily dependent on your specific Microsoft licensing.

  • Track Strategy: Use Secure Score trends as a supporting indicator rather than your main success metric.

  • Determine Priorities: Prioritize remediation based on Huntress Managed ISPM findings first.

  • Plan Realignment: Plan how you will move the tenant from its current state toward full Huntress ISPM control alignment.

Phase 2 Result

  • You are able to track your primary metrics to compare against future scores based on changes made. 

  • You are able to plan how tenants will improve over time as you move closer to full alignment. 

 

Phase 3: Plan Deployment

Review individual configurations and plan a systematic deployment to harden your cloud infrastructure.

Initial tenant deployment

  1. Evaluate the recommended security settings surfaced by the dashboard against your current tenant configuration.

  2. Review the Managed Deployment controls that Huntress schedules to roll out automatically after onboarding.

  3. Determine what additional controls you need to implement manually.

  4. Plan for rollbacks or schedule specific controls for later if you have an established change control process that you must follow.

  5. After the foundational roll-out, review additional controls to further harden the Microsoft environment and develop a deployment plan.

    • If required, resolve settings one at a time and decide where auto-remediation is appropriate.

Future tenant monitoring

  1. Use Huntress Managed ISPM recommendations as your primary security control framework.

  2. Decide who approves changes, who owns exceptions, and review "Accepted Risk" exceptions when prompted every 90 days.

  3. Treat the applied controls as an operational posture maintained through Huntress Managed ISPM, not a one-time project.

  4. Enable Continuous Enforcement for controls that support it, and review drifted configurations for those that do not.

Phase 3 Result

  • Initial deployment stages have been reviewed and applied as appropriate to all existing tenants with plans for onboarding future tenants.

  • Designations have been made for those who will monitor and approve or deny future changes made to the tenants. 


Final Expectations

Confirm that your initial onboarding phase is complete by checking against these key operational goals:

  • The organization successfully meets the current ISPM readiness requirements.

  • You enabled ISPM in the Huntress Platform, and the dashboard is visible.

  • The dashboard actively populates posture findings for the organization.

  • Your team identified a first set of foundational controls for deployment.

  • You understand and track Huntress ISPM control alignment and Microsoft Secure Score.

  • A plan exists for onboarding future tenants.

Related Articles

ISPM - Onboarding
ISPM - Requirements (Early Access)
ISPM - Disabling policies due to Microsoft Account Access issues
 

Related articles