Host Microsoft Defender data locally in India

We are pleased to announce this. Microsoft For Endpoint and Defender Microsoft Defender for Identity now supports local data residency in India.

This announcement demonstrates our commitment to providing our customers with the highest level of security and compliance by aligning our services with local data sovereignty requirements. Customers can now confidently onboard Defender for Endpoint and Defender for Identity in India, knowing that their Defender data remains within Indian borders. This helps customers meet their regulatory obligations and gain greater control over their data. For more information on Defender data storage and privacy policies, please visit: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Data Storage and Privacy and Microsoft Defender for Identity Data Security and Privacy.

Defender data residency is available in the US, EU, UK, Australia and Switzerland, in addition to India. (Recently Announcement of Swiss local data hosting.)

memo: Defender for Endpoint and Defender for Identity may potentially use other Microsoft services, such as Microsoft Intune for managing security settings. Each Microsoft service is governed by its own data storage and privacy policies and may vary in availability by region. For more information, see: Online Product Terms and Conditions.

New Defender for Endpoint and Identity Customers

All new Defender for Endpoint and Defender for Identity deployments are automatically created in the Azure region closest to the Entra ID location. This means that new customers in those regions do not need to adjust their settings to take advantage of this new GoLocal geographic location. Reference Setting up Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Deployment and Microsoft Defender for Identity Frequently Asked Questions For more details.

Customers with existing deployments of Defender for Endpoint and/or Defender for Identity

Existing customers can check their distribution area. Go to Settings -> Microsoft Defender XDR -> Account within the portal to see where the service stores your data. For example, in the image below, the service location for the Defender XDR tenant is India.

Image 1: Defender XDR geolocation information

To update your service location, contact Customer Service and Support to have your tenant reset. If you are logged in as an administrator, you can access Support by clicking the “?” icon in the top right corner of the portal (see image below). If you are a Microsoft Unified Support customer, contact your Customer Success Account Manager for assistance with the migration process.

Image 2: Defender Portal Dashboard

More info: