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Microsoft Defender for Identity vs Splunk User Behavior Analytics comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
4.5
Microsoft Defender for Identity is cost-effective and efficient, offering incident prevention and resolution without complex hardware setups.
Sentiment score
5.5
Users report varied ROI from Splunk, with productivity gains and security cost savings, but costs remain a concern.
The solution can save costs by improving incident resolution times and reducing security incident costs.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.4
Opinions on Microsoft Defender for Identity support vary, highlighting responsiveness, but issues include delays, contact challenges, and false positives.
Sentiment score
6.9
Splunk User Behavior Analytics support is mostly praised, with professional service, tiered options, and valuable user groups enhancing experience.
Generally, the support is more effective than other providers like Oracle.
The quality of support is very good, but troubleshooting can take time due to complex setups and the need to provide many logs.
Technical support from Microsoft rates an eight on a scale of 1 to 10 for response time.
Mission-critical offering a dedicated team, proactive monitoring, and fast resolution.
From the responsiveness perspective, Splunk is very responsive with SLA-bound support for premium tiers.
I would rate the support at eight, meaning there's some room for improvement.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
Microsoft Defender for Identity efficiently integrates and scales globally, supporting diverse organizational needs within Microsoft’s ecosystem effectively.
Sentiment score
7.2
Splunk User Behavior Analytics is scalable and adaptable across environments, though storage limitations may affect scalability.
In a Microsoft-centric organization, especially with Azure infrastructure and Office 365, Microsoft Defender for Identity is scalable.
Splunk User Behavior Analytics is highly scalable, designed for enterprise scalability, allowing expansion of data ingestion, indexing, and search capabilities as log volumes grow.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.9
Microsoft Defender for Identity is highly reliable, with minimal incidents, seamless operation, and consistent ratings between seven and nine.
Sentiment score
7.8
Splunk User Behavior Analytics offers reliable performance and stability, with 99.9% uptime and ease of configuration in enterprises.
Microsoft Defender for Identity is quite robust and built on Azure hyperscale infrastructure, with a 99% availability.
We do not see any issues with the stability of Microsoft Defender for Identity.
Having recently started using it, reliability is affirmed, but manual investigation is often performed to verify if alerts identified by auto-remediation are accurate.
With built-in redundancy across zones and regions, 99.9% uptime is achievable.
Splunk User Behavior Analytics is a one hundred percent stable solution.
Splunk User Behavior Analytics is highly stable and reliable, even in large-scale enterprise environments with high log injection rates.
 

Room For Improvement

Microsoft Defender for Identity users seek improved cloud integration, user-friendly features, better support, and streamlined processes for enhanced threat management.
Splunk User Behavior Analytics needs better pricing, integration, user-friendly interfaces, enhanced features, and improved scalability and infrastructure.
If Microsoft could develop a feature that indicates when impossible travel is caused by VPN connections, it would prevent unnecessary password resets and session disruptions, especially for VIP users in organizations.
One improvement I would recommend is the integration of an admin application within Teams, allowing easy access to attack information on a mobile platform.
Reducing false positives is something we've been working on with Microsoft.
Global reach allows deployment of apps and services closer to users worldwide, but data sovereignty concerns exist and region selection must align with compliance requirements.
I encountered several issues while trying to create solutions for this advanced version, which seem unrelated to query or data issues.
High data ingestion costs can be an issue, especially for large enterprises, as Splunk charges based on the amount of data processed.
 

Setup Cost

Microsoft Defender for Identity is cost-effective with E5 licenses despite complex pricing and competitive against other security solutions.
Enterprise buyers find Splunk's User Behavior Analytics costly, with variable pricing based on data, hardware, and additional applications.
If they can reduce the costs, organizations will be happy, and it will compensate for using the Azure environment, which is more expensive on the infrastructure as a service side.
Ensuring a fair price according to market standards.
From an organization perspective, using E5 licenses is value for money, especially if Azure and Office 365 are already in use.
Reserved instances with one or three-year commitments offer lower rates, providing up to 70% savings.
Comparing with the competitors, it's a bit expensive.
The pricing is based on the amount of data processed, and it is considered a high-level investment for enterprises.
 

Valuable Features

Microsoft Defender for Identity integrates with Azure to offer comprehensive threat detection, identity protection, and advanced real-time security insights.
Splunk User Behavior Analytics provides scalable, user-friendly threat detection with advanced analytics, machine learning, and seamless data integration and reporting.
We receive an advance report of risky users, allowing us to take preemptive action before an attack causes damage to organization details.
The most valuable feature is its hybrid artificial intelligence, which gathers forensic data to track and counteract security threats, much like the CSI series in effect.
The advanced threat protection is one of the strengths of Microsoft Defender for Identity, as it utilizes user and entity analytics and can detect indicative attacks.
I also utilize it for anomaly detection and behavior analysis, particularly using Splunk's machine learning environment.
Features like alerts and auto report generation are valuable.
Splunk User Behavior Analytics offers several beneficial features, such as Insider Threat Detection, account compromise detection, risk scoring, threat detection, and machine anomaly detection.
 

Categories and Ranking

Microsoft Defender for Iden...
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
26
Ranking in other categories
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (5th), Microsoft Security Suite (3rd), Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) (3rd)
Splunk User Behavior Analytics
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
Intrusion Detection and Prevention Software (IDPS) (15th), User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Security Systems solutions, they serve different purposes. Microsoft Defender for Identity is designed for Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) and holds a mindshare of 15.4%, down 23.9% compared to last year.
Splunk User Behavior Analytics, on the other hand, focuses on User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA), holds 8.9% mindshare, down 10.8% since last year.
Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Microsoft Defender for Identity15.4%
CrowdStrike Falcon15.6%
Microsoft Entra ID Protection12.2%
Other56.8%
Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Splunk User Behavior Analytics8.9%
Exabeam9.6%
IBM Security QRadar9.3%
Other72.2%
User Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA)
 

Featured Reviews

Peter Arabomen - PeerSpot reviewer
Has supported hybrid identity management while integrating well with cloud directory services
The only challenge I have with Microsoft Defender for Identity is the latency. I may not put that entirely on Microsoft, because latency could be network related. At times when trying to authenticate, the prompt is delayed. We tried implementing passwordless authentication, especially for on-premises workloads, but we haven't been able to achieve that. Passwordless authentication is part of the identity functionalities, particularly when it comes to enforcing passwordless for on-premises workloads. In terms of improvements, you can't create OUs on Azure AD. Regarding giving users privileges on what they can do across different OUs, I haven't seen that feature on Microsoft Defender for Identity. Microsoft Defender for Identity needs to be able to plug into third-party applications that are not Microsoft. For instance, with a human resource application used to manage users and leave requests, when staff leaves the organization, they are first exited from that application before AD. Integration between Azure AD and third-party applications would allow automatic syncing when removing staff. The initial setup of Microsoft Defender for Identity is not hard. However, setup is one thing, and getting value from the application end-to-end is another. It can be set up and running from the first day but not functioning optimally. Initially, when we did the setup, it wasn't optimal. Over time, with continuous improvement, which we're still doing, we've gotten to a comfortable level, but there's still room for improvement.
Subhayu Chakraborty - PeerSpot reviewer
Automatic reports streamline tasks and offers easy report gathering
The dashboard part could be improved. While using it, I noticed two options: Classic, which is adequate yet only in black and white, and another one that is more advanced or smart, though I forgot the exact term. I encountered several issues while trying to create solutions for this advanced version, which seem unrelated to query or data issues.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise14
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise12
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Microsoft Defender for Identity?
Microsoft Defender for Identity provides excellent visibility into threats by leveraging real-time analytics and data intelligence.
What needs improvement with Microsoft Defender for Identity?
Microsoft can improve Microsoft Defender for Identity by ensuring that installation prerequisites are included in the setup process. Installing the solution presents challenges as numerous logs and...
What is your primary use case for Microsoft Defender for Identity?
My personal use case for Microsoft Defender for Identity is that it is amazing. It provides very good and deep analytics about whatever is happening in the on-premises Active Directory. The sensors...
What do you like most about Splunk User Behavior Analytics?
The solution's most valuable feature is Splunk queries, which allow us to query the logs and analyze the attack vectors.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Splunk User Behavior Analytics?
In terms of setup cost, pricing, and licensing, Splunk User Behavior Analytics is not an inexpensive product. The setup requires numerous components including storage, networking, identity access, ...
What needs improvement with Splunk User Behavior Analytics?
There are improvements that could be made to Splunk User Behavior Analytics as any product will have advantages and disadvantages. Scalability is one consideration. For example, the advantages incl...
 

Also Known As

Azure Advanced Threat Protection, Azure ATP, MS Defender for Identity
Caspida, Splunk UBA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Microsoft Defender for Identity is trusted by companies such as St. Luke’s University Health Network, Ansell, and more.
8 Securities, AAA Western, AdvancedMD, Amaya, Cerner Corporation, CJ O Shopping, CloudShare, Crossroads Foundation, 7-Eleven Indonesia
Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Identity vs. Splunk User Behavior Analytics and other solutions. Updated: July 2023.
867,370 professionals have used our research since 2012.