Cybersecurity is a top priority for any organization that wants to protect its data, assets, and reputation from malicious actors. However, the threat landscape is constantly evolving, and attackers are using sophisticated techniques to evade detection and compromise systems. To defend against these threats, organizations need a comprehensive and integrated security solution that can prevent, detect, investigate, and respond to attacks across multiple domains.
That’s where Microsoft 365 Defender and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint come in. These are two of the plans offered by Microsoft endpoint security, which is designed to help enterprise organizations and small and medium-sized businesses secure their endpoints, identities, email, and applications. In this blog post, we will compare these two plans and explain how they can help you achieve a unified pre- and post-breach enterprise defense.
What is Microsoft 365 Defender?
Microsoft 365 Defender is a cloud-based security solution that combines the capabilities of several Microsoft security products, including:
- Microsoft Defender for Endpoint: A next-generation antivirus and endpoint detection and response (EDR) solution that protects Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android devices from advanced threats.
- Microsoft Defender for Office 365: A cloud-based email and collaboration security solution that protects against phishing, malware, ransomware, business email compromise (BEC), and other threats.
- Microsoft Defender for Identity: A cloud-based identity security solution that detects and investigates identity-based attacks on-premises and in the cloud.
- Microsoft Cloud App Security: A cloud access security broker (CASB) that provides visibility and control over cloud apps and services.
Microsoft 365 Defender provides a single console where you can view and manage alerts, incidents, devices, users, apps, and data across these products. It also leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and automation to correlate signals from different sources, prioritize incidents, conduct investigations, and take remediation actions. With Microsoft 365 Defender, you can:
- Gain visibility into the full scope and impact of an attack across domains
- Reduce alert fatigue and focus on the most important incidents
- Streamline threat hunting with advanced queries and rich data sets
- Automate response workflows and orchestrate actions across products
- Improve your security posture with actionable recommendations
What is Microsoft Defender for Endpoint?
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is one of the components of Microsoft 365 Defender, but it can also be purchased as a standalone plan. It provides next-generation protection (NGP) and EDR capabilities for Windows (client only), macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android devices. With Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, you can:
- Prevent malware and non-malware attacks with behavior-based detection and machine learning
- Reduce the attack surface with exploit protection, network protection, web content filtering, controlled folder access, attack surface reduction rules, and device control
- Detect advanced threats with endpoint sensors that collect rich data from devices
- Investigate alerts with detailed timelines, process trees, file activities, network connections, user actions, and more
- Respond to incidents with manual or automated actions such as isolate device, collect investigation package, run antivirus scan, restrict app execution, remediate vulnerabilities, etc.
- Hunt for threats with powerful queries that leverage a large repository of historical and real-time data
- Generate reports on device health, exposure score, vulnerability assessment, software inventory, etc.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint also offers an add-on plan called Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management (VM), which provides more capabilities for identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities on Windows (client and server) and non-Windows platforms. With Microsoft Defender VM add-on plan , you can:
- Assess security baselines compliance based on industry standards
- Block vulnerable applications from running on devices
- Analyze browser extensions installed on devices
- Evaluate digital certificates used by devices
- Discover network shares accessible by devices
- Inspect hardware and firmware components of devices
- Perform authenticated scans for Windows devices
How do they work together?
Microsoft 365 Defender and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint work together to provide a holistic security solution that covers multiple domains. For example:
- If an attacker sends a phishing email with a malicious attachment to an employee’s inbox, Microsoft Defender for Office 365 will block the email or mark it as spam. If the employee opens the attachment anyway, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint will prevent the malware from executing or alert on any suspicious behavior. If the malware manages to compromise the device or steal credentials , Microsoft Defender for Identity will detect any anomalous sign-in activity or lateral movement. If the attacker tries to exfiltrate data or access cloud apps , Microsoft Cloud App Security will monitor and control the traffic or sessions.
- If an attacker exploits a vulnerability on a device or network , Microsoft Defender VM will identify the vulnerability and recommend remediation actions. If the attacker gains access to the device or network , Microsoft Defender for Endpoint will detect the intrusion and provide investigation and response capabilities. If the attacker moves to other devices or domains , Microsoft 365 Defender will correlate the signals and create an incident that shows the full scope and impact of the attack.
By integrating these products, Microsoft 365 Defender and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint can help you achieve a unified pre- and post-breach enterprise defense that can protect your organization from cyber threats.
How can you get started?
If you are interested in trying out Microsoft 365 Defender and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, you can start a trial or learn more about subscriptions and licensing at here and here. You can also check out the Microsoft Learn modules at here to learn more about how to use these products. For more information and resources, visit the Microsoft Security website here.
If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to leave a comment below or contact us.