Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Reviews

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is included in the E5 license bundle, which offers everything together, making it more economical. Users can activate a free tier of use for a period of time. The cost is cheap for users who do not have to pay for specific agents. The pricing is on the higher side for small-scale companies, but enterprise clients get discounts based on the number of users they have. The tool alone is not a great investment, but when it is part of the package from Microsoft, it is good. It is worth the cost for some users because of its compatibility with Office 365, Teams, and Azure AD.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps provides value in multiple ways, including cost savings, increased uptime, faster reaction time to problems, improved security posture, and reduced support calls. It seamlessly integrates with Microsoft products and offers robust configurations. The solution guarantees a secure environment for critical cloud apps, resulting in no security breaches or unauthorized access. The ROI estimate ranges from 35% to 60%. In addition, the solution helps eliminate operational issues and reduces hardware maintenance costs.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is used for a variety of purposes, including governance, discovery, and application awareness, as well as authentication, security, and controlled access to cloud applications. It is also useful for detecting shadow IT and anomalous user behavior, and provides efficient security for cloud applications with controlled auditing and filtering setups. The solution is designed to work together natively with other Microsoft products, and helps to ensure security and compliance, as well as protect users' devices against attacks and provide cloud visibility.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps has a multitude of valuable features, including integration with Microsoft security products, excellent threat visibility and auditing techniques, on-demand scanning, robust alert policies and web GUI, monitoring capabilities, identity and posture management, and anti-spam capabilities. The solution is easy to install and manage, and offers comprehensive threat-protection and coordinated detection and response across the environment. It has bidirectional capabilities and allows for personalized rules and policies to control traffic in the cloud, as well as restrict and monitor user access. 

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps provides in-depth exploration of applications, users, and files that are harmful or suspicious, and offers a threat database that automatically updates with the latest threats in the industry. It also helps prioritize threats by categorizing the threat levels and providing graphical data for analysis.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps could improve its integration with third-party and on-premises systems, especially for macOS operating systems. The solution also requires additional configuration to ingest data from non-Azure environments and integrate it with Sentinel. Some users have experienced errors when creating policies, limiting their troubleshooting options. The solution provides good visibility for investigation purposes, but alerts could be more precise and automation features are limited. Attack surface reduction rules need improvement, and the solution could be more reasonably priced. Reporting functionality and user navigation content filtering could also be enhanced.

The initial setup for Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps varied depending on the complexity of the environment, but overall, it was described as easy and straightforward. Deployment time ranged from one day to several months, with some organizations requiring a team of engineers, administrators, and management. Maintenance was minimal or non-existent, as it is a SaaS product that runs on Azure infrastructure. Documentation and support were generally praised, but learning how the features work and fine-tuning policies could take some time. The number of people needed to handle deployment and maintenance varied depending on the size of the organization and the use cases.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is a highly scalable solution that can support organizations of various sizes. It is easy to deploy and add more users to the policies that have been configured. The solution is a SaaS application, so the scalability depends on the organization's needs and how many applications they want to integrate with it. There are no limits on scalability, and it can handle large amounts of data without any issues. The solution has improved over time, with the addition of new features and third-party applications.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps has varying customer service and support experiences according to the reviews. There are different support tiers, with premier support being highly rated, but pro support being less so, and some reviewers note that working with third-party support providers can be hit or miss.

Overall, users have expressed that the stability of Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is good, with some stating that it has become more stable over time. They have reported no downtime and no need for maintenance. Some users have mentioned minor issues such as email alert delays. While some users believe there is room for improvement, the majority have had positive experiences with the stability of the product.