Microsoft Defender XDR Reviews

Microsoft 365 Defender is one of the first layers to our security. It's our first layer security product, e.g. we use it, then we also use Exchange Online Protection for email, Safelink, etc.

We always recommend these products to our customers, e.g. if the customer is using another third-party product. We are always recommending these compliance and security products, e.g. Microsoft 365 Defender, Cloud App Security, etc.

We usually recommend cloud security because it connects all of these security and compliance products in one center to take logs and make them meaningful, plus you can also create alerts. We are also recommending it because of Microsoft Teams usage, especially because in Microsoft Teams, users sometimes do mass deletion, mass download, etc. We always say: "Let's connect your Cloud App security with your Azure Information Protection, with Microsoft 365 Defender and your Microsoft Teams, your Engula, etc. We find cloud security to be very useful.

What I found most valuable in Microsoft 365 Defender is that it's able to scan emails and protect users from dangerous links or attachments. This is important in a first layer or base layer security product such as Microsoft 365 Defender. You can even combine Microsoft Defender for Endpoint with this solution to get the most benefits.

I also find Microsoft 365 Defender user-friendly, so that's another valuable feature of this solution.

What could be improved in Microsoft 365 Defender is its licensing. It needs to be more consolidated, because there are so many plans for Microsoft 365 Defender, and every other year, there will be new licensing options, e.g. plan one, plan two, etc., that become more and more different from each other. The most valuable product would be the most expensive product, and customers usually say: "We really need the last version, but that's really expensive for us, because we are in Turkey and the currency is very, very high now." Three years ago, this wasn't a problem, because $1 was three or four Turkish liras, but now it's 15.

In the licensing options, it would also be better if there can be some optimizations, similar to what Power BI Pro offers. There are two options in Power BI: user-based and capacity-based. It would be good if there can be another option for one consolidated product for the whole company with a higher price, but you cannot depend on user count.

What I'd like to see in the next release of Microsoft 365 Defender is for them to provide more details in the alerts and notifications they send out.

We've been a partner for Microsoft for 10 years.

I found that the stability of Microsoft 365 Defender is good.

Scalability is good in Microsoft 365 Defender.

What we have is Premier Support from Microsoft, e.g. we are a CSP partner, so we were required to buy Premier Support and Cloud Consulting from Microsoft. We are really happy with the support we've been receiving for Microsoft 365 Defender, but on the customer side, they don't have Premier Support, and sometimes, depending on the case, they're not very satisfied with the support. 

Our satisfaction is five out of five, but our customers would only have three or four out of five, in terms of their satisfaction with Microsoft 365 Defender support.

The initial setup for Microsoft 365 Defender is really easy. It's not very complicated. I didn't see any other difficulties with setting it up, but customers sometimes think it's not very easy. They purchase consulting services from us, so it doesn't bother us, but sometimes the customer says: "I don't know how to start, but I use Microsoft Security." Microsoft is very late in the security niche, so customers sometimes say: "We have Symantec", or they would mention that they have other products from other vendors, and these vendors are very reliable for many, many years.

In the last three or four years, though, customers start to depend on Microsoft Security products, but they are not early adopters, because they usually tell us: "When we buy the product, some policies cannot be used, but after sometime we can use it." It's not really a problem, but I wanted to relay some of the feedback we get from our customers.

The most valuable licensing option is expensive, so pricing could be improved. Licensing options for this solution also need to be consolidated, because they frequently change.

We've been dealing with the latest version of Microsoft 365 Defender.

For an average project, deployment of Microsoft 365 Defender can take a week, but we do need some change management models, because we still need to train the users about safe links and attachments, so we sometimes have to expand the average time, but implementation is not very hard. If we only do the implementation, one week is more than enough.

We rely on just one to two persons, particularly engineers, for the deployment and maintenance of Microsoft 365 Defender.

My recommendation to others looking into implementing Microsoft 365 Defender is that reading the documentation is really good. If you are a Microsoft partner, you'll also have benefits, e.g. CDS tenants and demo tenants that are free to you for one year, so you can test the products first, before you implement. If you are a partner, my advice is to use your Microsoft partner benefits.

I'm giving Microsoft 365 Defender a rating of eight out of ten.

We are yet to use Microsoft Defender XDR for ourselves as we are yet to procure the product.

Vulnerability assessment and just-in-time access are some valuable features of Defender for server plans. Additionally, the threat detection at the OS level is a very good feature of Defender.

Microsoft could improve on threat hunting and build more on threat detection and handling. The cybersecurity and cloud security posture features are a bit lesser than standard security products.

We have not yet used Microsoft Defender XDR as we are yet to procure the product.

I was working with CrowdStrike before Microsoft Defender XDR. CrowdStrike has advantages in terms of threat hunting.

We are doing it for the first time, so I have nothing to compare in terms of ROI.

The pricing is a little high, however, it is on par with other competitive tools in the market.

I have not evaluated other XDR solutions besides CrowdStrike.

I would recommend Microsoft Defender XDR to others as long as they are aligned with Microsoft products, cloud, or on-prem, especially if they are using Microsoft Windows architecture. I would rate Microsoft Defender XDR six out of ten overall.

We implement it on client endpoints and server endpoints. We also integrate it with Microsoft Entra ID for the identity part because the security part of Microsoft Defender is completely correlated to user activity.

Microsoft Defender XDR is important for the mitigation of threats, visibility of vulnerabilities, and identification of issues within the environment. It has been a leader in the market for consecutive years.

We have a single pane of glass for servers, endpoints, and mobile devices. It makes it very easy to identify which devices are at risk when you go to the vulnerability part. There are also recommendations. Especially for me, these recommendations are gold. You see exactly what you need. Microsoft Defender XDR is completely different from your antivirus solution. It detects based not only on signatures but also on the policies, so you are forced to harden your servers or client endpoints, which makes a much stronger solution.

Being a Microsoft solution, it integrates well with other Microsoft systems. The majority of the systems are Microsoft-based. This integration comes without the need to install a client on the local machine. It makes the life of the operators and whoever implements it way easier.

Microsoft has a range of Defender products. There is Defender XDR, Defender for Endpoint for clients and servers, and Defender for Office 365 which protects mailboxes, SharePoint, and OneDrive. Then you have Defender for Identity, which is integrated with Defender XDR. You also have Defender for Cloud Apps that is connected to Defender XDR. When integrated, you can get sources of threats, for example, from Defender for Identity connected directly on the endpoint. Defender for XDR protects the endpoint devices against ransomware and different threats. We need to see more holistically at all the Defender solutions instead of isolating them. There is an element of correlation of identity. For me, nowadays, it is much more important to protect the identity than the endpoint device itself because the majority of the vectors are coming from identity attacks. They are more than the viruses attacking the endpoints.

I do not have much experience with Linux as such. I am very focused on Microsoft solutions. I never focused on Linux, but I have worked with my peers, for example, on projects to enroll Linux devices. We needed to prepare simple scripts or puppet scripts to automate the process of pushing policies and automate the update of the antivirus. It is trickier. It is more complex to manage because of the nature of Linux itself. It is not as straightforward or integrated as Microsoft solutions, such as Microsoft Windows 11 or Windows Server, but Microsoft Defender still covers everything. There are some limitations regarding Linux servers and endpoints because you need to have the version of Linux that is supported by Defender, but at the same time, with whatever is supported, Microsoft Defender does the job. Linux and Windows operating systems work in different ways, and the way that antivirus interacts with the operating system is completely different. There is role-based access control in Windows. You have local administrators and domain administrators. On Azure, you define roles for users to access certain environments. On Linux, you have the root user, and as a core front operation system embedded in it, you do not have the least privileged access management solution. This comes with a price because you need to control much better to whom you give access. SSH keys, for example, are very important to be protected, which is a different protocol than the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). You need to protect Linux servers in different ways, which is very different from Windows. Defender or Defender XDR extends the protection, especially when you need to connect with Azure Ark, which is part of Microsoft services.

Microsoft Defender XDR has consolidated security solutions. Previously, you had an antivirus, and you had a different type of endpoint protection for servers, and then you had a web content filtering solution, which is part of Microsoft Defender XDR. It consolidates all the extra products that you require, but it does not give all the elements. It is not a firewall. It is not a web application firewall (WAF). It does not give you everything required as a security solution, but as an extended detection and response system, it gives a lot of leeway for you to meet your security objectives. If we compare it with other products, Defender XDR is much more complete than the competition.

The integration, visibility, vulnerability management, and device identification are valuable. You can automatically deploy the clients depending on how you are implementing the solution. 

The web filtering solution needs to be improved because currently, it is very simple. It is very important.

Integrations with Linux should be done in a better way. With the AI world and the security part, things are going to be much simpler and easier to set up, configure, deploy, and maintain. I am looking forward to new releases of Microsoft Defender XDR to have better integrations, but the web filtering solution is the main pain point.

I have been working with Microsoft Defender since it was released. It has been about four years. I started working with it when it was not even called Defender. It was Advanced Threat Protection. It then changed to Defender for Endpoints and then to Defender XDR.

I have not experienced many bugs or issues. Sometimes, you have delays in the response, but that is due to connectivity issues. It is a cloud-based solution, so you cannot expect to have a real-time response, but this can be improved by Microsoft. I know that they are trying to improve. I would rate it a nine out of ten for stability.

It is ultra-scalable. I would rate it a ten out of ten for scalability. 

I love Microsoft, but due to its growth, the overall support quality has decreased a lot. My recent experience with support was not that good. For the Defender part, it was not that bad. I would rate their support a six out of ten. Their response time and knowledge could be better.

Neutral

I work with Trend Micro. I work with Kaspersky. Trend Micro has its own cloud-based solution similar to Microsoft Defender XDR, but it is not the same. It has some problems. It is not as effective as Microsoft Defender XDR. Especially whenever it comes to vulnerabilities and recommendations, Microsoft Defender XDR is amazing because of its integration with Microsoft operating systems. Microsoft is much ahead of the competition.

I would never touch Kaspersky again. It is not because it is a bad product. It has been a very good product for several years, but because of the Russia and Ukraine war, it has become a prohibitive product at least in Malta to use. A lot of customers moved from Kaspersky immediately to different products. The majority of them went to Microsoft Defender XDR, especially because it also comes integrated with some products. Microsoft is bundling its own products, and Microsoft Defender XDR is very attractive to implement as a cloud solution. It is a no-brainer for the customer. That is where Microsoft has an advantage over Trend Micro, Kaspersky, and other vendors.

With Cloud servers, it is easy and very straightforward. You can almost do it automated, but in a hybrid environment, you have the element of the on-prem servers, which becomes a little bit more complex. You also have the element of Azure that simplifies the deployment process.

It can be difficult to deploy in the beginning because you need to consider different products and elements, but the deployment is the simplest part of the onboarding process. The configuration process is much more difficult, especially because on servers, you need to deploy group policy objects (GPOs) and set all the policy options to protect from the vulnerabilities. You need to configure the antivirus to protect from exploits. There are so many features and configuration possibilities that it becomes more complex to implement on server endpoints. On the client side, it is easy, especially when you implement Defender through Intune, which is the mobile device management solution of Microsoft. With a platform like Intune, it becomes easy because you have policies that assist you already out of the box, such as security baseline policies. With Intune, it is much easier to set a policy. It is way less complex to implement. When you have a hybrid environment with endpoints joined on a local active directory, the complexity increases because you need to deploy GPOs as well if you do not have Intune involved. It is complex to implement.

The deployment takes a few weeks, but it also depends on the size of the customer. If you have just Windows 11 client endpoints, it is easier to implement. Client endpoints are easy to implement because you do not need to test that much. You configure the policies. The policies are all known because of our experience. When it comes to servers, it depends on the server's workload. It depends on what type of service you have installed on the server side. If it is the IIS web server, you need to test certain policies that can block that service. You cannot simply go and implement the best practices of the policies because then you are going to make the server unusable. You are going to generate downtime, which is not ideal and also not the objective, so you need to be very knowledgeable on the infrastructure side and the security side of all applications. You need to study. You need to create a test environment and start implementing server by server. You require details, and it is complex to implement because of this reason.

I am currently doing an implementation for a company with 300 people, and it would take around two months to implement because of the number of servers and endpoints. You need to go into each and every device and analyze the environment. It takes a while. In smaller companies, it is very quick. Within a week or two, you can manage to implement it.

In terms of maintenance, there is no maintenance of the product, but there is maintenance of the environment. Microsoft releases frequent recommendations, and they detect new vulnerabilities very frequently, which requires constant maintenance of policies.

I usually allocate two people. There is one person more focused on the client endpoints, and the other one is more focused on the servers because of his expertise. We split the roles and responsibilities within the team.

It has not saved us costs, but we have invested in a proper solution. We have a better return on investment. We now have better visibility. We are investing in a product that gives what we need instead of a product that does not fulfill our requirements and our customers' requirements.

As a service provider, it is very hard to calculate an ROI. For customers, it is more of a return on value rather than a return on investment. If you have not been under any threat after implementing the solution, it provides the value you need. This is my point of view on security because there is no perfect solution, but there is a solution that works better than the others where you have much more control. With Microsoft Defender XDR, in my experience, we have managed to give that to our customers. Our customers are satisfied with the product, and none of them have replaced or changed Microsoft Defender XDR.

There is the cost of the license, and there is the cost of implementation services. Only by enabling a license for your user, all the features are not going to be enabled and the policies are not going to be configured. It does not work like this. You need specialized people to implement, monitor, and maintain the systems. It comes as a package.

I would rate Microsoft Defender XDR a seven out of ten for pricing. It is costly, especially on the cloud part. There is also Defender for Cloud, which is part of Microsoft Defender XDR. It is 15 dollars per server per month. It is worth it, but it can be costly. It depends on the company's size. That is the big issue.

If you have a company with ten employees and ten servers because you have your own infrastructure hosted within virtual machines, you need to protect ten client endpoints. It is cheap if you get a business premium license. It costs around 17 euros per user. To protect the servers, you need to pay an extra 14 euros per server per month. For ten servers, it is 140 euros per month. Per year, it is around 1600 euros. Small companies or companies with a small budget would not go for it because they do not want to invest in IT. They do not see this value. In my opinion, big companies can justify this cost.

In the countryside of Malta, it is tricky to sell the solution. I have to give them all the advantages. I always have a test environment, so I show them how it works, how the automated detection works, how it behaves, and how it acts on the threats. I give them an overview, and they get amazed. When it comes to the pricing, they get a little bit scared, but ultimately, they go because they see value in it. Everything depends on the value that a product gives and how you sell a product as a solution provider. An XDR solution provides value because it protects your assets. Your data is your major asset. If you do not have it protected, you can get hacked or have a ransomware attack. Companies are now starting to understand the importance of it, and they are starting to invest more. It is still a long way for us to have the mindset where they say that it does not matter how much it costs, we need to invest in security.

I would recommend Microsoft Defender XDR. It is the best solution in the market.

For me, Microsoft Defender brought a career change. It made me go deeper into the security products. Previously, I was more of an infrastructure guy. I was more focused on on-prem and Windows servers, but then I moved away from infrastructure. I work for a data center company, and I am a presales solutions architect designing solutions for financial companies, banks, and gaming companies or companies with online casinos.

A lot of people did not like Microsoft Defender because Microsoft was not known as a security company, but Microsoft has been investing billions of dollars every year in security, and now, they provide cutting-edge technology, especially with AI.

I have been following Microsoft, and I go to Microsoft events. There is a new product called Security Copilot that is going to be completely connected to Defender XDR. It will give much faster feedback and response to threats by issuing reports. Today, a security analyst takes four to five hours to prepare a report. With Microsoft Security Copilot and Defender, it is going to change massively. Within five to ten minutes, you can prepare a report with the Security Copilot solution. It is going to be released very soon, and I am looking forward to it.

Overall, I would rate Microsoft Defender XDR a ten out of ten.

The product replaced Sophos, a third-party product we used, helping us save money equal to its yearly subscription. The product saves us time. We do not have to interfere. It just keeps running.

Considering we haven't encountered any technical problems since we started using it. It is working as intended. It has great stability.

I don't know if that is Defender's feature, but more active monitoring for data breaches would be beneficial. There could be a way to proactively monitor unusual activity versus just depending on viruses and malware. If the traffic seems unusual, it could detect anomalies and update us. It would help us stop malware attacks ahead of time.

I have been using Microsoft Defender XDR since 2015.

We never encountered stability issues.

Whenever we add a license, it automatically sets the account for a new user.

The initial setup process was fine and similar to Office 365. We had to get our email server lifted externally from the premises to the cloud. It is easy to use once all applications are deployed.

Microsoft Defender XDR is already included in our Office 365 licensing. It is better because we're saving money by using it.

The product was included with the Office 365 licensing that we had. So, we decided to try it out. Before that, we were using Sophos.

I haven't run into that particular instance where the security features have extended beyond Microsoft technologies. The only products we use outside of Microsoft are proprietary lockdown applications, and it's not really an issue there.

During staff training, we've been using Intune to detect phishing attempts. It hasn't detected anything in that aspect. However, it has the ability to check for malicious attacks preemptively.

I rate it a ten out of ten.

We primarily use it for endpoint security. Specifically, it serves as our solution for antivirus detection, malware detection, and related aspects focused on safeguarding individual devices. 

Its single-pane interface is a time-saving feature, as it eliminates the need to check different locations which is excellent for efficiency. It allows us to phase out the use of other security products. For example, we previously ran Sophos on-premises. However, upon transitioning to Microsoft 365 and leveraging the included Defender, we discontinued the use of Sophos. This shift not only streamlined our security approach with a unified solution but also contributed to cost savings, as everything is encompassed within the same license—a concept that aligns with the efficiency of a single-pane interface.

The most valuable aspect is that it comes included with the licensing, which is excellent. It provides a single pane of glass within the 365 admin interface, streamlining our experience by consolidating information in one place and eliminating the need to navigate through multiple interfaces.

It would be highly beneficial if CoPilot could identify anomalies within the network and notify the IT team. For instance, if a user typically accesses around a hundred megabytes of data daily from familiar files and locations but suddenly diverges to an uncommon destination, uploading ten gigabytes of data to an unfamiliar website, that would be a significant anomaly. Pausing such activity and alerting the IT team for a human assessment would be a valuable feature to ensure security.

I have been working with it for three years.

No stability issues noted, and there haven't been any concerns regarding false positives. Overall, the experience has been positive.

Scalability is straightforward; no issues are encountered. We predominantly use Windows 10, and so far, I haven't observed any issues. Some of us have transitioned to Windows 11, and it appears to function well.

We haven't contacted their tech support, which I consider a positive indicator.

In terms of ROI, our expectation is to gain a comprehensive analytical perspective by upgrading to E5, activating Sentinel, and deploying other products like Entra. This move aims to provide a more extensive understanding of user activities, login details, and other relevant metrics. Currently on a three-year Microsoft term set to end on April 1st, we've inquired with our vendor about transitioning from E3 to E5 immediately.

In our security solution evaluation, we considered Trend Micro and Sophos, focusing more on Sophos due to its cloud version. However, challenges in patching the on-premises Sophos led us to choose Microsoft Defender. The simplicity, inclusion in our package and regular patching made Defender more attractive. Additionally, our decision was influenced by community adoption, as no other law enforcement agencies in Canada were using Trend Micro. Defender's seamless integration and zero additional cost aligned with our strategy of opting for solutions without extra expenses.

Overall, I would rate it eight out of ten.

We implemented Defender two and a half years ago, utilizing it in a passive mode with only the sensor active for data collection and basic EDR results. Although it has been running on all devices, we are currently in the process of making the final transition from the existing setup to fully leverage Defender as our EDR solution.

We utilize analytics on both iOS and Android platforms, and it holds significant importance for us. Compliance with mandates, often stemming from executive orders, requires meeting specific contract requirements. In response, we employ analytics to implement and maintain controls consistently across various device types. The capability to adapt to emerging threats is of utmost importance to us. We lack the time and resources to constantly learn about new indicators and threat actors. We expect that the threat intelligence from Microsoft and other providers seamlessly integrates into the system, enabling automatic updates based on the current global threat landscape. The unified single pane of glass is a significant benefit. It consolidates everything into one interface, eliminating the need to navigate through multiple portals for information.

The greatest value lies in integration, I believe. The ability to integrate and observe a more cohesive narrative across the products is crucial.

There are still some components, such as vulnerability management within the vendor product, where improved integration would be beneficial. Currently, it's not visible in the same interface, requiring us to search elsewhere to access that information. While it has streamlined data collection and retrieval, there's still room for improvement in terms of user-friendliness for certain individuals. While the ultimate goal is to enhance security, there's room for improvement in terms of pricing.

We are currently in the migration process from Sophos to Microsoft Defender.

It offers high stability.

The backend infrastructure and structure in place seem to be easily scalable to meet our requirements.

Customer service and technical support vary. Opening support cases for different components within the security stack or Microsoft entity often reveals that first-level support is lacking. It typically takes two or three weeks to get an escalation, and by then, the issue may have resolved itself. Escalations are challenging, as first-level support struggles to comprehend the problem, leading to repetitive discussions. I would rate it four out of ten.

Neutral

We transitioned from Sophos to Microsoft Defender primarily due to cost reduction and the elimination of duplicated technologies.

The initial setup used to be complex, but now it's much more streamlined.

We follow a phased approach for deployment, beginning with a proof of concept pilot. However, our main deployment cycle revolves around Defender, facilitated via Intune, where all devices are managed. Building the package and incorporating scripts into Intune is the key process for the sequential implementation, which has evolved over time. Maintenance involves keeping pace with changes, not just patching. Microsoft has significantly improved patch cycle management, but dealing with the constant stream of changes they introduce remains a challenge.

It proved to be effective in cost savings. Our return on investment is tied to the existing investment in the current SKU. We anticipate not only recouping the dollars spent but also gaining the advantage of a unified interface, a single pane of glass. This consolidation allows us to streamline our operations, saving valuable time and effectively reclaiming productivity that would otherwise be spent navigating between different platforms on a daily basis.

When seeking a security suite, even with an E5 enterprise license, additional purchases are still necessary. The license cost for a year is approximately forty-four thousand, and this annual saving is a significant factor in our decision to switch.

In the past, we explored alternatives such as Carbon Black and Cylance, particularly for their machine learning and AI components, which were quite innovative at that time, approximately three years ago. However, our approach has evolved, and we've shifted significantly towards the Microsoft Stack. The decision is influenced by our existing environment, where we can readily assess the capabilities available within Microsoft.

The critical aspect is comprehending your existing setup. During our migration, we opt for a like-for-like transition instead of going for something entirely new, as the latter could be disruptive to some processes. Defender offers extensive capabilities, but understanding where to begin is crucial to avoiding disruption. Start with a like-for-like migration and plan the subsequent ramp-up to align with its capabilities. Overall, I would rate it eight out of ten.

I'm a deployment engineer for Microsoft products, and we work with multiple SMEs. Customers adopting Microsoft products want the same features they had in their third-party solutions. We look at their requirements and the types of features they need. We determine the security mechanism that best addresses their vulnerabilities. We might suggest Defender for Identity,  Defender for Endpoint, 365 Defender, and Defender for Cloud Apps. In addition to those security solutions, we offer device management. We provide everything.

Defender improves our security operations. I've had chances to collaborate with our SOC team. Our customers face many random attacks they don't know how to prevent, and the SOC team handles them remotely. The security engineers can investigate the incident or use the information from the customer's environment to offer a recommendation. If the customer doesn't have the detection mechanism, we can recommend a product or find a solution for them. 

The solution can help customers save money because we can bundle it with all the other Microsoft solutions, like email and Defender for endpoint, identity, and cloud apps. Most of our customers use Windows 10 devices and Microsoft Active Directory, so everything is on the same page. Defender can save time by automating investigation and response. We don't need to spend much time because it'll automatically take action in many cases. 

The best feature is threat hunting. There are a lot of other features I like, such as the alert mechanism. The chain alert mechanism has a huge impact. It combines all the alerts into one incident and automatically correlates them with AI. 

Defender has integrated identity access management, and you can add DLP features through a separate solution called Microsoft Purview. Within the cloud, we can create access policies based on each user's risk. It's integrated with Azure AD and on-prem Active Directory, so all the user identities can be managed in a single portal.

We use the multi-tenant management capability, so we can cover customers that have multiple regions. We can easily investigate across tenants based on severity. For high-priority alerts, we start from scratch and ignore what's happening on the endpoints or emails. We isolate the device and ensure that nothing will be released from it. Next, we check this device and some more details.

There is no common area where we can manage all the policies for the EDR, third-party solutions, devices, servers, Windows, Mac, etc., but it's on the roadmap, and we were waiting for that feature. 

I have used 365 Defender for about four years.

365 Defender is stable. There is no downtime. Still, Microsoft is constantly rolling out features, so there are sometimes bugs after new releases. Our customer experience team is collaborating with Microsoft and sharing feedback with them. 

365 Defender is scalable 

I rate Microsoft support nine out of 10. The support depends on the product and the customer's issues. 

Positive

I work with customers coming to Microsoft from other third-party products, so I try to understand what the product does and suggest a solution. The names are different, but all the technology is the same.

Deploying Microsoft Defender isn't complex if you have experience. The deployment depends on the number of users, apps, and the client's requirements. If the client wants to implement XDR, it takes about a month to achieve full functionality.  Endpoint protection takes around five to ten days. It's a cloud product, so it doesn't require any maintenance. 

Defender XDR is agentless, so you don't need to install an agent anywhere. It's a cost-effective option.

I rate Microsoft 365 Defender nine out of 10. We recommend it to our customers. 

I primarily use the solution as an engineer. I use the product to protect the endpoint and I use it to protect my customer's environment. 

The web protection on offer is very good. For a company that doesn't have a firewall, it's quite useful.

It gives feedback and helps protect internet access. It provides you with analysis on the state of the environment and you have a direct link to Microsoft which is doing its own research on security. You're constantly getting feedback from Microsoft resources so that you can be up to date in your own environment and you'll have a better understanding of the security landscape. 

The solution is great for companies on a budget.

Defender provides helpful visibility into threats. It covers a lot and comes with a next-gen antivirus. With that, you can register to the cloud, and, if you have cloud protection, your environment is protected even more. 

It helps us prioritize the threats across our enterprise. It covers all of our devices. You can cover your entire operation with the license you purchase.

Microsoft 365 Defender is easy to integrate with other products. You just have to configure some things in order to integrate everything and you are SDR compliant. We currently have it integrated natively, so we don't have to worry about configurations.

The comprehensiveness of Microsoft's threat detection is good. Microsoft provides a lot of security. It gives you visibility and IT has a lot of control over everything. You can see your environment, including clouds. You can block things within your environment as needed. The applications are easy to manage. It also has app governance to be able to gain visibility into permissions.

The product has helped automate routine tasks and the finding of high-value alerts. It has an automatic investigation feature that you can enable. It's great for automation. Thanks to automation, it has helped reduce the time it takes to analyze security events and alerts. You don't have to wait to take action. If there is a threat, you can neutralize it faster and it will record everything for audit records. While I know it has saved us time, I can't quantify that into a specific amount of hours.

We no longer need to look at multiple dashboards. Now, everything is centralized under one dashboard. 

The product's threat intelligence helps us prepare for potential threats and take proactive steps. Since we've been using it, we've had no security incidents.

The only issue I've had is, when it comes to deployment, the steps I must take around policy setup. That is challenging. We're working on the onboarding and configuration policies. We're collecting feedback from customers and partners in hopes of refining the future design for deployment.

I've used the solution for about two years.

The feedback I have received from customers is that the stability is very good. 

The product scales well.

If you have a license through a partner, it's the partner that will support you.

The only issue with Microsoft is the response times. They are very competent, however, sometimes you will send an email and get no response. 

Neutral

I previously used Sophos. I then switched to Microsoft Defender. The Sophos deployment is quite easy in comparison. You can do everything from a single portal. They had already achieved effective centralization. 

Right now, there are two different ways to onboard. You might have to have a different partner to configure policies. However, right now, you can also create policies from the activity center, so you don't have to do it from the device itself.

How long a deployment takes depends on your scope and the number of devices you are covering. 

If you do not get a license for the portal, you'll have to use the manual to deploy. If you have an older server you may encounter some issues. However, if you upgrade the server at the same time, you'll have fewer problems.

We do use more than one Microsoft security product. We've integrated with other products. 

I do not make use of the directional sync capabilities at this time. I'm also not using Microsoft Sentinel.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. If the deployment of the agent was better, I'd move my grade closer to ten. It should be more automatic. You also shouldn't have to install the logs.