Microsoft Defender XDR Reviews

We use the entire 365 security package. Defender XDR is primarily used for real-time malware scanning. Our company has about 1,500 endpoints. 

Before Defender, we used a different tool but were unhappy with its performance and frustrated with the deployment. Defender offers real-time scanning and alert notifications.

By adopting the Microsoft stack, we have eliminated other security solutions. Defender XDR reduces manual work. Our organization manages more than 1,500 systems, and manual intervention on all these systems would be a huge workload. Cloud solutions are easier to manage and monitor. 

We are a massive Microsoft shop. We see significant savings by getting all of our security from one vendor. There is a considerable drop compared to buying from other vendors. 

Defender XDR enables you to scan a system remotely and get a complete inventory of its assets. You can gather more information from the asset inventory and apply threat intelligence using Office 365 or something. It's a user-friendly, cost-effective, and feature-rich solution. The XDR features offer considerable value because you get more insights from your user systems.

Microsoft Defender XDR stops the movement of advanced attacks by working with the complete 365 package. For example, you can create rules for email filtering to block phishing emails. I can create rules for email filtering. If there are any suspicious links in an email or its attachments, we can quarantine that email. It notifies the admin or the user.  The user can ask the admin to remove the email from the quarantine. We can investigate the email before it reaches the endpoint. Defender also has web content filtering and all the other EDR file features.

Defender's ability to adapt to evolving threats is critical today. The number of attacks today is multiplying, and Defender's adaptability and awareness are amazing.

The initial time spent setting up and configuring Defender XDR is a bit longer than the other solutions. If everything were on one portal, the platforms for managing policies or alerts would be simpler. We must automate and manage policies on Intune rather than the same portal.

I have used Microsoft Defender XDR for nearly 14 months.

I am very satisfied with Defender's stability. It's a reliable solution that improves our confidence in our security.

I rate Microsoft support seven out of 10. I would like Microsoft's support to be a little more robust and technical.

Deploying Defender XDR is pretty straightforward. We deployed it in phases with deadlines. It took a couple of months. We met all our deadlines, and it wasn't a very complex solution to implement. 

We prepared and configured the tenant. Next, we created XDR policies and groups and orchestrated our requirements. We tried pushing the policies to see if the endpoints received them and sent the required information back to the admin portal. There was a testing period before we went live. Deployment only required two people. 

Defender doesn't require much maintenance after deployment because it's a cloud-based solution. We only need to tweak and update the policies, then push them out. 

Defender XDR is reasonably priced based on the licenses we need and the solution's capabilities. At the same time, Defender is a little pricier than some of the other solutions. 

We also considered CrowdStrike and Trend Micro. Trend Micro came the closest to meeting our expectations. Ultimately, we decided to use Defender XDR because we already used most of the Microsoft products, so it was a little more cost-effective. 

I rate Microsoft Defender XDR nine out of 10. Before deploying Defender XDR, potential users should be informed about the pricing, support, and the labor required to manage, maintain, and deploy the solutions. 

I am a consultant responsible for deploying and providing customer support for Microsoft products. We use Defender XDR for endpoint protection. It helps them secure endpoints with an advanced XDR solution that conducts behavior analysis and things like that.

Defender XDR provides more visibility into all the connected services, including the security stack and all the productivity software. They're all integrated. It's much less maintenance and has fewer headaches during integration and setup. Implementing the solution and getting the customer fully protected takes very little time. According to Gartner, it's one of the best solutions on the market,  and it requires a limited amount of time and resources to get it fully operational.

By adopting Defender XDR, our customers have discontinued other security products. The solution can replace products like Kaspersky, McAfee, Trend Micro, and even CrowdStrike. 

It has affected customers' security operations by simplifying permissions and reducing the total cost ownership if we discontinue all the security products that the customers used before. Customers usually save around 20 percent, but it's more than simply replacing one component with another. It replaces several security solutions like email and cloud application protection. If you compare the total cost of ownership of on-prem solutions versus Microsoft, it is better to go with Microsoft. You also get lifetime upgrades for the systems and features that you implement.

Microsoft XDR's system of analysis and investigation is super convenient for our customers. It integrates with other Microsoft solutions like Defender for 365 to protect email traffic from malicious external web links and phishing. Customers like that the platform provides a single pane of glass for all the security services. Many of them do not have the capacity to support complex systems, so it's better for them to have most of the tools integrated into one platform. 

You can integrate XDR with Microsoft's identity solution Entra ID if you have a premium license. Those tools are fully integrated, but you need to purchase a separate solution called Defender for Identity to get tools to protect identities and connect the Enterprise Data Center with Defender.

Defender XDR's coverage isn't limited to Microsoft products. You can use almost any solution and achieve the same single point of control. For example, you can integrate Microsoft Defender for Cloud Applications, which covers all the cloud service providers. It isn't limited to only Microsoft infrastructure.

Customers say they want absolutely seamless integration between other Microsoft solutions and Defender XDR, including the ability to change device settings within the Defender portal. They need to contact the IT team responsible for the device management tools to change some settings. They would prefer that those changes be initiated directly from the Defender portal or applied from Intune without involving the IT operations team.

I have used Microsoft Defender XDR for five years. 

Defender XDR is almost 100 percent stable.

Defender XDR is infinitely scalable. 

I rate Microsoft standard support six out of 10 and premium support eight out of 10. The response times for basic Microsoft support leave much to be desired. It can take up to two weeks to resolve issues if you don't have a support contract. 

Neutral

Deploying Defender XDR is relatively straightforward, but it depends on whether the customer has already integrated its on-premise infrastructure with the Microsoft cloud.

Deployment requires one or two engineers on our side. We determine the scope of the work and the deployment before rolling out the clients to the endpoints. The biggest question is whether the customer already has the network infrastructure prepared for that service based on the Microsoft documentation. For example, we must determine if the endpoints connect directly to the Microsoft cloud or through a proxy server, firewalls, etc.

Defender includes four or five products different products. The most useful is Defender for Endpoint, which typically takes up to two weeks to deploy, while Defender for Office and Defender for Identity take one week to deploy. Defender for Cloud Applications can be deployed in a few days. It also depends on how the customer will use it. If it's being used for compliance, the customer's requirements may be totally different. 

The number of maintenance and administrative personnel depends on the organization's size and the number of solutions deployed. It's hard to calculate how people would be necessary for that particular part of the security ecosystem. However, Defender XDR takes up to three people to manage. 

Defender XDR is expensive, but the cost is justified. Defender is included in an E3 or E5 license. If you don't have a premium Microsoft license and you purchase Defender separately, the whole model will be different. You can also pay extra for premium support. 

I rate Microsoft Defender XDR nine out of 10. I recommend starting it as soon as possible, but you must also plan for any future on-premise solutions that you might bring into the system. Consider any prerequisites you need if you decide to go with the product. The biggest issue is that your network infrastructure needs to be set up according to the Microsoft documentation.

My company operates as a service provider, so we use Microsoft Defender XDR in our office to provide our customers with security services.

I won't say that the product helped improve how my organization operates, but there is a need to build trust between the user and the product. Microsoft Defender XDR has been used in my organization since we purchased Windows 10 or 11, after which a user does not need to install any products from Microsoft separately. Some of my company's customers insist they want to install antivirus software separately in their environment due to trust issues.

The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that Microsoft Defender XDR is easy to integrate with other Microsoft platforms or products. Some other vendors of security products provide great features or capabilities of detection, but the best feature of Microsoft is its integration capability.

One important point about the solution that is an area of concern where improvements are required is related to the control center it provides. Generally, antivirus products provide a central control to manage every device in terms of who is installing it or who is trying to disable it, but Microsoft doesn't have such a control center for the antivirus product it provides.

I have been using Microsoft Defender XDR for three years. My company has a partnership with Microsoft. My company is also a reseller of Microsoft products.

As a part of Microsoft's attempt to reduce costs, there has been a direct cut down of the local technical support team. Sometimes, you have to use the technical support offered by Microsoft from other countries, but at times, we speak different languages, just like how people speak in Chinese or Mandarin, but there are still some differences between them. The front-line support from Microsoft has only limited technical abilities or access to their internal system. Sometimes, my company cannot even escalate an issue to Microsoft's senior team members.

The support team of Microsoft is nice as they attempt to solve the problems together with you, but I believe that due to some cost-related issues, they don't have enough permissions. Sometimes, users might feel blocked when trying to connect with the support team.

I rate the technical support a seven out of ten.

Neutral

My company started with Microsoft Defender XDR when we partnered with Microsoft. Some of our company's customers prefer CrowdStrike, Fortinet, and FortiSIEM.

You don't need to indulge in troubleshooting, making the initial setup phase an easy process because you could just use a GPO on your server to deploy everything. When there comes a problem to onboard some specific devices, and you need to indulge in troubleshooting, sometimes Microsoft Defender XDR's team says it is a problem with the devices a user is trying to onboard, and it's really hard for our company as service providers since we cannot always ask customers to reinstall their server.

Microsoft purposely makes its license combinations complex and includes combinations like Microsoft 365 E3 and Microsoft 365 E5, Office 365 E3, Office 365 E5, and Office 365 E1, so you get confused. Microsoft tries to sell you a bundle of a lot of things together. The licensing model of the product should be made more understandable.

There are other good products in the market, and it is difficult to state which one is better since all of them have micro differences in terms of pricing. There may be components like the user interface or maybe some other elements to judge other products, but when it comes to Microsoft, the most important factor stems from the fact that most people use Windows, so it's all integrated.

The product provides unified identity and access management as long as I use all of the products offered by Microsoft.

It is important for me that identity and access management are included within Microsoft Defender XDR because everything is controlled by your identity in the digital world, making it look like a user's government ID in the digital world. My company has tried a lot to talk to and educate our customers since some try not to use a complex password or MFA, which is the most important thing to protect your identity.

Some integration functions in Azure portal allow users to integrate their third-party applications. With the solution, it is not easy to track third-party applications. For transactions recognized by your credentials, it is not easy to track as they would stop, after which we are informed there is a problem. In my organization, we only know how some third-party applications ask to check the credentials, but we don't know what Microsoft Defender XDR does with it, so the product's security doesn't extend beyond just Microsoft technologies.

The product does stop lateral movement and advanced attacks like ransomware or business email compromise. The product blocks a lot of ransomware, which is good. It is considered to be a strict product, so if some of our customers use some local mail service, they have been blocked because Microsoft considers it to be not secure. Microsoft puts a lot of effort into security.

Microsoft Defender XDR's ability to stop attacks covers the product's ability to adapt to evolving threats. It is better to use it as a cloud-based solution that keeps adapting to changes and providing new features.

The product must adapt and evolve to manage threats since there is a new zero-day vulnerability every day, and there is no way to get protection from it. You cannot rely on the users or the admin to upgrade the features daily, so it's better to adopt it automatically with a cloud-based solution like Microsoft Defender XDR.

There were some problems when my organization tried to discontinue other products during the implementation phase of Microsoft Defender XDR since Microsoft tried to integrate all the products in our organization's environment together. If you have used Microsoft Defender XDR, you have to use an antivirus from Microsoft along with Microsoft Identity Platform Endpoint to get the best results. Sometimes, some customers may try to install some third-party antivirus in their environment other than the one provided by Microsoft, which gets blocked. Sometimes, antivirus software from a vendor goes into passive mode. When an antivirus software is in passive mode, some of its advanced features are not usable, causing some problems the user needs to deal with when using it.

The product's ability to save costs depends on how a user looks at a problem while using the solution. I worked as a part of the security team, and we always used to talk to our company's customers. The solution is sometimes like insurance, especially if you want to avoid some bigger problems and you need to spend some money to protect your environment. In some other IT teams or from some other client's point of view, Microsoft Defender XDR costs a lot of money, and they don't see anything. In the security world, no news is good news. You don't want to have to see everything happen and get plenty of alerts trying to prove the product's worth. The product has to control the attack surface so that you won't be attacked that much, or if there are any attacks, it can reduce the impact.

The product definitely saves time for my organization and our company's client teams, especially considering that it is not possible to manually go through the logs every day. The product did help pop up the abnormal activities so that my organization could just review the important things or abnormal activities.

It is hard to say how much time the product saves since it depends on factors like whether you are using some other products or using Microsoft Defender XDR alone. I guess that the product can save over 60 percent of my organization's time. When you use Microsoft Defender XDR in your IT infrastructure, and it works for you, then you just put it in there, and you will come to know when there are some abnormal activities or when you are attacked. With Microsoft Defender XDR, you can get some signs if you are being attacked.

Microsoft Defender XDR is a nice solution and can be combined with other solutions from Microsoft, but they offer limited flexibility. I want the product to be a high surveillance solution for me and not just an information-oriented tool, but nowadays, Microsoft doesn't provide any options to help choose the users' preferences.

I rate the overall product a seven out of ten.

It addresses various use cases, including monitoring and securing file storage like OneDrive and SharePoint. It has recently incorporated Teams integration to safeguard against malware. Additionally, it serves as a replacement for on-premises Advanced Threat Protection, offering enhanced capabilities. It has proven valuable in highlighting critical scenarios related to credential use and legacy Active Directory, providing substantial assistance in these areas.

When transitioning to Microsoft Defender for Endpoint from our previous use of ATP, we observed significant improvements. Legacy ATP involved numerous signals and a substantial learning curve, but Microsoft Defender for Endpoint establishes a more effective baseline. In comparison to Cylance, which generated a considerable amount of background noise, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint enables us to concentrate on the more critical alerts that demand our attention. Our team is actively phasing out disparate security tools in favor of a streamlined approach. The efficiency gained from having a single pane of glass is a powerful asset for our team.

One of the most valuable aspects is the comprehensive insights it provides into on-premises identities, particularly within Legacy Active Directory. This allows for the examination of use cases related to identities, ensuring there is no misuse of accounts or computers. A crucial aspect for our team is the inclusion of identity and access management tools from the vendor. Despite being a sizable global company, our team is relatively small, considering our global reach. Therefore, minimizing overhead is a top priority for us, and integrating these tools from the vendor becomes crucial in achieving that goal.

My suggestion would be for Microsoft to continue aligning all components within this ecosystem. This consolidation is beneficial as we strive for a more unified and comprehensive view, essentially a single pane of glass, which is highly valued. In the future, I hope for increased third-party integration. While Microsoft plays a role, it's equally important for third-party providers to step up. In our organization, the information security team has endorsed a specific set of products. Integrating the telemetry from these approved products into our systems would be immensely beneficial, providing a more comprehensive view and enhancing our overall security posture. Extending security coverage is of paramount importance. Integrating telemetry could bridge these gaps, fostering greater cooperation among individual teams within the organization. Having teams collectively examine the same information might contribute to advancing collaboration and overall security efforts. The capability to not only thwart attacks but also to adapt to evolving threats is crucial.

I have been using it for the last three years.

It is exceptionally stable, without encountering any notable issues or complaints. Microsoft seems proactive in communication through the message center, keeping users informed about any ongoing issues, and we appreciate the clarity provided through multiple channels.

It has the capability to scale seamlessly, especially with Microsoft's expertise in the cloud. We have over six thousand end users globally distributed across various facilities, with some on-premises deployments due to specific requirements. However, our overarching strategy is cloud-first, and the majority of our infrastructure operates in Azure. In terms of endpoints, the number is substantial, likely exceeding seven thousand when considering both servers and clients.

We haven't had the need to contact them so far. In general, our experience with Microsoft support has been variable—it can be both beneficial and challenging. While they offer a wealth of resources, there are instances where the response may not align with our expectations. I would rate it eight out of ten.

Positive

I made the switch from Bitdefender to Defender primarily due to cost considerations. In my professional assessment, Bitdefender appears adequate from a client perspective, but when it comes to enterprise deployment, I don't view it as fully enterprise-ready. We encountered numerous challenges, particularly with installing Bitdefender's agent on Server 2022, which proved to be a significant hurdle for my team, consuming valuable time and resources. The advantage of Defender lies in its ability to seamlessly bring together threat telemetry from servers across various cloud providers, including Azure, and extend this protection to our Windows endpoints, offering a robust and integrated security solution.

The initial setup was straightforward.

Our implementation strategy was relatively gradual and soft. We enabled the features, allowed it to ingest the data, and then began assessing the generated alerts. Taking a somewhat silent approach, we deferred more to the expertise of our information security team, considering their role as the cornerstone in this aspect. As we moved forward, we aimed to identify areas for improvement and address the specific queries and needs that our team raised during the process. Our ongoing maintenance primarily involves fine-tuning our alerts to align with our specific use cases.

In terms of return on investment, the potential for cost reduction is a key consideration and Defender does provide it. The time saved is substantial, especially if we can navigate through our internal processes efficiently. Specifically for my infrastructure team, using Defender for Endpoint has significantly reduced the time spent delving into emerging issues. As a rough estimate, I would say it saves us approximately six hours a week that would otherwise be spent navigating through the complexities of individual components within Microsoft 365.

I find the pricing to be quite competitive, especially considering its inclusion in our E5 subscription, which provides a comprehensive set of functionalities. Initially, when I evaluated the pricing for add-ons with our E3 subscription, it seemed reasonable. However, we opted for the E5 subscription, absorbing the additional features seamlessly.

I'd recommend exploring Microsoft's Learn documentation, a resource that is sometimes overlooked but provides valuable insights into the capabilities of Defender. It's a good starting point to understand its features. For large enterprises with tools like Visual Studio subscriptions (formerly MSDN), Microsoft offers the option to set up an E5 tenant for testing. This can be deployed freely for up to twenty-five licenses, excluding the Windows license. I suggest diving into hands-on experimentation in a lab environment, combining practical experience with informational reading for a comprehensive understanding. Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.

We use 365 Defender to manage organization-level devices and vendor security compliance. We are a retail-focused organization that offers cloud services through Azure, GCP, and AWS, but we manage all the security through 365 Defender. Some of our users are based in other countries, and everything is centralized. We operate in multiple regions. 

We can easily track any other malicious activities or additional applications that will prevent it. We can get it here. It will be a helpful tool once we create policies for DLP and third-party programs. 

365 Defender stops the lateral movement of advanced attacks. It prevents something that happens on the device level from affecting us on the organization level. The solution enables us to track all the details, like the IPs and the device types. 

365 Defender helps us deal with unknown threats by creating custom policies, which enable us to block access by specific unknown sources and unsafe links. 365 Defender has multi-tenant capabilities, and we have multiple tenants, but I'm only involved in the retail part, so I don't have authority over other tenants. 

We were able to discontinue some of our other security products when we implemented 365 Defender, but there are some exceptions. We can use non-Microsoft solutions when the customer requires it. Mostly, we use cloud solutions. We've saved some costs on the security side at the organizational level by reducing equipment costs. Using 365 Defender's automation capabilities, we can cut our vulnerability management time by about 40-50 percent. 

I like 365 Defender's advanced threat hunting. The dashboard is user-friendly with templates for site policies, etc. The most important use case is evaluating the risk links and applications. 

The cost can be high if you want to build custom license packages. Another area for improvement is the policies. In Azure, we need to implement policies in JSON format, but in 365 Defender 365, it would be helpful to use a different format so we can customize the platform.

I have used 365 Defender for more than two years. 

365 Defender can have some performance issues during enrollment. It can take a while at times, but sometimes it's duplicated immediately. That's an issue with some other cloud-based programs like Intune and Azure products. 

I rate Microsoft 365 Defender support nine out of 10. Their support representatives provide solutions based on priorities. They prefer to follow the proper SLA part. 

Positive

The deployment is quick, straightforward, and involves only two people. 

Sometimes 365 Defender is expensive, but it can be moderate, depending on the organization's size and the license type. We're satisfied with the cost because it gives us a product that protects our entire environment with DLP. To compromise some cost, of course, we are to complete the most secure environment. 

I rate 365 Defender nine out of 10. 

We're using it for our email filtering to check incoming emails and URLs. We're also using it for vulnerability management to see the status of our assets that are registered on the system. We also check it to see what kinds of threats and campaigns are currently being launched via emails.

It provides us with better insight into what's going on across our platform. It has also given us a very easy way to respond when threats or alerts come through. And when looking for someone in particular, it helps with that. It hugely improved our insight into what's going on inside the company's premises and environments.

365 Defender also helps find high-value alerts, but we haven't used it for complete automation. It has some automation features where it can try to block or quarantine things, but beyond the default automation configuration, we haven't explored deeper into using automation. The default settings work well.

And while we've always used one or two dashboards, this system has made it easier to have a quick overview on a single platform.

In addition, the threat intelligence helps prepare you for potential threats, to a certain limit, because it gives you insights into where your shortcomings are, your vulnerabilities. It also gives you some security recommendations to make improvements.

And the solution has decreased our time to respond because on high alerts you can get a quick response. The system will notify you very quickly if it detects something at a certain thread level or a custom threat level that you set.

Microsoft 365 Defender has a very great interface to help protect registered devices when it comes to web protection, which is very handy.

We also use the alert systems often. It's a great threat intelligence source for us, providing alerts for things it detects on the network and on the machines. We've used it often when there is a potential incident to see what was done on a computer. That works quite nicely because you can see everything that the user has done, including websites accessed, et cetera. And if something was on the machine, we can see what it was trying to do.

I use the alert system on a daily basis. It gives you a very good analysis of where something was found, which employee or which device. And it often gives you a good history on that. The alerts help me to monitor and check what is going on. That's a very valuable system to have.

We've also tried the attack simulation, which sends out phishing emails internally as a test to see how the users respond. We get feedback and use the training simulation as a result. We've only done that once, and it's something we want to work on a little more.

In addition, we're using the assets on the system as well as the inventory functionality. It checks all the machines to see what software is installed on them.

We've used a lot of the features on the cloud, although not everything to its full potential, but we've used 70 to 80 percent of all the features on the cloud.

In the beginning, it's difficult to navigate the system because it is quite large. Just trying to find your way and understand how the system works can be hard. After spending quite a lot of time searching it's a lot easier, but I wish it were a bit more user-friendly when you're trying to find things.

The information it provides is great, but for a newcomer, it is quite tedious and takes a long time to load. Here in South Africa, when you click, oftentimes you have to wait quite some time before you get to the next page. It's not necessarily internet-related. I think it's just that the service is a bit slow.

Also, while the solution does help to prioritize threats, unfortunately, it doesn't do so for the entire environment. The reason is that it only supports full integration from Windows 10 and up. It provides you certain information from your server environment, but when you start going with legacy services, it is a bit lacking.

Another issue that is sometimes a headache is that they constantly make changes. Things will be merged, they will get different names, or be moved around. Things will be added and other things go somewhere else. They do a lot of development to make the product better, but it's very frustrating having to search for stuff after they've moved it, because you don't always know that they have moved things. They might have little banners, but if you're just working and don't read them, you don't know where things have gone. 

I would also really like to see better integration with the server platforms for managing your server environment. That's something it currently doesn't do. For all the server environments, you either need to make use of group policies or SCCM to manage that independently. It can provide you information on the system, but it doesn't have control over your server line.

Also, I make use of 365 Defender on a business level and on a personal level. On the personal level, there is a lot less functionality. Something that would be very nice is that, for the level you are on, you would only see the product you are subscribed to. For instance, if you log on via the business, you have all your action areas, anything you can do and see, on the left. Because you're using it at a corporate level, you can see and do everything. On the personal level, or in a small business where you're only using some of the features, you still have all the same options, but when you click on them, it tells you that you need to upgrade or subscribe. They should only show you what you have access to, and not all the tabs and then say, "You need to subscribe to get access to this." It just clutters the whole area.

We have been using Microsoft 365 Defender for about two years.

Overall, it has 95 percent stability. We don't have any issues with it. It works well. Microsoft does provide frequent information when there are issues or delays. But the stability is very good.

We're still learning a lot about its capabilities. It's more capable than what we use it for. That is due to a restriction on our resources and availability to get to know the system even better.

We have contacted Microsoft tech support multiple times. They are quick to respond to the original request. Sometimes I have been quite surprised because they have replied within 15 minutes. Some of the questions we had were resolved quickly, on the order of 60 minutes. I had one that took almost two years to get resolved. But in general, they are quick to respond. Their support is very good and quick.

Positive

Before 365 Defender, we made use of Avast as our antivirus, which had its own web console. For malware protection, we used an on-prem Cisco IronPort system that was scanning all our emails. And most of our SIEM logging information was done manually. We had much less insight into what was going on in the company.

Because it was a new solution for us, we had a company that works with Microsoft assist us, to make sure that all the configurations were standard. But since then, we've maintained most of it ourselves. On our side there were no more than five people involved.

It's a very expensive product, but for any threat it has definitely stopped or protected us from, in that sense, it has saved money and time, by preventing things that could have happened. But is it affordable? No, it's expensive.

If you look at everything that the solution entails, and the big cost to companies, especially medium-sized companies, one would like to have a bit of a price decrease due to economic circumstances. The functionality is fantastic, but for medium and small-sized companies it's overpriced. It would be better if it were a little bit cheaper.

We did look at other solutions. In the end, we decided on 365 Defender because it was all integrated. It worked to our advantage because all the products that we needed were already on the machines. All the products that you get from the Defender area are part of the built-in Windows 10 features. It gave us a better way of controlling and managing things. Overall, it made more sense to have one central place to manage and control and be alerted.

My advice is don't be frightened when you start getting into the solution. If you are not used to the environment, it is a mouthful, and it can really scare your socks off. There's just so much to it that you won't really know where to start.

The best thing I can recommend to anybody who is starting is to get somebody who knows the system to give you a walkthrough. Also, look at the tutorials to see what the functionalities are. It will be beneficial for any person to get a good overview of what's going on in 365 Defender, the capabilities and how it looks. But getting in contact with somebody who has some experience already in using it will help you to ask where to find things. "Where do I go from here? Show me how you're set up, so I can at least see some of the functionalities."

My very first impression of 365 Defender was that I was looking for something, but I didn't even know where to start. It was too overwhelming. As I spoke to other people who knew about the system, they gave me an overview and that made it easier for me to understand and to know where to go.

365 Defender is our main deployment, but we've got the endpoints also connected on Intune. They work together to deliver coordinated detection and response in our environment. Our complete suite is pretty much all Microsoft. Our environment is a 50/50 hybrid. We use Intune for certain policy changes and some of the deployments. But because our environment has a lot of legacy systems, we make use of the normal, on-prem deployment services as well.

Sentinel is linked to our on-premises Active Directory. It helps identify things that are happening on-prem. For example, when a user's account instance gets locked out, it will show you, on Defender, from which local machine it was locked out. Or if certain things are accessed, it will show that information on the on-prem Active Directory. It works well. For investigating and responding to threats, it definitely helps by dumping the information in a centralized location with the alerts to identify a bit more flow pattern. If something happens that's not on the cloud area, but it's on-prem, it helps track and identify movement. The information from Sentinel is an added bonus.

Overall, Defender 365 has saved us time, compared to the old ways of doing things, but at the same time, I wish the site was faster. Sometimes it can be very slow.

Best-of-breed solutions versus a single vendor's suite comes down to personal experience. With best-of-breed, at least you know that they have been tested in the industry and have a lot of history behind them. Also, the redundancy would be a lot better. Going with a single vendor sometimes makes it a little bit difficult, especially if they are only focusing on one area. It's a difficult question. It might come down to the way someone was "brought up" in the security industry or the way that they trust these companies.

I give Microsoft 365 Defender a nine out of 10. Once you get to know the system, it's really awesome. It provides a lot of insights.

Microsoft 365 Defender works together with Exchange Online is my area of specialty.

Microsoft 365 Defender incorporates a capability to identify potentially malicious emails or emails originating from suspicious senders.

Previously, we encountered a significant number of spam emails and suspicious emails, and users were inadvertently interacting with them. However, we have made progress in addressing this issue. We have conducted attack awareness training to educate users on identifying suspicious emails, and Microsoft Defender has played an important role in preventing such emails from reaching our inboxes. As a result, we have noticed a reduction in the volume of spam emails and an increase in the delivery of trustworthy emails. Considering these improvements, I can confidently state that we are in a better position now in terms of email security compared to the past before the implementation of Microsoft 365 Defender.

Within Microsoft 365 Defender, specifically using Advanced Threat Protection, you have the ability to define rules and actions for high-value alerts. 

By using Advanced Threat Protection, you have the capability to conduct thorough investigations and delve deeper into the search for specific threats that you suspect may be present within your organization. 

Within the Microsoft 365 Defender suite, you have access to numerous features that enable you to effectively track and investigate potential threats within your organization.

Automation significantly impacts our security operations in a highly beneficial way. It revolutionizes our approach by providing a centralized IT vendor admin center where we can execute all our search queries and obtain the desired information from a single interface. This unified platform streamlines the entire process by consolidating various components and their respective search processes into one, eliminating the need to navigate through multiple individual interfaces. With Microsoft 365 Defender, we have the convenience of accessing and investigating different areas of interest from a single standpoint. This not only saves us substantial time but also reduces effort and enhances overall efficiency in our security operations.

The consolidation of security operations has had a significant impact on our effectiveness and efficiency. It has resulted in improved response times, enabling us to swiftly pinpoint the potential sources of threats. We have observed a reduction in incident response time, allowing us to address security incidents more promptly. Additionally, the consolidation has enhanced the efficiency of our deployment processes, streamlining our overall security operations. These notable impacts have greatly contributed to our organization's ability to proactively identify and mitigate threats, ultimately bolstering our security posture.

Threat intelligence is an essential component in proactively preparing for potential threats and implementing proactive measures. While I have not personally engaged with this particular feature, it is widely acknowledged that staying informed about current threat intelligence is essential.

Although preventive measures are in place to minimize maintenance issues, there can be instances where threats successfully circumvent those safeguards. However, the capability to detect and identify threats before they cause harm to the system remains a valuable advantage. Anticipating the effects of this specific feature in Microsoft Defender is something I am eager to experience, as it appears to be a fascinating addition to the security measures.

Another noteworthy feature that I find appealing in Microsoft Defender is the credit-backed simulation. This feature enables organizations to train their users on effectively responding to phishing emails through a simulated training environment. 

Indeed, the credit-backed simulation feature in Microsoft Defender operates by sending simulated phishing emails to users within the organization based on the configured settings. When a user interacts with the email by clicking on a link or taking any action, they receive a notification informing them that it was a simulated phishing attempt. This simulation serves as a valuable training tool, helping users learn how to detect and respond to phishing emails effectively. By experiencing these simulations, users can enhance their awareness and develop the skills necessary to prevent falling victim to real phishing scenarios in the future. This feature is highly valuable in improving the overall security awareness and resilience of the organization's users.

In terms of visibility, Microsoft 365 Defender offers a comprehensive and detailed overview of threats and potential traces identified within your organization. 

Within Microsoft 365 Defender, you have the ability to configure specific criteria and assign high-risk values to certain indicators. This allows you to align with compliance regulations and establish your organization's threat determination framework. By leveraging Microsoft 365 Defender, you can implement and enforce these criteria to analyze and assess potential threats in your environment. 

I believe that Microsoft has the potential to greatly enhance the efficiency of the application by incorporating advanced capabilities into this feature. By providing users with the ability to customize and tailor threat detection according to their specific needs, Microsoft could significantly improve the overall effectiveness of the application. The addition of advanced capabilities would be a valuable enhancement, complementing the existing features and further strengthening the overall functionality of Microsoft 365 Defender. This would undoubtedly be a welcome and highly beneficial addition to the platform.

Microsoft 365 Defender demonstrates a commendable level of comprehensiveness in its threat protection capabilities. However, it is important to acknowledge that false positives and false negatives can be potential challenges in any security solution.

I primarily focus on using two key features within Microsoft Defender: the attack training simulation and the threat policies integrated with Azure Guard Protection.

The dashboard is one of the features of this application.

Implementing this solution has proven to be time-saving as it enables us to effectively track down suspicious and malicious attachments that may accompany emails. Even if users tend to click on attachments without much thought, we have successfully prevented and significantly reduced security breaches that were prevalent in our past security architecture. The ability to identify and mitigate potential threats has greatly improved our overall security posture, providing us with enhanced protection against breaches and unauthorized access to our systems. By leveraging this solution, we have experienced tangible benefits in terms of minimizing security incidents and safeguarding our organization's sensitive data and resources.

There was a specific incident where an email was received containing an executable file, and unfortunately, like many other users, this particular user was unaware of the potential risks and clicked on it without hesitation. Consequently, the consequences of this action became evident. 

Microsoft 365 Defender has provided us with the capability to pinpoint the specific machine where the application is currently present, as well as track the actions and steps that the application has already taken on that machine. This is just one example of the numerous areas where Microsoft 365 Defender has proven invaluable in our security operations. 

While providing an exact numerical comparison may be challenging, I can confidently say that the improvement in our response capabilities with Microsoft 365 Defender compared to our previous security architecture is indeed significant.

It is fair to acknowledge that Microsoft 365 Defender, like any software product, is not without its imperfections. There are instances where it may incorrectly flag legitimate emails from trusted senders as spam or exhibit inadequate performance in accurately classifying certain emails.

Aside from that, it's a pretty good solution, and that is for the emails.

However, the main point I want to convey is that for someone who is new to it, using Microsoft 365 Defender will demand a significant amount of effort and a willingness to learn about the product in order to maximize its benefits. It deals with technical aspects and encompasses a broad range of features beyond just the mentioned warranty, such as online exchanges. To effectively utilize Microsoft 365 Defender, it is important to have a thorough understanding of its functionalities.

It may be too complex for beginners to grasp.

In the future, it would be beneficial for Microsoft to consider making the product more user-friendly or simplified for those who are interested in using it. Currently, it requires a high level of technical expertise, making it challenging for beginners or less experienced individuals. 

Breaking it down into smaller components or enhancing its comprehensibility for end users would serve as a valuable advantage. In fact, it would not only impress others but also motivate them to understand the significance of utilizing I Defender in their specific situations.

At the moment, I have limited knowledge about TripAdvisor and its offerings, so I'm unable to provide comprehensive information. However, based on my current understanding, I believe it would greatly benefit from being more user-friendly and simplifying its features. This would enable users to easily navigate the platform and maximize their experience with it.

I have been working with Microsoft 365 Defender for a year.

To the best of my knowledge, I have never encountered a situation where Microsoft 365 Defender experienced significant crashes or unresponsiveness, aside from occasional instances of false positives and false negatives. I have found the platform to be reliable and self-service oriented, with prompt responses from the provider whenever assistance was needed.

We currently have around a hundred users with Office 365 licenses; however, not everyone has the same plan that includes Microsoft 365 Defender. I was hoping to access the admin dashboard to have a closer look at the settings and configurations, but it seems that access is limited to approximately fifty users.

This is managed by Microsoft you don't have to do anything.  All you have to do is understand how to use it to make it work for you.

Similar to other cloud applications, I believe Microsoft 365 Defender demonstrates excellent scalability by seamlessly accommodating an increasing number of users. It effortlessly scales across these users, eliminating the need for extensive efforts to extend security measures to them. The scalability of Microsoft 365 Defender is highly commendable.

In situations where an email that appears to have properties indicative of spam gets delivered instead of being flagged, it is advisable to contact the technical support team directly. 

Engaging with customer support allows you to understand why such potentially harmful content was allowed into your organization. While Microsoft 365 Defender is an advanced solution, there is always room for improvement, and feedback can help drive future enhancements to make it more effective.

By reaching out to customer support, you can address specific concerns and gain insights into how to optimize the system's performance for better security outcomes in the future.

I would rate the technical support an eight out of ten.

I use Exchange Online Protection in conjunction with exchange mailboxes.

They collaborate closely. Collaborating with one is nearly identical to collaborating with the other due to the overlapping features between Microsoft 365 Defender and Exchange Online. Essentially, I consider them to be synonymous since their primary objective is ensuring security.

They lack native integration and instead exhibit interdependence. I believe their collaboration is essential in order to fully utilize their capabilities and optimize the user experience. It is crucial for them to function together in order to achieve maximum benefits and enhance overall performance.

The main differentiating factor is the expanded scope of Microsoft 365 Defender, which is evident as the primary distinction. Our utilization includes Microsoft 365 for cloud applications and Microsoft 365 for Office Microsoft 365 applications. However, when it comes to Exchange Online Protection, its functionality is exclusively focused on email boxes.

Microsoft 365 Defender provides a broader and more extensive coverage compared to Exchange Online Protection, offering a wider reach in terms of wireless accessibility.

In the past, we used Mimecast for email filtering, and before that, we employed Trendmicro as our spam filtering and email filtering solutions.

I was not involved in the deployment process.

Previously, organizations had to invest in separate third-party filtering solutions to effectively address potential threats and breaches. However, the situation has now improved significantly as Microsoft 365 Defender consolidates all these necessary security measures into the comprehensive Microsoft 365 license. This consolidation brings numerous benefits, making it a win-win scenario for organizations. They no longer need to make additional purchases or manage multiple security solutions, as everything is conveniently available with the Microsoft 365 license.

With an eligible and dependable license like Microsoft 365, there is no need to concern yourself with the purchase of an additional third-party solution, which often comes at a higher cost. 

All these functionalities have been consolidated into a single license, eliminating the need to incur additional costs for third-party solutions such as Google Security for email features and similar functionalities.

The time it takes for us to respond has been significantly reduced. Additionally, the time it takes to detect potential threats has also seen significant improvements.

In situations where Microsoft 365 Defender did not successfully mitigate a potential threat or error, it highlights the need to initiate a new process to address the specific scenario. However, with the current setup, we are now able to detect and prevent such incidents in a timely manner. This proactive approach has saved us from potential future issues and the associated costs that may have arisen. Without Microsoft 365 Defender, it would have been challenging to identify and contain these threats, which could have caused widespread problems throughout the environment. The implementation of Microsoft 365 has effectively stopped such incidents from occurring, mitigating the need for extensive investments to resolve the issues. This positive outcome demonstrates a favorable return on investment, provided we fully understand and leverage the capabilities of the product to its maximum potential.

I believe the pricing is fair and acceptable. I consider it to be reasonable and satisfactory.

If you prioritize security, considering the cost should not be a determining factor. If you truly understand the level of protection offered, you wouldn't be concerned about the price. Instead, you would focus on the value provided. From our perspective, the pricing is reasonable considering the significant benefits and value we currently receive.

We recently transitioned away from those solutions and successfully migrated everyone to Microsoft 365 Defender. Since then, we have been exclusively using Microsoft 365 Defender without any changes up to the present time.

We have no motivation or desire to switch to or explore other products, as we are already satisfied with the quality and value we receive from our current investment.

Optimally managing a combination of various security solutions can be time-consuming and overwhelming. Instead, having a single dashboard where you can consolidate and run all your queries proves to be more efficient. While the intention might be to extract the maximum benefits from multiple solutions, dividing your attention among them hinders the ability to fully leverage each one. Therefore, it is advisable to identify a comprehensive solution that meets your requirements and focus on understanding how to maximize its potential and utilization.

Furthermore, using multiple solutions in an environment can lead to compatibility issues and conflicts. When you have multiple applications performing similar functions, it can complicate matters and potentially cause problems in the future. To avoid such complications and maintain a streamlined setup, it is advisable to stick with a single solution and focus on understanding and optimizing its usage. By doing so, you can ensure better control and avoid potential disruptions that may arise from using multiple conflicting applications.

To truly grasp the value of a service like Defender, it may be challenging for someone who hasn't experienced the need for its intervention firsthand. It is essential to engage individuals who have encountered scenarios where Defender played an important role in saving the day. When evaluating the effectiveness of the solution, it is important to involve those with hands-on experience, who have witnessed the capabilities of the product and understand how to maximize its utilization. The hands-on experience becomes paramount when screening and assessing the proficiency of individuals in dealing with this specific solution.

I would give Microsoft 365 Defender a rating of nine out of ten. The only reason I'm not giving it a perfect score of ten is that it can be quite technical for someone who is just starting out. Additionally, there may be occasional false positives and negatives, which is not unique to Defender but is a common occurrence in various software and security applications. However, apart from these minor aspects, I consider Microsoft 365 Defender to be an excellent solution overall.

We use Microsoft Defender XDR to protect our endpoints, computers, mobile devices, and emails.

In part, Microsoft Defender XDR provides unified identity and access management.

Microsoft Defender XDR can protect 98 percent of devices.

With Microsoft Defender XDR we can now manage all of our non-critical computers from one console. The management level and implementation level are easy. Microsoft Defender XDR is also cost-effective.

We have been using Microsoft solutions for over 25 years so it didn't take much convincing to start using Microsoft Defender XDR.

Microsoft Defender XDR has enabled us to discontinue the use of Kaspersky in our safe computers.

Being able to reduce the number of solutions used has been helpful to our security team's operations. The discontinued use of other security products has reduced manual correlation. Using Microsoft has a lot of advantages, especially in management. The reduction in manual correlation is important for our organization.

Microsoft Defender XDR saves our security team around three hours a day.

The most valuable features are spam filtering, attachment filtering, and antivirus protection.

Microsoft Defender XDR is not a full-fledged EDR or XDR. Any true XDR should be more powerful than what Microsoft is currently providing. For some public-facing companies, computers, and endpoint computers, we need additional security from CrowdStrike or other third-party XDR.

Microsoft Defender XDR does not stop 100 percent of the lateral movement or advanced attacks. Our machines use both Microsoft Defender XDR and Crowdstrike and we have had instances where attacks were missed by Microsoft Defender XDR but caught by Crowdstrike.

I have been using Microsoft Defender XDR for four years.

Microsoft Defender XDR is stable.

Microsoft Defender XDR is scalable.

We previously used Kaspersky, Norton, and CrowdStrike. We switched to Microsoft Defender XDR because of its streamlined management capabilities.

The initial deployment was straightforward. We pushed Microsoft Defender XDR remotely across our system consisting of 300 computers. We are a team of seven people and each of us was involved in the deployment process.

The implementation was done in-house.

Microsoft Defender XDR is expensive.

We did not evaluate other security solutions because I have extensive knowledge of most products, their strengths and weaknesses, and their overall capabilities. Additionally, considering all our products are on Microsoft 365, a cloud-based platform, and we already utilize its various components like mail, documents, and more, integrating Microsoft Defender for threat detection and management was a natural choice due to existing ecosystem compatibility and streamlined administration.

I would rate Microsoft Defender XDR an eight out of ten.

Microsoft Defender XDR is deployed across multiple locations and departments.

Minimal maintenance is required for patching.

We use Microsoft Defender XDR for antivirus, threat intelligence, and email blocking.

Microsoft Defender's XDR platform provides unified identity and access management. It has improved significantly, although other products remain slightly ahead. I would rate it among the top four or five XDR platforms I've used, and Microsoft is continuously enhancing its capabilities. Overall, it's a fairly good solution.

Consolidating identity and access management under one umbrella within Defender 365 offers significant advantages. This unified approach simplifies control and visibility, eliminating the need to navigate through different screens from multiple vendors. With everything centralized, we gain a comprehensive overview of all IAM activities and can easily access specific details through subcategories. The main page provides a clear starting point, highlighting key information and granting quick access to deeper levels of detail when needed.

While Microsoft Defender can effectively impede the lateral movement of advanced ransomware, it cannot guarantee complete protection. No system is perfect, and vulnerabilities will always exist.

Defender's ability to stop attacks includes its adaptability to evolving threats. Microsoft has been steadily improving Defender over the past few years, and they continue to do so. Several updates in recent months have changed Defender's functionality, making it more effective. While technology advances and tools like Defender improve, the skills of hackers and their tools also evolve. This necessitates continuous improvement to keep pace.

Adaptability to evolving threats is crucial. A static system is vulnerable to attack. Its unchanging vulnerabilities can be readily identified and exploited, allowing unauthorized access and manipulation. Constant improvement is necessary to maintain security.

While we have reduced our reliance on other products, we haven't eliminated them at this time. We are actively reducing our use of other products as we progress. Once we have completed the configuration and setup process for Defender XDR, we can then fully transition to using it as our primary product.

Defender XDR has saved our security team approximately two hours per day. Automation is improving steadily, allowing us to automate audit file processing and scheduling. This provides us with continuous insight into our environment. The main page offers a high-level overview of current activity, enabling us to quickly identify any anomalies. Our security team can then address these anomalies promptly.

The threat intelligence is excellent. Email collaboration is very good. Device protection is useful. Overall, 90 percent of Microsoft Defender XDR is used weekly, primarily for email collaboration.

Advanced attacks could use an improvement.

I have been using Microsoft Defender XDR for almost four years.

I would rate the stability of Microsoft Defender XDR a nine out of ten.

Microsoft Defender XDR is scalable and we are planning to increase the usage.

The Microsoft technical support I used in the past was quite good. They were typically responsive and efficient, providing solutions quickly. However, I haven't needed their assistance in the last year, so I can't offer an updated assessment.

Our past experience includes Sophos, Check Point, and ESET. We briefly utilized SentinelOne as well, but ultimately opted for Microsoft Defender XDR. We had Defender included in our purchases but it wasn't being utilized fully until I fine-tuned and set it up to work more efficiently.

I would rate Microsoft Defender XDR an eight out of ten.

We require three people for maintenance.

We have Microsoft Defender XDR deployed across multiple locations, roles, and teams.

Before implementing Microsoft Defender XDR, ensure that all the features will be utilized otherwise it is more cost-effective to go with a smaller package that includes only the features needed by the organization.

Microsoft 365 Defender is used for our threat policies, configuration, and security protection.

The current level of threat visibility is good.

Microsoft 365 Defender helps prioritize threats across our enterprise which is important for our organization.

The mail component within our organization is the most critical part and Microsoft 365 Defender plays a big part in protecting that component. 

We have integrated Microsoft 365 Defender with Defender for Cloud, and Sentinel. Integrating the solution with Defender for Cloud is easy. 

The integrated solutions work natively together to deliver a coordinated detection and response across our environment which is important for our organization.

The comprehensiveness of the threat-protection that Microsoft products provide is good.

The bidirectional sync capability of Defender for Cloud is important for our organization.

The bidirectional sync of Defender for Cloud helps us secure our network.

Microsoft Sentinel allows us to investigate data from our entire ecosystem.

The ingestion of data to our security operations is critical and Sentinel does a better job than the other solutions we tried.

Microsoft Sentinel enables us to investigate threats and respond holistically from one place which is important for us.

The built-in UEBA and threat intelligence capabilities are good.

Microsoft 365 Defender helps our organization by detecting false positives.

Our Microsoft security solutions help automated to retain tasks and help automate the finding of high-value alerts.

The automation has helped us with our playbook.

The solution has helped eliminate multiple dashboards by providing one XDR dashboard.

Having one XDR dashboard allows us to react to threats faster.

Microsoft 365 Defender's threat intelligence helps us prepare proactively for potential threats before they hit.

Microsoft 365 Defender has saved us between one and three months of time.

Microsoft 365 Defender has saved us time to detect and respond.

We have saved a significant amount of money with the implementation of Microsoft 365 Defender. Prior to using this solution, we encountered costly incidents.

All of the security components are valuable including, antiphishing, antispam, and stage three antivirus.

Additional visibility into log analytics would be beneficial. For instance, if an attachment was affected by malware, it would be helpful if Microsoft 365 Defender could provide more specific details about the origin of that particular malware, such as where it originated from. Any additional information in this regard would be greatly appreciated.

The integration of Microsoft 365 Defender with Sentinel is a bit complex when integrating custom connectors.

The cost of using Microsoft Sentinel is dependent on the size of the data the solution will ingest. I would like Microsoft to provide proper guidance on the sizing so we know what we will be spending.

Technical support has a lot of room for improvement. The support team is not competent or responsive.

I have been using the solution for one year.

Microsoft 365 Defender is stable.

Microsoft 365 Defender is scalable.

The quality of technical support we receive is poor. We encounter difficulties while dealing with the support team, even for critical incidents. Moreover, we always receive a response from the same engineer. However, they are not cooperative in using Microsoft Teams or joining a call with our clients.

Negative

The initial setup is straightforward. The deployment was completed by two people and required seven to eight days.

The implementation was completed in-house.

The licensing fee for Microsoft 365 Defender is fair.

I give the solution a seven out of ten.

The solution is deployed across multiple locations.

We have 5,000 users.

We have three administrators for the solution.

When an organization is already using other Microsoft solutions it is best to use Microsoft 365 Defender because of the seamless integration.

Microsoft 365 Defender is not difficult to implement and can be utilized by anyone.