Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs Symantec Advanced Threat Protection comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Microsoft Defender for Office 365 and Symantec Advanced Threat Protection based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs. Symantec Advanced Threat Protection Report (Updated: March 2024).
768,415 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"Defender is a SaaS platform, so it offers more flexibility. Managing the permissions is easier. The solution's automated detection and response features are scalable.""The product's scalability is good.""It also gives me good visibility because, with Defender, I'm using a Microsoft product to defend Microsoft products. The integration was really seamless and I have wide visibility because it picks up almost everything. Literally, I can see almost every activity that happens, from the e-mail to the workstation itself.""There are several features that I consider valuable.""Microsoft Defender for Office 365 helps people to work remotely. It is a secure solution. We don't need to use our company's computers or get VPN connections to the networks. I can control how they share screens and what they send to the devices. It keeps our organizations confidential and sensitive information safe.""The most valuable feature is the integration. It's a single console, so we don't have to switch around between multiple products. Another valuable feature is the ease of operations and maintenance.""The product is not resource-intensive.""The email protection is excellent, especially in terms of anti-phishing policies."

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"What I like most about Symantec Advanced Threat Protection is its notification capability.""Technical support has been helpful and responsive.""You don't have to buy a separate email security platform. You can enable that using their endpoint, and I like that. You don't have to have two agents running on the same box.""Technical support is very responsive. You just have to open a ticket. They respond in a timely manner. Their response is good. I'm satisfied.""Real-time threat analysis is quick and takes action on threats immediately.""The Application Control code and the easy integration are valuable features.""All of the solution's features are quite valuable for us. We especially like the threat protection it provides.""The most valuable feature is Click-time URL protection."

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Cons
"Microsoft Defender for Office 365 should be more proactive.""One area for improvement is integration. For example, when it comes to external SaaS platforms, we were not able to get a lot of information on integrations with such apps for security and authentication.""Microsoft Defender for Office 365 should improve the troubleshooting tools. It's unclear whether the device is blocked at the firewall level or at the device itself. The granularity needed for troubleshooting is currently lacking. From my perspective, Microsoft should address this issue to benefit many users who likely share the same sentiment.""Microsoft sometimes has downtime, and we'll get several incidents coming in back to back. We have a huge backlog of notifications, many of which may be false positives. However, there might be serious alerts, so we can't risk dismissing all of them at once.""The phishing and spam filters could use some improvement.""The GUI is sometimes slow to fetch the device report and could be improved.""It would be better if it were more scalable. It depends on the architecture, but we would like to make it more scalable for both data centers.""We noticed that from time to time, Microsoft's stability does have problems. Sometimes the service goes up and down. Sometimes they change without prior notice."

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"An improvement could be made on the reporting because then it would be easier to collect information and submit it for compliance.""It should be able to collect information if the agent is disabled.""Not ideal for advanced threat protection.""The cloud platform needs to have improvement in terms of the user interface and the different capabilities it has available. It needs to match the other leading next-gen EDR products that are available in the market. That's the reason why we are stepping away from Symantec. Their cloud environment is just generally lacking in comparison to others.""It's a strange situation where the infrastructure of the consumer or customer is behind some kind of firewall and they have always used some kind of customized proxy. In this situation, the ATP has a very tough time to pass the information to the cloud and back. To fix, it requires a more elaborate and complex configuration for that particular case.""There are limits with respect to blocking files by hash value or blocking IP addresses, and these limits should be removed.""The support for new OSs and older OSs could be a little tighter. They need to be more upfront about what protection services they're going to provide on new OSs. I haven't seen the Windows 11 version out yet. It is either already released in Beta, or the Beta will be released soon. There could be a little bit more advanced updates on what they're doing to help protect Windows 11 environments. They can let us know in advance so that we know it is going to be protected. We can't roll out the new OS without putting end-point protection on it. So, they should tell us what is their support model for that, and what are they doing to protect Windows 11. They're not telling me, and that's a criticism. The same issue is applicable to all the other antivirus tools. It is not just Symantec; all of them have this problem.""The security features need to be improved."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "It's a user-base subscription."
  • "From the pricing point of view, like any other product in the market, there is scope for negotiation."
  • "Defender is a little bit more expensive as compared to others. We are in the manufacturing environment. So, we don't have a high budget for all of our endpoint devices. Its cost is a major concern for us."
  • "For licensing, it's usually a yearly package for customers who are subscribed to Office 365, but they can also pay on a monthly basis."
  • "Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is an add-on to the Office license. Many customers are purchasing this solution."
  • "Microsoft Defender for Office 365 comes with Microsoft Windows. It is free with the operating system."
  • "The solution saves money so we have seen a return on investment."
  • "Defender for 365 comes in various plans and licenses, along with other Microsoft security solutions. Purchasing this kind of package or security bundle gives good value for money, and that's what I recommend."
  • More Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Pricing is good. It is nice to have a great product at a fair price."
  • "The pricing of this solution is inexpensive and affordable."
  • "Symantec Advanced Threat Protection's pricing is comparable."
  • "Symantec Endpoint Protection has an average price."
  • More Symantec Advanced Threat Protection Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Threat Explorer is an invaluable tool for me, and it plays a crucial role in helping me discern the origins of various email campaigns, pinpointing where they emanate from, and identifying the… more »
    Top Answer:The product must provide better malware detection. The detection algorithms don't perform the way I hope they would.
    Top Answer:Symantec Endpoint Protection provides end-to-end protection. Along with antivirus protection, it has a lot of key areas, including intrusive prevention, firewall features, and application and device… more »
    Top Answer:Symantec Endpoint Protection has an average price. I rate its pricing a five out of ten. It depends on the number of user licenses purchased.
    Ranking
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    3,495
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    28
    Average Words per Review
    653
    Rating
    8.4
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    1,158
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    634
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    4
    Average Words per Review
    273
    Rating
    8.3
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    MS Defender for Office 365
    Learn More
    Overview

    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is a comprehensive security solution designed to protect organizations against advanced threats in their email, collaboration, and productivity environments. It combines the power of Microsoft's threat intelligence, machine learning, and behavioral analytics to provide real-time protection against phishing, malware, ransomware, and other malicious attacks.

    With Microsoft Defender for Office 365, organizations can safeguard their email communication by detecting and blocking malicious links, attachments, and unsafe email content. It employs advanced anti-phishing capabilities to identify and prevent sophisticated phishing attacks that attempt to steal sensitive information or compromise user credentials.

    This solution also offers robust protection against malware and ransomware. It leverages machine learning algorithms to analyze email attachments and URLs in real-time, identifying and blocking malicious content before it reaches users' inboxes. Additionally, it provides advanced threat-hunting capabilities, allowing security teams to proactively investigate and respond to potential threats.

    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 goes beyond email protection and extends its security features to other collaboration tools like SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams. It scans files and documents stored in these platforms, ensuring that they are free from malware and other malicious content. It also provides visibility into user activities, helping organizations detect and mitigate insider threats.

    Furthermore, this solution offers rich reporting and analytics capabilities, providing organizations with insights into their security posture and threat landscape. It enables security administrators to monitor and manage security incidents, track trends, and take proactive measures to enhance their overall security posture.

    Symantec Advanced Threat Protection is a single unified solution that uncovers, prioritizes, and remediates advanced attacks. The product fuses intelligence from endpoint, network, and email control points, as well as Symantec’s massive global sensor network, to stop threats that evade individual security products. It leverages your existing Symantec Endpoint Protection and Symantec Email Security.cloud investments, so it does not require the deployment of any new agents. You can deploy a new installation of Symantec Advanced Threat Protection and start to discover suspicious activity in under an hour. Using the proven technology in Symantec Insight reputation based detection, Symantec SONAR behavioral analysis with the new Symantec Cynic sandbox and file analysis platform, Symantec Advanced Threat Protection provides better detection and prioritization than other vendors, allowing security analysts to “zero in” on just those specific security events of importance.

    Sample Customers
    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is trusted by companies such as Ithaca College.
    ECI
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Manufacturing Company16%
    Computer Software Company16%
    Comms Service Provider13%
    Government6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Government7%
    REVIEWERS
    Comms Service Provider27%
    University13%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Insurance Company13%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Educational Organization70%
    Financial Services Firm6%
    Computer Software Company3%
    Manufacturing Company3%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business42%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise42%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business30%
    Midsize Enterprise19%
    Large Enterprise51%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business39%
    Midsize Enterprise9%
    Large Enterprise52%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business7%
    Midsize Enterprise73%
    Large Enterprise20%
    Buyer's Guide
    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs. Symantec Advanced Threat Protection
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs. Symantec Advanced Threat Protection and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    768,415 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is ranked 1st in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) with 41 reviews while Symantec Advanced Threat Protection is ranked 18th in Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) with 14 reviews. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is rated 8.4, while Symantec Advanced Threat Protection is rated 7.8. The top reviewer of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 writes "Allows for easy reporting of problems, valuable anti-phishing, and anti-malware support". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Symantec Advanced Threat Protection writes "Provides end-to-end antivirus protection and has good stability ". Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is most compared with Proofpoint Email Protection, Mimecast Email Security, Microsoft Exchange Online Protection (EOP), Barracuda Email Security Gateway and Cisco Secure Email, whereas Symantec Advanced Threat Protection is most compared with Palo Alto Networks WildFire, Trellix Network Detection and Response, Check Point SandBlast Network, Fortinet FortiSandbox and Arbor DDoS. See our Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs. Symantec Advanced Threat Protection report.

    See our list of best Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) vendors.

    We monitor all Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.