Infrastructure and Security Lead at Vedanta
Centralized tenant enables group control but setup process complicates implementation
Pros and Cons
- "Scalability-wise, I do not think there are any issues so far."
- "The visibility into threats is not up to the mark, as I do not have control. I rate my experience with Microsoft Defender for Office 365 as six out of ten due to troubleshooting and pricing concerns."
What is our primary use case?
We replaced one earlier antivirus because earlier whatever was there, yeah.
What is most valuable?
Actually earlier, I used to have full controls with Trend Micro. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is now part of a centralized tenant for my entire group. I don't have control on that, as another team is maintaining it. Since I don't have full visibility of the features, I cannot make significant comments.
What needs improvement?
The main area for improvement is simplifying the implementation and rollout process. There are many conditions to be met, making it challenging to ensure every system is protected. Troubleshooting is difficult, especially at the endpoint level.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for about one year.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Defender for Office 365
August 2025

Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Defender for Office 365. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: August 2025.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I am not sure about stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability-wise, I do not think there are any issues so far.
How are customer service and support?
I am not aware of Microsoft support because I don't have access to the admin consoles. Therefore, I do not connect to technical support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Negative
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using Trend Micro before switching to Microsoft Defender for Office 365. Trend Micro was more cost-effective and manageable.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is a bit challenging due to multiple dependencies, such as on SCCM and Intune, and the need for co-managed services.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Money-wise, it is a part of the Office 365 suite, making it slightly more expensive compared to Trend Micro. Although Defender is free, you have to pay separately for EDR.
What other advice do I have?
The visibility into threats is not up to the mark, as I do not have control. I rate my experience with Microsoft Defender for Office 365 as six out of ten due to troubleshooting and pricing concerns. Overall product rating: 6
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
NA
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Mar 26, 2025
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Solution Consultant Information Security at Ixtel
Helps prioritize threats across our enterprise by using an endpoint
Pros and Cons
- "Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable feature is its performance."
- "The XDR dashboard has room for improvement."
What is our primary use case?
We use Microsoft Defender for Office 365 for our endpoint security.
How has it helped my organization?
Microsoft Defender for Office 365's visibility is good.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 helps prioritize threats across our enterprise by using an endpoint.
Integrating with other Microsoft solutions is generally straightforward, as everything can be managed from a single console. However, there are some cases where the integration process can be complex, such as when it requires accessing a different dashboard. Overall, the benefits of managing multiple Microsoft solutions from a single place outweigh the occasional complexity of integration.
Our solutions work together natively to provide coordinated detection and response across our entire environment. This coordinated detection provides high-quality results because it is easy to check emails and endpoints for threats. We chose to bundle the solutions because of their ability to integrate.
Coordination and integration are essential in cybersecurity because there are many resources to monitor. The ability to coordinate and integrate from a single source makes it easier and helps to eliminate the need for multiple products.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 has improved our security posture, especially around email. It integrates easily with our other Microsoft solutions and provides good visibility into our systems.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 helps automate routine tasks.
Automation allows us to focus our resources on critical issues instead of the standard security tasks that can be automated.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 saved our organization time.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 increased our productivity, which resulted in cost savings.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 helped decrease our time for detection and response.
What is most valuable?
Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable feature is its performance.
The ransomware protection is good.
What needs improvement?
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is a comprehensive security solution, but it could be improved. Compared to other solutions, Microsoft Defender for Office 365's security reports are not as detailed and the visibility into our network coverage could be better.
The IOC scanning has room for improvement.
The XDR dashboard has room for improvement. The dashboard needs more of a single pane of glass because currently, Microsoft Defender for Office 365 does not give me any options to scan an email thread or attachment for IOCs on my endpoint. I need to manually download the file from the email and then scan it with Microsoft Defender for Office 365. I think Microsoft Defender for Office 365 should be able to scan email threads and attachments directly, without the need for manual intervention.
Secondly, the Data Loss Prevention functionality in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is very limited. It can only scan for certain types of data. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 should be able to scan for a wider variety of data types, such as customer lists and intellectual property.
Attack process management and breach attack simulation should be included in Microsoft Defender for Office 365.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Defender for Office 365 for six years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is generally helpful, but we often need to escalate tickets to resolve issues.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I previously used Kaspersky Security for Mail Server, Trend Micro Email Security, CrowdStrike, and Mandiant. However, my organization now uses Microsoft Defender for Office 365. This is because we are a Microsoft customer and it makes sense in terms of cost and integration.
What was our ROI?
We have seen a return on investment using Microsoft Defender for Office 365.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Compared to other brands, Microsoft Defender for Office 365's pricing is competitive.
What other advice do I have?
I give Microsoft Defender for Office 365 an eight out of ten.
The maintenance is seamless.
A single-vendor approach is better than a best-of-breed approach because it provides a more integrated and seamless solution. This means that there is no need to worry about compatibility issues or data silos and the overall security posture is better.
Microsoft works hard to provide customers with a single pane of glass so they can easily manage, scale, and maintain their solutions. I recommend Microsoft Defender for Office 365.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Defender for Office 365
August 2025

Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Defender for Office 365. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: August 2025.
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Solution Consultant at BIM Group of Companies
Offers seamless policy configuration and integration for improved security management
Pros and Cons
- "Overall, I would rate Microsoft Defender for Office 365 at a ten."
- "Microsoft could improve by offering recommendations for domain spoofing attacks, especially scenarios where DNS records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are not properly published."
What is our primary use case?
We use Microsoft Defender for Office 365 as part of Microsoft XDR solution. It offers native integration within Microsoft Ecosystem and provides proactive recommendations that help enhance our organization's security. Additionally, it is used to protect on-premises mail flow by redirecting it to Defender EOP.
How has it helped my organization?
The solution saves time due to its easy policy configuration and licensing process. It integrates naturally with Sentinel, which simplifies IT and technical configuration tasks with minimal clicks, offering flexibility and efficiency.
What is most valuable?
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 provides natively integrated cybersecurity tools that are part of Microsoft Ecosystem. It offers proactive recommendation tasks to enhance organizational security. It provides end-to-end visibility on email threats such as phishing, extending beyond Exchange Online Protection. The scalability is managed by Microsoft as a cloud-hosted tool, relieving us of those concerns.
What needs improvement?
Microsoft could improve by offering recommendations for domain spoofing attacks, especially scenarios where DNS records like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are not properly published. It's essential to enhance awareness about these issues within organizations.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have experience in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 for the past three years.
What was my experience with deployment of the solution?
Deployment is straightforward due to a comprehensive guide provided by Microsoft. It's easy to deploy, and anyone with a security background can apply it without difficulty.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable, as we have been using it for the past two years. Sometimes it generates false positive alerts, but adjusting policies resolves these issues. Security products occasionally provide false positives, so alignment of configuration is necessary.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
As a cloud-hosted tool, scalability is great. We have never faced scalability problems, and Microsoft manages it effectively. We only need to focus on configuring policies.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate customer service at a five out of five. Over the past two years, there have been no critical problems. Any issues are addressed quickly by Microsoft's support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Microsoft offers an affordable and feature-rich security solution compared to third-party email security tools like Trend Micro.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy due to Microsoft's deployment guide.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Microsoft is quite affordable with a lot of features available for any size organization.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate Microsoft Defender for Office 365 at a ten. My experience with the visibility into threats is positive; Microsoft provides transparency and regularly improves its products. Most of the customers using Microsoft Defender for Office 365 in our region belong to the financial sector.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Last updated: Apr 24, 2025
Flag as inappropriateDeputy Manager at Punchpower dream
It can integrate with third-party tools, improves compliance, and helps prevent advanced attacks
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is data backups that we can provide through ticket requests."
- "Microsoft Defender for Office 365's Mac functionality requires improvement to deliver the same level of protection found on Windows devices."
What is our primary use case?
I use Microsoft Defender for Office 365 for various compliance tasks. For example, I can use it for eDiscovery to search mailbox content. Just today, a manager requested all emails for a departing user who no longer had an active license. Using Defender's content search feature, I exported the user's entire mailbox as a PST file for the manager to import into Outlook. Beyond eDiscovery, Defender also helps us monitor compliance and security scores, manage quarantine emails, investigate phishing alerts, and configure data classification, labeling, anti-spam, and anti-malware policies.
Before using Microsoft Defender for Office 365, we were plagued by phishing and ransomware emails, especially for our board members. To combat this, we implemented a Defender policy that triggers alerts for emails containing keywords like "bank account" or "credit card details." Additionally, a policy tip and disclaimer appear in user mailboxes for such emails. This disclaimer clarifies the email's external origin and allows users to move it directly to junk with a single click. Simultaneously, an alert goes to the administrator, who investigates the email: if legitimate, it's released, otherwise it's blocked.
Our organization operates a single, hybrid tenant environment with a mix of on-premises and cloud-based mailboxes, with the majority residing in the cloud. This small, non-multi-tenant setup supports approximately 2,000 users.
How has it helped my organization?
While Microsoft Defender for Office 365 integrates with third-party solutions, our organization prioritizes Microsoft technologies for security. We only integrate external tools with explicit management approval. This focus extends to data backup. Even though Office 365 is a cloud service, we recently purchased Barracuda, a tool that seamlessly integrates with Office 365 for data backup.
Prior to my arrival, our organization lacked a dedicated Office 365/Microsoft 365 security specialist, with IT admins relying on web searches for configuration. Upon identifying vulnerabilities, I implemented Microsoft Defender and other security measures. Our compliance score, which was around 30 percent a year and a half ago, now consistently ranges from 75 to 85 percent, thanks in large part to Microsoft Defender for Office 365.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 helps prevent advanced attacks like business email compromise by stopping lateral movement within the network. It also includes data loss prevention features, where our custom policies have helped block malicious emails, ransomware, and spam before they ever reach our servers. While not perfect, Microsoft Defender has significantly improved our email security, offering around 80 to 90 percent effectiveness, which we're quite happy with.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 has significantly improved our security team's efficiency. The comprehensive security analytics dashboard provides insightful information on threats, including the number of phishing attempts and attacks on our servers. This data can be easily exported for clear reporting to management. Overall, Microsoft Defender for Office 365 saves us time and simplifies security analysis presentations.
What is most valuable?
Our long-established organization has faced recent economic downturns, leading to employee departures. Managers frequently request departing users' SharePoint data, Mailboxes including PST files, and other associated information. So the most valuable feature of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is data backups that we can provide through ticket requests.
What needs improvement?
Microsoft Defender for Office 365's Mac functionality requires improvement to deliver the same level of protection found on Windows devices.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Defender for Office 365 for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate the stability of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is highly scalable.
How are customer service and support?
I've found that Microsoft's third-party support teams are slow to resolve issues. While they do eventually fix the problem, it can take a week for issues that should only take a day or two. In contrast, Microsoft employees can typically resolve issues within two days.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
While deploying Microsoft Defender for Office 365 in my previous organization with multiple tenants was complex, the current single-tenant setup was easy.
We had a team of four involved in the deployment. Two were in the United States and Belgium and two were in India.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation was completed in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
While Microsoft Defender for Office 365 necessitates pricier E3 or E5 subscriptions, the extensive functionality offered by these licenses across various Microsoft products justifies the investment.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Microsoft Defender for Office 365 eight out of ten.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is deployed in multiple regions in India, China, Belgium, Italy, and the United States.
So far, no maintenance has been required yet, but we regularly check Microsoft's security advisories and discuss them in our scrum meetings. If an advisory requires action, we'll address it accordingly.
I would recommend Microsoft Defender for Office 365 to others.
With over ten years of experience using Microsoft 365 and Microsoft 365 Defender exclusively, I've successfully implemented it at multiple companies. While the upfront cost may seem high, it delivers value based on your infrastructure size. Overall, Microsoft Defender is an excellent security product for any environment, regardless of size.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
IT Collaboration Services Manager at Dow
File-sharing options and ease of collaboration or meetings allow for quick collaborations and chats
Pros and Cons
- "The product's scalability is good."
- "Microsoft wants its well-paying customers to finish testing some of its half-baked products, find bugs, and report bugs back to Microsoft's team, which is a little frustrating for those who have to manage it and roll it up to thousands of people across the organization."
What is our primary use case?
Over 4,000 employees across my organization use all of the products under Office 365, as it is super pervasive. Everybody uses them every day in my organization. My organization is a manufacturing company, where Office 365 has become a daily necessity.
How has it helped my organization?
I am a little biased towards Microsoft Teams because it is what I use and helps me pay my bills. In Microsoft Teams, file-sharing options and ease of collaboration or meetings allow for quick collaborations and chats.
What is most valuable?
I work in my company's IT department, so I use all of the products under Office 365 daily, including Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Teams, and all the other components in the product. My company can't make it through a day or go by without using the products offered under Office 365. Some of our manufacturing workers may use Office 365 a lot less, but it is still necessary for things like Microsoft Outlook and Exchange.
I found Microsoft Teams to be the most valuable feature of the solution, along with all of the products and features offered under Office 365. My organization has remote workers, and we can't run the company without meetings organized with the help of Microsoft Teams.
What needs improvement?
It seems like Microsoft has begun to roll out products before they are fully baked. Microsoft wants its well-paying customers to finish testing some of its half-baked products, find bugs, and report bugs back to Microsoft's team, which is a little frustrating for those who have to manage it and roll it up to thousands of people across the organization. I would say that Microsoft should release or launch better or fully baked products before going ahead with the GA phase.
For how long have I used the solution?
I use Office 365 in my company as we have an enterprise contract with Microsoft from 2020 that ends in 2025, but it may get extended.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is tough to speak about the stability-related area of the solution, especially considering that the newly released Microsoft Teams is not so great. The classic version of Microsoft Teams was relatively stable compared to its new version, but in our company, we faced some challenges with network performance. I don't know if there were any network performance issues at our end, with the ISPs, or at Microsoft's end, making it tough to pin it down.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The product's scalability is good.
How are customer service and support?
Microsoft's support was great during the rollout period, especially since it was the product's operational phase. Microsoft's support team has scaled back, so my company has Microsoft365DSC for Microsoft Teams specifically. My company sometimes struggles with getting direct answers and real insights from Microsoft's support team, especially when we need a higher level of insight while no super technical questions need to be answered, leading to some frustrations.
I rate the technical support a seven out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
I was involved in the deployment of Microsoft Teams but not the rest of Office 365. Nowadays, everything is complex, but the deployment of Microsoft Teams was pretty straightforward since my company got a lot of help from Microsoft directly.
What about the implementation team?
My company received direct help from Microsoft during our organization's deployment phase of Microsoft Teams.
What was our ROI?
I have seen a return on investment from the use of the product. With the product in place, my company no longer needs to rely on paper and pen in many ways, which has helped us save time, energy, effort, and money while ensuring an increase in productivity.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I know that the product is incredibly expensive. I know that my company has high expectations from Microsoft because of the high cost. I also know that Microsoft delivers tremendous value for our company in terms of productivity and collaboration. With Copilot coming along, the value Microsoft provides to my company will be even higher than what it was previously, owing to the productivity gain and the reformulation of how we work because of AI.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I believe that my organization will get ready to start looking into other solutions in the market because our contract with Microsoft will come to an end in 2025. I think that the evaluation process will be something that is on the horizon next year. My company may evaluate all of the available options in the market against Microsoft.
What other advice do I have?
Unfortunately, I can't speak much about the visibility into threats that Microsoft's security solution provides.
I am unsure if the solution helps our organization prioritize threats across our enterprise, but I think it does. I get to leave the security part to be handled by the smart security personnel in my company.
I believe that Microsoft's security solution helps automate routine tasks and routine finding of high-value alerts. It is not my area of expertise, but the security team in my company seems to be pretty happy with the vendor.
I think the solution's threat intelligence helps my company prepare for potential threats before they hit us and helps us take some active steps.
I know that my company's security team is very aware of what Microsoft does, especially with Microsoft Defender and its related products. My company's security team is better equipped to stay at the front of any curve. My company's security team had approached me to speak about Microsoft Teams and asked me to tweak certain settings based on industry standards and the developments Microsoft has been coming forward with lately. The aforementioned aspects explain how threat intelligence affected my company's security operations.
Microsoft's security solution has helped my company save a lot of time, as we believe in being more proactive than cleaning up the mess at a later stage.
I am sure that the product helps my company save money, especially since it aids us in finding threats before they actually become a reality. Probably, my company saves millions in terms of money since we don't have to clean up any mess as the product has already prevented it.
I believe that the solution has helped my organization decrease the time to detect and respond to threats, but I can't explain how or how much.
I would suggest that others who plan to use it just find the right contact within Microsoft, work very closely with them, and lean on them as much as needed.
I rate the overall tool an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Supervisor, Information Technology at Hung Hing Printing Group Ltd
Effortless integration enhances security and reduces IT dependency with reliable support
Pros and Cons
- "It’s easy to handle integrations, and we don't need a lot of people in our IT team."
- "Sometimes, phishing emails manage to pass through the filter, so the system needs to enhance its phishing email detection capabilities."
What is our primary use case?
We are using Microsoft Defender for Office 365 primarily for security purposes.
How has it helped my organization?
The integration with Office 365 is seamless, and we don't need a large IT team to manage it. It helps in maintaining the basic security functions without additional complexity.
What is most valuable?
Since we are using the basic version, we find that it covers most of our requirements without needing additional configurations. It’s easy to handle integrations, and we don't need a lot of people in our IT team.
What needs improvement?
Sometimes, phishing emails manage to pass through the filter, so the system needs to enhance its phishing email detection capabilities. We also need alerting features for abnormal actions like unusual logins or abnormal activities in the mailbox.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Microsoft Defender for Office 365 for seven to eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability is generally good; I would rate it an eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is also quite good. I would rate it an eight out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support from Microsoft is reliable and meets our expectations. I would rate it an eight out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We chose Microsoft Defender as it integrates easily with our existing Office 365 setup, and we do not need to pay extra for security functions.
How was the initial setup?
The setup was easy and not time-consuming. We didn’t need to set up much as it was integrated with Office 365.
What about the implementation team?
The installation was handled by two engineers in our team.
What was our ROI?
Since we are using the basic functions, we don't need to invest a lot of money. It does help in cost reduction.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is reasonable since it comes integrated with our Office 365 license.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
In our current situation, we are not considering other vendors for this purpose.
What other advice do I have?
Integration with Office 365 is one of the strongest points. I recommend it for easy handling and less need for additional IT resources.
I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Information Technology Specialist at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Saves us time with our investigations and provides safe attachments and safe links
Pros and Cons
- "Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable features are safe attachments and safe links."
- "The GUI is sometimes slow to fetch the device report and could be improved."
What is our primary use case?
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is used to protect our organization from attacks.
Our deployment is a hybrid model with 80 percent being on the cloud.
How has it helped my organization?
The visibility into threats is excellent. A dashboard provides real-time information on emails, blocked emails, blocked files, and blocked URLs.
We integrated Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Intune with Microsoft Defender for Office 365. Integrating Intune was a little difficult but we managed.
The solutions work natively together to provide coordinated detection and response across our environment. This is important.
The integrated Microsoft solutions provide comprehensive insights into threat issues through threat analytics.
Microsoft Sentinel allows us to ingest data from our entire ecosystem. This is important because it provides us with a vital security feature that allows our organization to monitor and respond to alerts and threats detected in our enterprise via Sentinel. We have configured custom alerts and triggers in Sentinel, which gives us a better understanding of the threats in our organization.
Microsoft provides a comprehensive view of alerts to help investigate issues and address malicious emails. We can investigate and share feedback in our message tracking log and the threat explorer in Defender to mitigate and resolve the root cause of the issues.
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 saves us time with our investigations.
We now use the cloud to maintain our email as a gateway which has saved us money by not requiring on-prem hardware.
Our time to detect and respond to malicious emails was decreased. The solution provides the CPU resources needed to scan emails for malicious content, and it also makes it easy to track the number of administrative emails sent to users.
What is most valuable?
Microsoft Defender for Office 365's most valuable features are safe attachments and safe links.
What needs improvement?
The GUI is sometimes slow to fetch the device report and could be improved.
It would be great if Microsoft Defender for Office 365 were priced at the tenant level, rather than the user level. This is because the feature is used by all users in the tenant, not just individual users.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Defender for Office 365 for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is often unsatisfactory. When I open a ticket, the initial engineer I speak to often has no hands-on experience and needs to escalate the issue to someone else. This can take a long time, as the engineer needs to check with the internal team before they can provide any assistance. In the end, the issue is eventually resolved.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used Barracuda Email Security Gateway, but it did not sandbox emails. After careful consideration, we decided to switch to Microsoft Defender for Office 365.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. We just follow Microsoft's documentation and fine-tune the default custom policies as well as new days on custom policies for data management and checking. Two people were required for the deployment.
What about the implementation team?
The implementation was completed in-house.
What was our ROI?
We have seen a return on investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The license is expensive because the cost is based on the number of users. The more users there are, the higher the cost.
What other advice do I have?
I give Microsoft Defender for Office 365 a nine out of ten.
We have four people that directly access the solution.
There is no maintenance required from our end.
Before using Microsoft Defender for Office 365, organizations must ensure that the policies are configured correctly to fit their specific needs.
It is better to choose a single vendor with high expertise in a specific area, rather than a best-of-breed strategy.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior Manager ICT & at Bangalore International Airport Limited
The automated attack disruption works well if you have a strong policy configuration
Pros and Cons
- "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."
- "You should be able to deploy Defender for every subscription without the need to add servers."
What is our primary use case?
365 Defender is a critical tool for mitigating attacks and preventing threats. We use it for email filtering and blocking phishing attacks throughout the entire enterprise. We have around 1,500 users.
How has it helped my organization?
365 Defender has improved our security across multiple categories. It's effective against advanced attacks like phishing and ransomware. Defender's attack disruption works well if you have a strong policy configuration. It will automatically block threats and filter them in most cases without the need to investigate. It will remedy the threat immediately.
The automated response reduces the manual work, saving our security team time. I would estimate it saves about six hours per day.
What is most valuable?
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. It's a unified solution that doesn't just cover Microsoft products. We're a multi-cloud shop, and having that coverage is critical. It also includes the latest IAM features like two-factor and multifactor authentication, giving us the most robust solution.
What needs improvement?
You should be able to deploy Defender for every subscription without the need to add servers.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used 365 Defender for almost six years
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate Microsoft 365 Defender nine out of 10 for stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I rate Microsoft 365 Defender nine out of 10 for scalability.
How are customer service and support?
I rate Microsoft support nine out of 10. Their support is excellent.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We migrated to 365 Defender from a McAfee solution.
How was the initial setup?
365 Defender is a cloud-based solution deployed on Azure. You can set it up in two days with some help from Microsoft support using two people.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
365 Defender is worth what we paid for it.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Microsoft 365 Defender nine out of 10. It's the most economical product you can buy, offering a range of features for safeguarding your enterprise.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner

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- Which product do you prefer: Symantec Messaging Gateway or Microsoft Defender?
- What are the threats associated with using ‘bogus’ cybersecurity tools?
- When evaluating Messaging Security, what aspect do you think is the most important to look for?
- Which Email Security enterprise solution would you choose: Cisco Secure Email vs Forcepoint Email Security vs Barracuda Email Security Gateway?
- What is the best email encryption software for small enterprises using Office 365?
- What security measures should businesses prioritize to support secure remote work?
- When evaluating Email Security tools, what aspects do you think are the most important to look for?