We're a cybersecurity company using Sentinel to provide SIEM services to our customers.
Senior Cyber Security Manager at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The threat intelligence helped us prepare for attacks by developing rules before they hit
Pros and Cons
- "Sentinel improved how we investigate incidents. We can create watchlists and update them to align with the latest threat intelligence. The information Microsoft provides enables us to understand thoroughly and improve as we go along. It allows us to provide monthly reports to our clients on their security posture."
- "We've seen delays in getting the logs from third-party solutions and sometimes Microsoft products as well. It would be helpful if Microsoft created a list of the delays. That would make things more transparent for customers."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Sentinel improved how we investigate incidents. We can create watchlists and update them to align with the latest threat intelligence. The information Microsoft provides enables us to understand thoroughly and improve as we go along. It allows us to provide monthly reports to our clients on their security posture.
It helps us automate some tasks but not others. There are some things we missed because there aren't any rules. We're still working on integrating it. We know it can detect high-severity incidents if we utilize it correctly. We've been able to automate incident responses to some high-level threats we've encountered.
Microsoft's threat intelligence helped us prepare for attacks by developing rules before they hit. We know what behavior to expect because we have visibility into the threat and the actors.
Sentinel's reporting features save us time. In the past, we created reports in Microsoft Word by dropping in screenshots. With Sentinel, we can create readymade reports from the dashboard. Our monthly report previously took about 16 to 24 hours to complete. We cut that in half.
What is most valuable?
We have our own ticketing system for our soft team, and Sentinel's playbooks helped us automate many processes.
Sentinel provides excellent visibility. Microsoft updates a lot of its security solutions via Sentinel. The content hub and connectors are available to integrate everything. Microsoft also created separate analytics groups, so we log behaviors and use a template. We often need to modify the template based on a customer's log behavior and our correlation and analysis.
We can learn some new techniques for using KQL correctly by studying the latest templates that Microsoft releases and creating some KBs for our analysts. The MITRE ATT&CK framework is now integrated into Sentinel, so we can statistically identify which part of our microservices are vulnerable. We can assess the severity of threats and prioritize them accordingly. We also need to prioritize based on our SLAs.
My company also provides managed service for Defender for Endpoint, previously called ATP. We also work with Defender for Cloud and Defender for Identity.
All the Microsoft solutions are integrated with Sentinel, including 365 apps, Azure AD, and various cloud-based security solutions. It includes all the connectors you need to ingest logs from multiple Microsoft products, giving us near-total visibility. Some customers use on-prem security appliances, so we have to correlate logs.
Sentinel comes with Azure Lighthouse. We can link the subscription to our customer's tenant and ask them to create a global admin account. We can report on the activities using each account and how secure the credentials are. The integration is seamless when we have that level of access.
We offer ingestion for all Microsoft products and always recommend our clients get everything so we can get full threat visibility and effectiveness. Having all the products integrated into Sentinel helps us see the big picture. In addition to the analytics rules and everything, we're utilizing dashboards and workbooks. Some workbooks are templates that Microsoft provides, but we also develop our own.
We can compile all this data, put it in a workbook, and create rules. The other part is communicating with the customer because the user is still reviewing logs. Is it an admin? Is it doing daily counts of logins, etc?
Three of our customers use Defender for Cloud. If a company needs it, we can support it. We have Microsoft-certified engineers who can provide expert frontline support.
Initially, we were only ingesting incidents from Defender for Endpoint, but now we can ingest more data throughout the system. Previously, we could not see some things. We could do it, but we had to search through the portal to find what we needed. Using a connector, we can see everything our employees do on the endpoint, such as device info, location, logins, etc. It's especially useful when employees work remotely or outside their normal area.
Sentinel lets us investigate threats and comprehensively respond from one console. We can have multiple tabs on one application. The capabilities are robust and marketable. All of these solutions are combined.
What needs improvement?
We've seen delays in getting the logs from third-party solutions and sometimes Microsoft products as well. It would be helpful if Microsoft created a list of the delays. That would make things more transparent for customers.
In some instances, the customer reports that they suspect malware on a computer, and one of their IT guys noticed it. There is a five to ten minute delay before we can see it and respond. As a security company, we don't want the customer to be the first one to identify the threat. However, we must deal with delays from the various products we're integrating. For example, Apex One has a 15-minute delay.
Sometimes it's an issue with the third-party product, but sometimes it isn't. If it isn't, we need to open a ticket with Microsoft. We would benefit from transparency around delays and communication about what Microsoft is doing to resolve the issue.
Another issue is transparency around usage and associated costs. There are charges if you use playbooks and queries. If you query 100,000 times a day, your costs will go up. The usage only displays in gigabytes per day. A breakdown would help us make reports for our management.
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Sentinel
May 2025

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For how long have I used the solution?
We have used Sentinel since 2020, so it has been about three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We also have experienced some performance problems in the UK. I'm not sure how that works, but something might be going on in the back-end. We transferred to a different region a while ago and lost some of our workspaces. We were shocked.
If Microsoft needs to failover to another region, the customer should be informed because it affects many things. Some of the products we ingest just suddenly stopped, and we have to redo the integration with Cisco Umbrella, AWS S3, and SendGrid. Azure was pulling those logs, and the connections were suddenly cut when this happened.
How are customer service and support?
I rate Microsoft's support a five out of ten. We had problems using Azure and getting the logs from event services for one of our customers. The date and time the log generated on our customer's device were wrong. It showed the event's location but not the time that the event was generated.
We contacted Microsoft, who told us to expect a reply the following day, but they didn't respond until four days later. Then, they sent us to another department to speak with someone more knowledgeable about our issue.
We described the problem, and they asked us for evidence. They wanted our support team to recreate it. Microsoft's support team can create a lab environment and recreate the scenario for themselves. We had to stop the call because we were too busy.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used an in-house SIEM solution.
How was the initial setup?
Deploying Sentinel was complex initially, but it has gotten easier. We documented how we did everything, so it's easy for someone to replicate the steps. If we have accepted the CSP invite, we can deploy it in two days, including configuring ingestion, creating rules, and Azure onboarding. We also must build dashboards and templates. Sometimes there are delays, and it might take three to five weeks.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Sentinel is costly compared to other solutions, but it's fair. SIEM solutions like CrowdStrike charge based on daily log volume. They generally process a set number of logs for free before they start charging. Microsoft's pricing is clearer. It's free under five gigabytes. Some of these logs we ingest have a cost, so they don't hide it. I believe the tenant pays the price, and Microsoft helps create awareness of the cost.
With other solutions, you don't know what you're being charged until you get the bill. You might find that you're using playbooks or queries too much. Microsoft gives you visibility into your expenses.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated a few other solutions, including CrowdStrike, Splunk, and LogRhythm. We decided to go with Sentinel because we have Microsoft-certified staff, and many companies in the UK are adopting Defender and other Microsoft security solutions. Sentinel offers seamless integration with Microsoft security products, and we've also seen how flexible it can be.
We can leverage KQL queries. If you're trying to send logs to another SIEM, you'll probably need an API and a lot of other components to make it work. Sentinel makes our jobs easier by providing all of the connectors and out-of-the-box integration.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Microsoft Sentinel a nine out of ten. I think the industry is shifting toward a single-vendor strategy instead of best-of-breed. If you have a lot of tools from various vendors, it makes things more complicated. You need to hire employees who specialize in each device. It's better if your team understands a solution's features and capabilities.
If you're considering a SIEM solution, you should compare each product's mean detection and response time. I'm unsure if that information will be publicly available for every solution, so you may need to test them. You should also think about other components besides cost. Sentinel might be more expensive than other solutions, but it's more comprehensive because it incorporates all the different security elements and keeps evolving.
Microsoft is constantly updating all of its solutions. We mainly utilize Microsoft infrastructure, but some solutions are based on Unix or Linux. At the same time, threats on that side aren't as critical as those from Microsoft. They own the operating system, so they're positioned to understand the vulnerabilities and how to fix them.
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: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller

SOC Analyst at Aujas Networks Pvt Ltd
We can easily automate rules that enable us to create playbooks, provides good visibility into our environment, and seamless integration capability
Pros and Cons
- "The Identity Behavior tab furnishes us with the entire history linked to each IP or domain that has either accessed or attempted to access our system."
- "We are invoiced according to the amount of data generated within each log."
What is our primary use case?
We utilize Microsoft Sentinel primarily to monitor our data storage software. Through the implementation of distinct connectors, we can accommodate multiple use cases for Sentinel. This solution also enables us to thwart failover attempts and prevent brute-force attacks. Moreover, we leverage the EDR tools to establish groups. For instance, if an unauthorized individual attempts to access a critical server from outside the designated group, we can promptly identify them by analyzing the event ID.
How has it helped my organization?
Using the Microsoft Sentinel Investigation tab, we can observe all activities related to access and unauthorized attempts taking place in our environment.
Sentinel assists us in prioritizing threats across our entire enterprise. When we receive high-priority alerts, we engage with the client to investigate whether they are conducting any testing first. If not, we identify the unknown activity and collaborate with them to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
We also utilize Office 365. We have seamlessly integrated Office 365 with Sentinel, which is made easy through the provided connectors, especially when our API keys are associated with a cloud machine. All that is needed are the workspace ID, subscription ID, and API key.
The effectiveness of the protection offered by the integrated solutions is substantial. We are capable of preventing spam, tracking the complete trajectory of data transmitted by the end user, including its source, especially when originating from unauthorized URLs. Additionally, we can identify instances of unauthorized mail redirection. Furthermore, we can utilize SPF authentication to safeguard our domain against spoofing.
Microsoft Sentinel allows us to gather data from our entire ecosystem. We also have the capability to exclude non-suspicious or non-malicious data, such as daily reminders, from the daily logs in order to prevent system slowdown.
Sentinel allows us to investigate threats and respond promptly from a central location. We can gather all the necessary information for an investigation with a single click, which will provide us with a comprehensive overview of the actions taken by the suspicious user by reviewing the Event ID.
The built-in SOAR, UEBA, and threat intelligence capabilities of Sentinel are commendable. The UEBA can furnish a summary of all entities and discern unfamiliar ones that are not commonly associated with our system, subsequently tagging them for our review.
It aids in the automation of routine tasks and the identification of high-value alerts. For instance, if we need to compile a list of our administrative or high-profile users, we can establish rules based on high and medium security criteria, or any other specifications we might have. The entries will then correspond to the information aligned with our requirements. Furthermore, we have generated a watchlist of blacklisted users, which assists us in conveniently tracking activities originating from them.
It provides the ability to create personalized dashboards that offer all the necessary information in a single location. It is important to mention that this feature comes with an extra cost, as is the case with all aspects of Sentinel.
Sentinel's threat intelligence helps prepare us for potential threats before they hit. By utilizing the event summary, we can proactively prepare for unauthorized entries and directly block IPs at the firewall level.
As a partner of Microsoft, they pay us for any POCs we create.
Sentinel has contributed to a reduction in our time for detecting and responding to incidents. As Sentinel operates in the cloud, it offers user-friendly accessibility, enabling us to swiftly access crucial information for responding to potential threats.
What is most valuable?
The automation rules that enable us to create playbooks for each individual are valuable.
The Identity Behavior tab furnishes us with the entire history linked to each IP or domain that has either accessed or attempted to access our system. By utilizing the data supplied by Sentinel, we can ascertain whether there are any attempts to breach our system. Numerous pre-defined queries are at our disposal, and we also have the option to craft custom queries as needed.
What needs improvement?
We are invoiced according to the amount of data generated within each log. For example, if I neglect to specify the time period in a search, Sentinel will retrieve all the logs, leading to charges for both pertinent and irrelevant data. This could potentially cause a substantial increase in costs. We incur lower charges for data under 100 GB, but anything surpassing that threshold becomes more expensive.
When setting up EDR for multiple endpoints, we need to create distinct rules for each one to monitor the devices effectively.
For how long have I used the solution?
I am currently using Microsoft Sentinel.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Microsoft Sentinel is stable. It is extremely rare that the solution is down.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Sentinel is highly scalable. We can create any random custom playbooks. We can create any custom rules over there As per our requirements. We can enable and disable policies also as per our requirements. We can combine both policies accordingly.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Compared to IBM Security QRadar and Securonix, Microsoft Sentinel is more user-friendly. QRadar is quicker to respond but it has stability issues.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We are charged based on the amount of data used, which can become expensive.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Microsoft Sentinel nine out of ten.
Maintenance is overseen by Microsoft. They announce periods of system downtime for maintenance. If we have anything critical that we require while the system is down, we can request it from Microsoft, and they promptly provide it to us.
Microsoft Sentinel offers us query update suggestions every three months. If we find a suggestion we like, we can simply click on it to automatically update our policy.
I believe it is better to choose a single-vendor security suite over a best-of-breed strategy.
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: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Buyer's Guide
Microsoft Sentinel
May 2025

Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Sentinel. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
856,873 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Cyber Security Consultant at Inspira Enterprise
Every rule enriched at triggering stage, easing the job of SOC analyst
Pros and Cons
- "You can fine-tune the SOAR and you'll be charged only when your playbooks are triggered. That is the beauty of the solution because the SOAR is the costliest component in the market today... but with Sentinel it is upside-down: the SOAR is the lowest-hanging fruit. It's the least costly and it delivers more value to the customer."
- "Only one thing is missing: NDR is not available out-of-the-box. The competitive cloud-native SIEM providers have the NDR component. Currently, Sentinel needs NDR to be powered from either Corelight or some other NDR provider."
What is our primary use case?
It's mostly used for cloud-based analytics for proactive incident response. As an enterprise product, it falls under next-gen SIEM.
How has it helped my organization?
An advantage of Sentinel is that Microsoft has acquired RiskIQ as a threat intel platform and they've amalgamated it into the platform. When any analytical (or correlation) rule triggers, the enrichment is bundled within the solution. We don't need to input anything, it is there by default. Every rule is enriched right at the triggering or detection stage, which eases the job of the SOC analyst. The platform has become so intelligent compared to other solutions. When an alert is triggered, the enrichment happens so that we know exactly at that moment the true or false posture. This is a mature feature compared to the rest of the providers.
Most of our customers use M365 with E3 or E5 licenses, and some use Business Premium, which provides the entire bundle of M365 Security including EDR, DLP, Zero Trust, and email security. There are two native advantages for customers that use M365 Security and Sentinel. The first advantage is that the log or security-event ingestion into Sentinel is free. Cost-wise, they're saving a lot and that is a major advantage.
The other advantage is that when you use M365 Security with Sentinel, you get multi-domain visibility. That means when attacks happen with different kill-chains, in different stages through the email channel or a web channel, there is intelligence-sharing and that is a missing piece when customers integrate non-Microsoft solutions with Sentinel. With Microsoft, it is all included and the intelligence is seamlessly shared. The moment an email security issue is detected, it is sent to the Sentinel platform as well as to the M365 Defender platform. The moment it is flagged, it can trigger.
That way, if the email security missed something, the EDR will pick up a signal triggered by a payload or by a script being shared and will trigger back to the email security to put that particular email onto a blacklist. This cross-intelligence is happening without even a SIEM coming into play.
And a type of SOAR functionality is found within M365 Defender. It can run a complete, automated investigation response at the email security level, meaning the XDR platform level. When M365 Security is combined with Sentinel it gives the customer more power to remediate attacks faster. Detection and response are more powerful when M365 Defender and Sentinel are combined, compared to a customer going with a third-party solution and Sentinel.
Sentinel has an investigation pane to investigate threats and respond holistically from one place, where SOC analysts can drill down. It will gather all the artifacts so that the analysts can drill down without even leaving the page. They can see the start of the attack and the sequence of events from Sentinel. And on the investigation page, SOC analysts can create a note with their comments. They can also call for a response action from that particular page.
Also, most of the next-gen cloud analytics vendors don't provide a common MSSP platform for the service provider to operate. That means we have to build our own analytics in front of those solutions. Sentinel has something called Lighthouse where we can query and hunt and pull all the metadata into an MSSP platform. That means multi-customer threat prioritization can be done because we have complete visibility of all our customers. We can see how an attack pattern is evolving in different verticals. Our analysts can see exactly what the top-10-priority events are from all of our customers. Even if we have a targeted vertical, such as BFSI, we can create a use case around that and apply it to a customer that has not been targeted. We can leverage multiple verticals and multiple customers and see if a new pattern is emerging around it. Those processes are very easy with Sentinel as an MSSP platform.
Because we use 75 percent of the automation possible through the platform we are able to reduce MTTA. It is also helpful that we get all the security incidents including the threat, vulnerability, and security score in one place of control. We don't have to go to one place for XDR, another for email, another for EDR, and a fourth for CASB. Another time saver is the automated investigation response playbooks that are bundled with the solution. They are available for email, EDR, and CASB. As soon as a threat is detected, they will contain it and it will give you a status of partially or fully remediated. Most of our customers have gone for 100 percent automation and remediation. These features save at least 50 percent of the time it would otherwise take.
In terms of cost savings, in addition to the savings on log-ingestion, Microsoft Sentinel uses hyperscaler features with low-tier, medium-tier, and hot storage. For customers that need long-term data storage, this is the ideal platform. If you go with Securonix or Palo Alto, you won't see cost savings. But here, they can choose how long they want to keep data in a hot tier or a low or medium tier. That also helps save a lot on costs.
What is most valuable?
It's a Big Data security analytics platform. Among the unique features is the fact that it has built-in UEBA and analytical capabilities. It allows you to use the out-of-the-box machine learning and AI capabilities, but it also allows you to bring your own AI/ML, by bringing in your own IPs and allowing the platform to accept them and run that on top of it.
In addition, the SOAR component is a pay-per-use model. Compared to any other product, where customization is not available, you can fine-tune the SOAR and you'll be charged only when your playbooks are triggered. That is the beauty of the solution because the SOAR is the costliest component in the market today. Other vendors charge heavily for the SOAR, but with Sentinel it is upside-down: the SOAR is the lowest-hanging fruit. It's the least costly and it delivers more value to the customer.
The SOAR engine also uniquely helps us to automate most of the incidents with automated enrichment and that cuts out the L1 analyst work.
And combining M365 with Sentinel, if you want to call it integration, takes just a few clicks: "next, next finish." If it is all M365-native, it is a maximum of three or four steps and you'll be able to ingest all the logs into Sentinel.
That is true even with AWS or GCP because most of the connectors are already available out-of-the-box. You just click, put in your subscription details, include your IAM, and you are finished. Within five to six steps, you can integrate AWS workloads and the logs can be ingested into Sentinel. When it comes to a third party specifically, such as log sources in a data center or on-premises, we need a log collector so that the logs can be forwarded to the Sentinel platform. And when it comes to servers or something where there is an agent for Windows or Linux, the agent can collect the logs and ship them to the Sentinel platform. I don't see any difficulties in integrating any of the log sources, even to the extent of collecting IoT log sources.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud has multiple components such as Defender for Servers, Defender for PaaS, and Defender for databases. For customers in Azure, there are a lot of use cases specific to protecting workloads and PaaS and SaaS in Azure and beyond Azure, if a customer also has on-premises locations. There is EDR for Windows and Linux servers, and it even protects different kinds of containers. With Defender for Cloud, all these sources can be seamlessly integrated and you can then track the security incidents in Microsoft's XDR platform. That means you have one more workspace, under Azure, not Defender for Cloud, where you can see the security incidents. In addition, it can be integrated with Sentinel for EDR deep-dive analytics. It can also protect workloads in AWS. We have customers for whom we are protecting their AWS workloads. Even EKS, Elastic Kubernetes Service, on AWS can be integrated, as can the GKE (Google Kubernetes Engine). And with Defender for Cloud, security alert ingestion is free
What needs improvement?
Only one thing is missing: NDR is not available out of the box. The competitive cloud-native SIEM providers have the NDR component. Currently, Sentinel needs NDR to be powered from either Corelight or some other NDR provider. It needs a third-party OEM. Other than that, it supports the entire gamut of solutions.
Also, we are helping customers build custom data-source integration. Microsoft needs to look at some strategic development on the partner front for out-of-the-box integration.
For how long have I used the solution?
We are an MSSP and we have offered Microsoft Sentinel as a service to our customers for close to one and half years. Before I joined this organization, I worked with another organization that provided Microsoft Sentinel as a service for close to one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The platform is pretty stable. I generally do not have any problems with it unless an issue arises while deploying a playbook. The platform is 98 percent stable. That other 2 percent only happens when you start working deep on customization. Out-of-the-box, everything has been tested and there aren't any problems. But when you try to create something on your own, that's where you may need Microsoft support.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
You can scale it as much as you want. There are no limitations on scaling it.
It supports multi-region environments. Even if it is a large organization with multiple regions and multiple subscriptions, it can collect the data within the regions. With GDPR, logs should stay within the country. The solution can comply with the law of the land and still serve multiple locations.
Sentinel Lighthouse is not only meant for MSSPs. A large organization with diverse geography can meet the local data-residency laws, and Lighthouse will still act as a platform to connect all the regions and provide a centralized dashboard and visibility as an organization. So it can work if the customer has only one region and if there are multiple regions. It is a unique platform.
Also, every six months they develop a lot of playbooks as well as from the marketplace, the Microsoft Sentinel Content hub. MSSPs like us can use it to create content and put it into the marketplace so that other customers or service providers can use them. Similarly, when those parties develop things, they are available to us.
Microsoft is almost too active. We receive something new to offer to our customers every month or two. We also operate Splunk and QRadar but we see a lot of activity from Microsoft compared to the other vendors. That means we have a lot of value-adds to offer to our customers. These updates do not go to the customer by default. As a service provider, that helps us. We are the enablers, and a lot of these updates are free of cost for Sentinel users.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate Microsoft technical support at five out of 10 because we have to go through a lot of steps before we get to the right technical stakeholder. They have to improve a lot.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
As an MSSP we also use Splunk, Qradar, and Micro Focus ArcSight. We added Microsoft as well because of customer demand.
Existing customers that are doing a tech refresh are going for cloud-native. Digital transformation has been the driving factor. A lot of our customers have embraced microservices and they're looking for a new-age, cloud-native SIEM to support cloud-native solutions. For most of our customers that are looking at migrating to Sentinel, the major factor is the cloud. They have moved their data center servers to AWS or GCP or Azure.
How was the initial setup?
The initial deployment is straightforward. There are only two or three methods, depending on whether it is on-premises log collection or M365 all-cloud, in which case it is API-based with out-of-the-box APIs. Within a few clicks, we can integrate it. It is simple and fast.
If we're dealing with all-M365 components and Azure components, we can complete deployment within a day. If we're dealing with the customer-log collection, it depends on the customer. There are some prerequisites required, but if the prerequisites are ready, then it takes, again, a day or so.
The number of people involved depends on the situation, but if there is not much more than out-of-the-box deployment, a maximum of two L1 engineers can complete all the activity.
What was our ROI?
From my perspective, the ROI is good because Microsoft keeps getting new things done without any additional cost. Every quarter there is at least a 10 to 15 percent increase with add-on components and content that are free. That is a type of enrichment that customers receive that they do not get from any other platform.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Microsoft gives a discount of 50 percent but only for customers that are clocking 100 GB and above. They should also look at medium and SMB customers in that regard.
There are a lot of advantages for customers with a Microsoft ecosystem. They need to know the tricks for optimizing the cost of Microsoft Sentinel. They need to work with the right service provider that can help them to go through the journey and optimize the cost.
For Microsoft security products there is a preview mode of up to six months, during which time they are non-billable. The customer is free to take that subscription and test it. If they like it, they will be billed but they have six months where they can evaluate the product and see the value. That is the best option and no other vendor gives a free preview for six months.
Other solutions will have two updates a year, maximum. And most of them are not updates to the features but are security or platform-stability updates. Microsoft is completely different. Because the platform is managed by them, they don't give platform updates. They give updates on the content that are free. They keep adding this data, which is helping customers to stay relevant and updated.
Our customers see a lot of value from that process. Some 60 to 70 percent move from preview mode to production.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
The challenge with competitive products, or any SIEM, is that they are use-case specific: You define some correlation and they will detect it. Some of the next-gen solutions today work with analytics but the analytics are limited to the logs that have been registered. Other platforms are also not able to pinpoint the inception point of the attack. Once the attack is being reviewed, they will use log sources of that particular attack and will drill down into that particular attack scenario, but they're not able to group the attack life cycle: the initiation of that attack, and the different stages of the attack. The visibility is limited when it comes to other SIEMs.
But Sentinel has something called Fusion, which can give you multi-stage attack visibility. That is not something available from other SIEM vendors. Fusion is a very special kind of detection. It will only trigger when it sees the linkage between multiple attacks detected by multiple data sources. It will try to relate all the attacks and see if there is a link between them. It gives you a complete footprint of how that attack started, how it evolved, how it is going, and which phase it is in now. It will give a complete view of the attack, and that is a missing link compared with other SIEM vendors. This is a unique feature of Microsoft Sentinel.
Sentinel's UEBA is around 90 percent effective, and the threat intel is a 10 out of 10, but it is an add-on. If a customer takes that add-on package, it will give complete threat intel and visibility into the deep and dark web. In addition, it helps a customer to track the external attack surface. It is a comprehensive threat intel platform.
The Sentinel SOAR is a 10 out of 10 and, if I could, I would rate it higher. Other SOAR platforms do not help reduce the price. A customer may not be able to use them after some time because they charge per SOC analyst. With Microsoft, there is no limitation on SOC analysts. It is purely billed based on consumption, which is a great advantage. Every customer can use it. It is free for up to 4,000 actions. Even if a customer goes to 50,000 actions per day, which is normally what a large-volume customer will do, he'll be charged $50, and no competitive SOAR vendor is in that league.
What other advice do I have?
Understand the product capabilities first and, before finalizing your product, see how we can optimize your solutions. Also, try to see a roadmap. Then plan your TCO. Other SIEMs do not give you the advantage of free log ingestion, but if you want to understand the TCO, you need to know what your organization is open to adopting. If you integrate Microsoft solutions in different places, like cloud or CASB, it is going to give you more free ingestion and your TCO is going to be reduced drastically.
Organizations that have a Microsoft E5 license have an advantage because all the Microsoft components we have talked about are free. Unfortunately, we have also witnessed that most of our customers with an E5 license are not using the product features effectively. They need to see how they can leverage these services at the next level and then start integrating with Sentinel. That will give them a better return on investment and a proper TCO.
The platform gives you the ability to do 100 percent automation, but it is up to the service provider or the customer to decide what the percentage should be. The percentage varies from organization to organization. In our organization, we are using 75 percent of the automation before it reaches a SOC analyst. At a certain point, we want to see our SOC Analyst intervene. We want to do that remaining 25 percent manually, where the analyst can call for further responses.
Threat intelligence, in my opinion, is not generally going to work in a predictive mode. It is more a case of enrichment and indicators of compromise. It can only help in direction and correlation, but may not take you to a predictive mode, except if we talk about external attack surface management. The threat intel feed is going to give you an indicator of compromise and that will help you to be proactive but not predictive.
Whereas the external attack surface management and deep and dark web monitoring will monitor all your public assets. If a hacker is doing something in your public-facing assets, it will give a proactive alert that suspicious activities are happening in those assets. That will help my SOC analysts to be predictive, even before an attack happens. If somebody is trying brute force, that's where the predictive comes into play. The deep and dark web monitoring will help to monitor my brand and my domain. If hackers discuss my critical assets or my domain within a dark web chat, this intel can pick that up. In that case, they can say something predictively and that they are planning for an attack on your assets.
In terms of going with a best-of-breed strategy rather than a single vendor's security suite, customers need to be smart. Every smart solution keeps its intelligence within the solution. If the landscape includes email, web, EDR, et cetera, at a bare minimum there are eight different attack surfaces and everyone can have different controls. A SOC analyst will have to manage eight different consoles and have eight unique skill sets with deep knowledge of each product. So although individual solutions bring a lot of things to the table, the customer is not able to use those features 100 percent. We are failing when we go with individual products. An individual product may be more capable, but an organization will not be able to use the product effectively. The silos of intelligence, the number of different consoles, and the right skill sets to apply to each product are problems.
In addition, attacks are evolving and the software is evolving along with them. A product vendor may release some new features but the customer won't have the right skill set internally to understand them and apply them.
But with a single-vendor situation like Microsoft, the SOC analyst has nowhere else to go. It is one XDR platform. All the policies, all the investigation, and everything they need to apply is right in one place. There are also more Microsoft-Certified resources in the market, people who are certified in all the Microsoft products. All of a sudden, my skill set problem is solved and there is no need to look at multiple consoles, and the silos of intelligence are also solved. All three pain points are resolved.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Threat Detection Engineer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees
Fast with good visibility and automation capabilities
Pros and Cons
- "The solution offers a lot of data on events. It helps us create specific detection strategies."
- "Not all information shows up in Sentinel. Sometimes there are items provided in 365 and if you looked in Sentinel you would not see them and therefore think they do not exist. There can be discrepancies between Microsoft tools."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for security purposes, to record events, and generate alerts, so that our security team can review the items and take proper action.
We work jointly with an MSSP, we have about 14 people working on a 24/7 schedule, around 25 people might use our Sentinel workspace regularly, and more than 40 people benefit directly from the output of this solution.
How has it helped my organization?
With Microsoft Sentinel we have detected threats in early stages of an attack through custom detection rules, helping us prevent escalation and further compromise.
Sentinel has provided visibility of administration events, which allows us to audit security processes and discover misconfigurations and errors.
Using Sentinel we have definitely saved time in our detection and response efforts.
What is most valuable?
Microsoft Sentinel as a SIEM uses KQL (Kusto Query Language) in their detection rules, which is an optimized query language with some really powerful functions. Generally SIEM vendors use different query languages. KQL queries can use complex logic and be executed in a few seconds, which would not be possible or may take up several minutes in other SIEMs, and now some vendors are trying to implement their own version of KQL.
Sentinel provides us with good visibility of threats. The different kinds of logs it ingests are good as long as the log sources are correct. It can integrate some out-of-the-box log sources in a short time, and log data fields are usually very complete. We don't have experience integrating custom log sources, but it should be possible.
Out-of-the-box log sources have the same data structure in all Sentinel workspaces, which allows queries and detection rules to be shared easily between Sentinel customers. We could rapidly adapt to a new threat with public detection rules created by Microsoft or other security professionals.
We work with Microsoft Sentinel and other Microsoft security solutions like Defender. We've integrated all of them together easily from their web portals. As long as you have the right privileges, integrating these solutions might be as simple as a click. Microsoft security solutions work natively together to deliver coordinated detection and response, which is important to us.
Sentinel allows us to ingest data from our entire ecosystem, wether it might be an on-prem or cloud service. It allows us to correlate different data tables, to create complex threat detections, and to investigate holistically across our infrastructure.
I like the automation portion of the product, it helps us automate routine tasks. We have created some automation playbooks in Microsoft Sentinel, however, in our environment these are not specific to security tasks.
What needs improvement?
Microsoft Sentinel has a lot of out-of-the-box detection rules. Many of these rules have not been tested, they may execute but they have errors or do not work as expected. Due to this I've made more than 80 requests for modifications in Microsoft Sentinel public repository. If you want to ensure that Sentinel detection works, you need to review the logic of the detection rules one by one, and this shouldn't be the case.
Sentinel does not seem to have rules by default that check and notify of execution errors. I have had to create custom rules to detect when a log source or automation rule stops working as expected.
There can be discrepancies between Microsoft tools. Not all information appears in Sentinel. Sometimes there are items provided in Microsoft 365 Defender that you could search for in Sentinel and you would not find them and therefore assume they do not exist.
The solution is powerful but it can be expensive. Other solutions that are on-premises should be cheaper.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for more than three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is largely stable but not completely. I have had issues with some log sources that stop being ingested or are delayed, and also with automation rules not responding to incidents. Sometimes automation rules stop working intermittently, and this issue might happen during a month or two, and then they go back to working as expected without being notified of any issue by Microsoft.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is excellent, Sentinel has some limits regarding the amount of ingested data and enabled Sentinel resources, but these limits exist for extreme cases, which our workspace and organization are not even close to.
I'd rate it ten out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
I've opened many support tickets. When you open a support ticket, it will typically be resolved within the first interaction. And they've solved all of my support tickets quite quickly. Even if I have made a mistake when opening support tickets, it's always been a positive experience.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I've used a few different solutions, including ArcSight, LogRhythm, and QRadar.
I don't have much insight into ArcSight.
LogRhythm did not let me create complex detection rules.
With QRadar, when we are looking at queries, they can be slow. However, IBM is trying to create its own KQL implementation for QRadar in order to make them faster.
But I don't have the same level of administration experience with these tools than with Sentinel.
How was the initial setup?
We had some cloud engineers who created our instance on Azure. They enabled the connectors for some out-of-the-box log sources, and created other kinds of neccesary resources, specially to connect on-premises resources to Sentinel. We did not have issues that didn't depend directly on us.
At first we enabled all the detection rules we could, without deeply inspecting them, we assumed they would work. We would not take this approach again, detection rules should be reviewed and enabled one by one.
Maintenance is minimal. It's all on the cloud. If something does not work as expected, we open a support ticket. Since the tool is supported by Microsoft, you are paying them to also maintain it, basically.
What about the implementation team?
Our implementation was handled in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I would recommend to check regularly for deviations or unexpected surges of ingested events, which will affect the cost. I do not directly handle the pricing portion of the solution. There is a calculator in Azure that helps you estimate the cost.
What other advice do I have?
It's ideal to go with a best-in-breed strategy rather than a single vendor. You need to know what is available in the market. Companies should be free to use any security tool that they consider to fit their needs.
For companies considering Sentinel, they need to ensure a threat detection engineer will be available to manage their detection rules, you shouldn't enable all of them blindly. You may get value from Microsoft Sentinel, however, you need to continuously invest time and ensure everything is set up and working as expected.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
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.
Owner at Expert IT Solutions
Automation enables me to provide security operations to my clients
Pros and Cons
- "The standout feature of Sentinel is that, because it's cloud-based and because it's from Microsoft, it integrates really well with all the other Microsoft products. It's really simple to set up and get going."
- "Given that I am in the small business space, I wish they would make it easier to operate Sentinel without being a Sentinel expert. Examples of things that could be easier are creating alerts and automations from scratch and designing workbooks."
What is our primary use case?
I'm an IT consultant, and I use Sentinel with two of my clients to monitor all their security signals and get alerts when things are happening that might be suspicious.
How has it helped my organization?
The fact that the solution helps automate routine tasks and the finding of high-value alerts has made it possible for me to provide security operations. If I didn't have automation, I wouldn't be able to do that. Nobody is going to pay me to sit and stare at a screen for eight hours a day. But with the automation built in to let me know about and fix things, it becomes viable. The automations have an email option, and all the alerts show up as emails in my inbox. I'm busy with other things, and I'm not looking at Sentinel all day. And the automation in those emails is available to deal with things automatically. Automation is incredibly important.
Sentinel gives me one XDR dashboard. In terms of security operations, it's improved them and makes it easy for me to do my job.
It saves my clients time, on the order of 30 percent.
It also saves costs for me and my clients. If we didn't have Sentinel in place, and they were to get compromised, it could cost them tens of thousands of dollars due to ransomware, a BEC scam, or another type of attack. Without Sentinel in place, that could be a very big cost.
And it decreases the time it takes to detect and respond by days, if not weeks.
What is most valuable?
My clients are small businesses, and mine is also a small business. Traditionally, even the concept of using a SIEM in most small businesses was unheard of. It was an on-premises product, and you needed to install servers, and most normal IT consultants wouldn't even look at it because it would be very complex for them. The standout feature of Sentinel is that, because it's cloud-based and because it's from Microsoft, it integrates really well with all the other Microsoft products. It's really simple to set up and get going. You don't have to set up a server or do a lot of configuring and setting up storage. It just lives in the cloud, you turn it on, and connecting most things to it is really easy.
It's fantastic when it comes to integration with other Microsoft products. It's so easy. I've been in IT for 30 years, and integrating products was, up until a few years ago, something we would never want to do. It was so hard, we wouldn't want to touch it. We would have to write custom code and configure things. It was just horrible. Now, it's literally a couple of sliders in the interface, and you're done.
And once these solutions are integrated, they work natively together to deliver coordinated detection and response across my clients' environments. I follow this space very closely, but I am not an expert in any other solution. Still, at least for my clients, with the threats they are facing and the alerts we get from the real world, Sentinel's detection and response are very comprehensive.
Sentinel enables you to ingest data from the entire ecosystem. I have integrated some non-Microsoft products with Sentinel, and, predictably, it's not as simple as one click because these are third-party products. But it is definitely quite easy. For cloud products and services, it's still very simple. It might be three or four clicks. But for on-premises products, it's a bit more work.
My clients also use Defender for Cloud, and its bi-directional sync capabilities are very important. It makes things much easier.
Sentinel provides a clear view into the threats that are coming in, and, compared to what I had before, it is night and day. I heard somebody say on a podcast, "The solution we had prior to Sentinel was like a dark room and you had a torch, and you could shine the torch in different directions and see some things. Having Sentinel, combined with Microsoft 365 Defender, the XDR solution, is like turning on the lights and seeing everything." I completely agree. That's exactly what it feels like.
Another incredibly important factor is the solution's ability to investigate threats and respond holistically from one place. Again, as a small business, I wouldn't have the time and energy to look in several different places. I need one place where it all shows up, and that's what Sentinel provides.
And with built-in SOAR, UEBA, and threat intelligence, the comprehensiveness of Sentinel's security protection is good.
What needs improvement?
Given that I am in the small business space, I wish they would make it easier to operate Sentinel without being a Sentinel expert. Examples of things that could be easier are creating alerts and automations from scratch and designing workbooks. All of those are available as templates and community-produced content, but doing all that from scratch and keeping it up-to-date, is not easy. Because I have lots of other things on my plate, it would really improve things for me if they would make it more accessible for small businesses and non-experts.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Sentinel since it was in public preview, so that's at least three and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a very stable solution—rock-solid.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's also very scalable.
How are customer service and support?
I have only ever contacted them about Sentinel once, but I have certainly dealt with Microsoft support in various ways. Their response time is pretty good. But they have a difficult time providing good support, at the level that would cause me to give them a higher score than six out of 10, because things change so fast. And it's so much wider than it used to be 10 years ago. There's so much to cover, and that's difficult for them.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We used ESET for one client, but it wasn't a SIEM, it was just endpoint protection. We replaced that with Defender for Endpoint, Defender for Identity, Defender for Cloud Apps, and Sentinel. It's not an apples-to-apples comparison.
How was the initial setup?
The initial deployment is very straightforward. It took me four or five hours to set it up.
The product itself, obviously, does not require maintenance, but the alerts and rules require work.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Sentinel is fairly priced and pretty cost-effective. Compared to on-premises solutions, Sentinel is very cost-effective.
It's certainly possible, if you're not careful about what you connect, to shoot yourself in the foot by ending up with large data sources being ingested that cost you a fair bit of money. You do need to think about what data sources you actually need, which ones will lead to the detection of actual attackers, and how much of that data you need. You also have to consider how you're going to store it, because Sentinel has different levels. You don't have to store it all in the expensive "this will give me alerts" tiers. But, as I said, my clients are small businesses. They certainly don't have a budget for anything expensive, and they're very happy with the costs.
What other advice do I have?
Do a proof of concept. It's really easy to set up and get started. You don't have to turn everything on to start. Do a small proof of concept, get familiar with it, and you'll see how easy it is.
Does it help prioritize threats across the enterprise? The short answer is, "Yes, it does." The slightly longer answer is that it is not a set-and-forget solution. And no SIEM is. You do need to configure Sentinel and fine-tune it. I have a calendar reminder every two weeks to go back in and make sure the right analytics rules are in place and change the ones that need changing, et cetera. It does prioritize threats, but it's not an automatic process that you never have to worry about again.
Sentinel's threat intelligence doesn't really help with proactive steps. The threat intelligence has indicators of compromise, such as IP addresses, URLs, and file hashes. They get detected, but that's not really proactive. Perhaps it's "proactive" in the sense that somebody else has figured out that those things are bad and let the system know. But Microsoft 365 Defender does the proactive part because it has threat intelligence in it. It will tell you, "A new threat that we have a report on seems to be targeting your type of client." That's proactive, but Sentinel isn't proactive. Meaning, if you read about a threat and then protect yourself before that threat reaches you, Sentinel doesn't really do that.
In the debate about best-of-breed versus a single-vendor security solution, if you pick best-of-breed individual security solutions and you have to integrate them, now you're an integrator. And that is hard. It's not easy to integrate different security products. And that's why, at least for my clients, Sentinel and Microsoft 365 Defender have been a huge shift. They're so easy to integrate. My clients could license separate products and then try to integrate them to get the same level of integration, but that would never work.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Information Security Analyst at a tech vendor with 201-500 employees
Valuable threat hunting, user-friendly dashboard, and helps prioritize threats
Pros and Cons
- "The dashboard that allows me to view all the incidents is the most valuable feature."
- "I believe one of the challenges I encountered was the absence of live training sessions, even with the option to pay for them."
What is our primary use case?
Every day, I log into Microsoft Sentinel to check the logs. I start by checking the incidents and analyzing them. If I need to create an automatic rule, I do so. If the logic needs to be changed, I make the necessary adjustments. I am responsible for managing Microsoft Sentinel for our organization.
How has it helped my organization?
For our organization, Microsoft Sentinel helps us prioritize threats across most of our environment because we have not yet fully integrated the solution into all aspects of our operations. Currently, we are working on integrating mutual source AWS into Sentinel, which will provide us with more visibility. Apart from that, there is already a lot of visibility in case of any failures or anyone attempting large deployments across other companies or similar activities. Additionally, if someone attempts to use login information from a different location, it becomes apparent, as it is impossible to travel that quickly. Sentinel covers almost everything.
We are using Microsoft Office 365 for email security in our environment. Our infrastructure engineers have integrated Microsoft Office 365 with Sentinel. When we view the old connectors in the application, it mentions Microsoft Office 365. Currently, it also indicates this in terms of firmware.
Microsoft Sentinel can enable us to ingest data from our entire ecosystem. However, since we are currently receiving services from an external source, we are not integrating the tool right now. That's why we are looking for another tool that we can integrate with Microsoft Sentinel. Once we do that, I believe we will be able to see everything, including any malware-related issues, as well as other security and licensing concerns.
The ingestion of data into our security operations is of utmost importance. If we are not monitoring whether people are sending large documents to other companies, how will we realize it? We don't have any other tool for that. Of course, we have email security and EDR, which cover some aspects, but some of them are not effective or are too basic. Unlike them, Microsoft Sentinel is comprehensive. It records everything: every click, download, login, and search. Therefore, it is a necessary tool for our operations.
Microsoft Sentinel allows us to investigate threats and respond quickly from a unified dashboard. A couple of months ago, there was a concern with the AWS environment, and our director asked us to identify any relevant code-related alerts originating from the environment. Since we didn't have the rules at that time, I looked into the recommended analytics section, which turned out to be quite straightforward. When we write Python or work with any logs, cells, or Java-related elements, Microsoft Sentinel provides us with insights and a logical approach to integrating our environment. During my investigation, I discovered some configurations related to the Python code, and it appears to be functioning well now.
Microsoft Sentinel's built-in SOAR, UEBA, and threat intelligence capabilities work well and are further enhanced with the addition of a firewall for added protection.
Before our organization implemented Microsoft Sentinel, we only had an email security DLP solution and some other tools. While we could see the logs on our computer, they were often presented in a confusing manner, appearing like gibberish to us. However, with the introduction of Sentinel, we can now interpret and make sense of that information.
When I joined the organization, they were already in the process of implementing Microsoft Sentinel. However, I am familiar with other integrations with Sentinel, such as AWS, and the integration is not difficult. We simply create the necessary resources, and everything is well-documented, which is a huge plus. We can access all the information online, both in the AWS part and in Microsoft Sentinel. So, I believe it's not rocket science.
It helps automate routine tasks and aids in identifying high-value alerts. We have automated the tool to receive critical or high alerts and send us messages accordingly. This automation is currently active. Whenever a high alert is generated, it comes through direct messages. Even during non-working hours, I receive these alerts on my phone immediately. If it's an important alert, I can respond promptly. We had an incident where I had to work on weekends due to such an alert. However, if I'm not using the tool or haven't activated it, I generally don't turn on the computer after work hours. So, this feature has been beneficial for us. Some months ago, there was a Microsoft bug that created false positive alerts for every clean link, including company links. We made modifications to the alerts, and now we no longer receive those unnecessary alerts.
It helps eliminate the need to look at multiple dashboards by providing us with just one XDR dashboard. We no longer have to go to other places. However, there are instances when we receive alerts about failing servers, and we can't check them using Sentinel; instead, we have to use Azure Active Directory. It's not Sentinel's fault, and checking through Azure Active Directory is not difficult, but we still have to go somewhere else.
Sentinel's threat intelligence assists us in preparing for potential threats before they strike, allowing us to take necessary precautions. My weekly routine includes dedicating at least two hours to the accounting part. I am constantly searching for any threats in our environment that may have gone unnoticed. So far, I haven't found anything, but I'm always vigilant because we can never be entirely certain that there are no threats.
We have been enabled to save a significant amount of time. The log files consist of hundreds of pages, and to review them, we need to possess networking knowledge to identify the specific case. Without knowing what we are searching for, it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Sentinel migrates the logs and presents the visual information in a user-friendly manner, which has proven to be a time-saving solution for us.
Sentinel saves money by reducing the number of people required to monitor the alerts. For example, if there are normally 50 alerts per week, fine-tuning reduces them to just one.
Microsoft Sentinel helps decrease our time to detect and time to resolve. Sentinel provides a brief introduction to the events occurring in the environment when someone is causing instability in the AWS environment. Sentinel precisely identifies the issue and offers a link for accessing more information about the situation.
What is most valuable?
The dashboard that allows me to view all the incidents is the most valuable feature. Threat hunting is also valuable. Sentinel has a Microsoft framework, so we can experiment with numerous queries. There are almost 500 queries available that we can utilize based on our environment.
What needs improvement?
I believe one of the challenges I encountered was the absence of live training sessions, even with the option to pay for them. Microsoft insists that all information is available in the documentation, which I must admit is quite comprehensive and helpful. However, for someone without a coding background, learning solely from the documents can be challenging at times. It would be much easier to learn if there were practical exercises and instructional videos available. This aspect bothered me significantly. While I did come across a course, my preference was to access it through Sentinel since they are already providing us with their services. Having the team trained up would undoubtedly streamline my job and save a considerable amount of time.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Microsoft Sentinel for one year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have not had any scalability issues with Microsoft Sentinel.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Microsoft Sentinel is scalable. We can add as many services as we want, and Microsoft automatically increases the capacity by adding memory and storage.
How are customer service and support?
I have used technical support many times. Sometimes, I have a really hard time understanding them. I am not sure if they are calling from India, but there was background noise at times. However, they are really helpful, even though they seem a bit indifferent. They frequently inquire whether we have addressed the issue and if it has been resolved—quite a lot, actually.
In a company, we are often very busy. They expect us to address the issues immediately, but sometimes it can take months. So, I inform them that I will follow up. They can be a little pushy, which is understandable from their perspective, but for us, it can be challenging because we have many other tasks to handle. Sentinel is just one of my priorities, and there are a lot of other things I need to take care of. That's why sometimes we need time, but to their credit, they are always responsive. Whenever we ask them a question, they promptly provide a response.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I had previously used Kibana, which is quite different from Microsoft Sentinel. When I used Microsoft Sentinel for the first time, I realized that this was the ideal solution. Microsoft Sentinel is user-friendly, unlike Kibana, which I found difficult to install and not very user-friendly. Microsoft Sentinel, on the other hand, is incredibly user-friendly, making it easy for everyone to understand and learn how to use it. It is a straightforward solution to comprehend.
What other advice do I have?
I give Microsoft Sentinel a nine out of ten.
We are currently evaluating Microsoft Defender and CrowdStrike in our environment to determine which one is a better fit. As for Defender, I cannot claim to have a complete understanding of it since it's in a testing environment. I can monitor people's devices, but I have not yet received any alerts generated by the devices. It has only been around ten days.
I am responsible for creating documentation for all of our implementations, while other teams handle the infrastructure portion.
Maintenance is minimal for Microsoft Sentinel. There is a check button in the house. Sometimes I go there because we occasionally find that some things are not working properly. So we have to go there and address the issue, but it is not a common occurrence. Maybe it happens, like, three times a year which is not bad.
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?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Real Time Operation Engineer at Eftech
Great interface, good automation capabilities, and nice workflows
Pros and Cons
- "Sentinel has reduced the work involved in the event investigation by quite a lot."
- "From a client perspective, they'd like to see more cost savings."
What is our primary use case?
We require a comprehensive, scalable solution for cyber threat protection.
What is most valuable?
The interface is simple. It was easy to click through and to refer back and assess things.
We can do frequent training sessions so that people or end users are able to get used to the system.
Microsoft Defender is proven to be able to incorporate with this product. We also utilize the Power BI dashboard. We wanted to monitor the logins. It's helpful for threat investigations. We're able to use the session queue report to identify the frameworks having issues.
The workflow is quite smart. Incidents alerts can be generated automatically. It has good automation capabilities and that helps us respond to incidents quickly.
Sentinel provide our customers with a unified set of tools to detect, investigate, and respond to incidents. It's actually a part of Defender. It's unified within the operating platform. This allows for the mobility of the end user.
Our customers use Sentinel to help secure hybrid cloud and multi-cloud environments. We do have a limited amount of space. Out of ten or so clients, five or six have adopted a cloud protection system.
We can use it with Microsoft Athena and we can manage compliance and see logs for analytics. Sentinel can correlate signals from first and third party sources into a single high-confidence incident. Since the process is automated, it makes our response times faster. This saves the team's time.
We do make use of the solution's AI capabilities. The machine learning is very mature. Its machine learning has been very good overall. It's also something that enhances response times and threat analysis.
It's provided us with improved visibility into user and network behavior.
Sentinel has reduced the work involved in the event investigation by quite a lot.
What needs improvement?
From a client perspective, they'd like to see more cost savings. I'm not sure if Sentinel gives a POC for free.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable. We haven't received any complaints and haven't had outages.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is easily scalable. Of course, we do have to do due diligence with our Oracle system architecture.
How are customer service and support?
We have an SLA that says there will be a receiving engineer that will respond if the system is down. Technical support is great. They might have different tiers of service.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
I did not personally deploy the product. I just work with it.
There is some maintenance. We do have a resident engineer that's certified on troubleshooting.
What about the implementation team?
We have a technical partner that helps with deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is less expensive than an APM option. If the client wants to have a complete solution that covers the whole big organization, a good option will be going with Microsoft Sentinel. For the features it has, the price is justified.
What other advice do I have?
We are an SSI system integrator.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
For those interested in adopting the solution, I'd suggest looking at the costing and billing and ensuring you have the budget and maybe doing a POC for 45 days or two months so that they can really experience the product.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: integrator
IT Senior Systems Administrator at Dubai Developments
Provides excellent log analysis but isn't the most user-friendly
Pros and Cons
- "The log analysis is excellent; it can predict what can or will happen regarding use patterns and vulnerabilities."
- "The solution could be more user-friendly; some query languages are required to operate it."
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for analyzing logs, such as those from Azure AD. We have it integrated with Microsoft 365 and plan to integrate it with our firewalls so we can analyze those logs too. So, our main uses are for log analysis and to check for vulnerabilities in our system.
We use more than one Microsoft security product; we also use Defender for Cloud.
How has it helped my organization?
Sentinel helps us to prioritize threats across our enterprise.
The solution reduced our time to detect and respond.
What is most valuable?
The log analysis is excellent; it can predict what can or will happen regarding use patterns and vulnerabilities.
Sentinel provides good visibility into threats.
The product enables us to investigate threats and respond holistically from one place, and that's important to us.
Given the solution's built-in SOAR, UEBA, and threat intelligence capabilities, it provides reasonably good comprehensive protection, and we are happy with it.
Sentinel helps us automate routine tasks and find high-value alerts; the playbooks are beneficial and allow us to optimize automation.
The tool helped eliminate multiple dashboards and gave us one XDR dashboard. Having one dashboard is the reason we purchased Sentinel.
Sentinel's threat intelligence helps us prepare for potential threats before they hit and to take proactive steps. It helps a lot, and that's another main reason we have the product.
What needs improvement?
The solution could be more user-friendly; some query languages are required to operate it.
A welcome improvement would be integrations with more products and connectors.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using the solution for over a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Sentinel is a scalable product.
How are customer service and support?
Microsoft support is good, I rate them seven out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We didn't previously use another solution of this type; when we moved to Azure, Sentinel was one of the products Microsoft recommended, so we started using it.
How was the initial setup?
I was involved in the deployment of Sentinel, but my colleague did the majority. The setup was basic; some query language is required to implement it fully, and we could improve our configurations. Our implementation strategy was to cover the major products first, including Office 365 and Azure AD. We did that, and we're now adding the other tools we use in our environment.
Our setup is not particularly expansive, so we can deal with the maintenance requirements within our team; it only requires one team member. Our team consists of three or four admins; we manage the Azure AD logs, and Azure AD has 400 users.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is reasonable, and we think Sentinel is worth what we pay for it.
One of the main reasons we switched from on-prem to Azure Cloud was to save money, but at the same time, we kept adding on features and spent a lot doing so. We're now looking at cost optimization and removing unnecessary elements, as one of our primary goals is to reduce costs. I'm unsure if we are, but we are trying to get there.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the solution seven out of ten.
Sentinel allows us to ingest data from our entire ecosystem, though we are attempting to integrate all our products. It can ingest and analyze all the data, but we aren't using this functionality to its fullest extent yet.
My advice to someone considering the product is to use it. Start by integrating your primary applications, then slowly move on to others in descending order of importance.
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.

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Updated: May 2025
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