Microsoft 365 Defender: What it is and 7 key advantages

Microsoft 365 Defender: what it is and what is it for

Microsoft 365 Defender is the complete solution that guarantees the security of business data and of the digital work environment in which these are created, collected and exchanged. It is based on an advanced protection system, which combines the action of four main products for prevention, monitoring and response to threats. Its strength lies in its holistic nature, which allows an integrated and coordinated management of security activities.

Let's start by taking a closer look at how Microsoft 365 Defender works. This system acts natively, coordinating incident detection, prevention, investigation, and response activities across endpoints, identities, email, and applications. This is possible thanks to the combination of the services of four main products:

1. Defender for Endpoint, for endpoint protection (such as computers and mobile devices).
   
2. Defender for Office 365, for checking e-mail, attachments and all the apps that are part of the Microsoft 365 suite (formerly Office 365).
   
3. Defender for Cloud Apps, for the security of cloud services.
   
4. Defender for Identity, for the protection of the identities of users and their access activities.
   

The operations performed by these products are centralized in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal, which provides a unified dashboard for monitoring events on various endpoints, devices, and apps.

In addition, the system is enriched with artificial intelligence and machine learning features, which make it possible to improve over time the ability to recognize and combat the most common and sophisticated computer threats, such as malware, phishing, ransomware and zero-day exploits.

These capabilities also make it possible to automate incident response, leading to a number of significant benefits for both the business and the IT team:

• Reduction of operating costs.
• Increased response speed.
• Greater operational efficiency.
• Lower IT infrastructure exposure.

The system offers an intuitive interface that allows administrators to manage security activities in real time and in a synchronized manner. In addition, it provides reports and statistics to analyze past events, identify present threats and predict future ones. Ultimately, Microsoft 365 Defender represents a holistic system from every point of view, offering a unique service of its kind.

Before exploring the specific benefits that Microsoft 365 Defender brings to a business, it's important to understand the types of licenses available to access them.

Microsoft 365 Defender Licensing

In addition to having specific licenses for each of its products, Microsoft 365 Defender is included in the following:

• Microsoft 365 E5 and A5.
• Microsoft 365 E3 with the Microsoft 365 E5 Security add-on.
• Microsoft 365 A3 with the Microsoft 365 A5 Security add-on.
• Windows 10 Enterprise E5 and A5.
• Windows 11 Enterprise E5 and A5.
• Office 365 E5 and A5.

It is enough for the user to purchase one of the Microsoft 365, Office 365 or Windows licenses listed here to access the services and functionality of the system from the relevant portal.

An important fact to underline, however, concerns product activation. To activate Microsoft 365 Defender, you must have one of the following roles:

• Global admin.
• Security Admin.

Then there are other roles, which however only allow access to functionality once the system is activated for the organization. Among these, there are:

• Security operator.
• Role with global or security reading permission.
• Compliance admin.
• Application admin.
• Cloud application admin.

Therefore, in addition to considering the type of license subscribed to, it is essential to pay attention to the role assigned by your company to avoid misunderstandings and ensure effective use of Microsoft 365 Defender services.

The 7 main benefits that Microsoft 365 Defender offers to businesses

Microsoft 365 Defender provides a series of benefits for a company that wants to:

• Optimize costs for protecting IT infrastructure.
• Optimize the efficiency of threat detection and response.
• Optimize exposure to risks.
• Optimize the management of security activities.
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Let's see in detail what are the main advantages offered by this product.

1. Full coverage in the Microsoft environment: Microsoft 365 Defender integrates perfectly with Microsoft 365 and Azure suite products, ensuring unified and coordinated protection between devices, applications, cloud services and data sources present in the digital work environment based on Microsoft technologies.
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2. Advanced and intelligent protection: Leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, Defender is able to detect and mitigate threats to IT infrastructure in real time. It analyzes user behavior, predicts emerging threats and acts proactively to reduce exposure to attacks or minimize their impact, assisting the IT team in identifying causes and resolving harmful effects.
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3. Automation of monitoring and incident response: With an automated response, Microsoft 365 Defender reduces reaction, isolation, and threat resolution times, improving efficiency compared to traditional manual intervention.
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4. Integration with Microsoft Azure security services: Defender integrates its functionality with those of tools such as Azure Sentinel and Azure Security Center to obtain greater visibility of threats and centralize their monitoring.
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5. Centralized, cross-platform management: Defender brings together endpoint, data, and identity security operations. It thus provides the IT team with a complete and unified picture of threats, security policies, system configurations and incident responses.
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6. Threat intelligence: Another fundamental advantage that comes from the use of AI for security is to be able to educate the system to recognize and eradicate emerging threats more and more quickly. To do this, Defender collects and reprocesses data from a vast ecosystem of Microsoft customers, partners, and services.
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7. Support across multiple operating systems and environments: Microsoft 365 Defender is available for a variety of operating systems including Windows, macOS, Linux, mobile devices, and cloud environments, allowing businesses to protect their data wherever it is.

The weaknesses of Microsoft 365 Defender, and how to fix them

Microsoft 365 Defender has a number of strengths, as highlighted above. However, it's also important to recognize its weaknesses, which users, especially administrators and the IT team, need to pay attention to. The good news is that with a few precautions you can avoid damage and maximize the effectiveness of Microsoft 365 Defender. Here are some tips on how to address these challenges:

• Keep the system up to date: A single solution to combat every type of threat is not yet available (in the entire market); however, Microsoft releases updates periodically to ensure the protection of its technologies. To avoid damage due to sophisticated threats, such as zero-day vulnerabilities, it is therefore important to keep Defender updated with the latest patches from the parent company. To avoid damage due to sophisticated threats, such as zero-day vulnerabilities, it is therefore important to keep Defender updated with the latest patches from the parent company. Still to counter the attack of sophisticated threats, it may be useful to integrate Defender with external security solutions or threat intelligence services.
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• Set up customizations correctly: The configuration and customization options offered by Defender can be an advantage, but it's important to set them up correctly to avoid system inefficiencies. In many cases, it is advisable to rely on industry professionals to configure Defender optimally and maximize its effectiveness.
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• Integrate functionality available offline: Some Microsoft 365 Defender features, such as cloud analysis and receiving threat alerts, require an internet connection. It's important to make sure you have a reliable network, but also consider integrating offline detection capabilities to ensure continuous protection even in the absence of an internet connection.

Addressing these challenges proactively can help ensure effective and reliable protection of the digital workplace through Microsoft 365 Defender.