Microsoft will make it easier for businesses to take care of cyber security: 2 new services have been introduced

 

Microsoft is introducing a new and expanded line of its managed cybersecurity services for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The new Microsoft Security Experts combines expert-engineered technology with human-powered services, helping a customer expand their security team or partnering with them to take full control of their cybersecurity.

The company also introduced a standalone version of Microsoft Defender for Business that provides malware protection for SMBs. The service includes endpoint detection and response capabilities to help protect against ransomware and other sophisticated security threats.

Technology alone is not enough

As cyber security threats have increased at an alarming rate in recent years, experts estimate that every year until 2025 cyber crimes in the world will cause damage for 10.5 trillion. US dollars. For comparison, in 2021 these crimes cost the world 6 trillion, and a decade ago - 3 trillion. US dollars.

However, as the scale of attacks increases, so must the defense against them. Last year, Microsoft Security blocked more than 9.6 billion malware and 35.7 billion phishing and other malicious e-mails. Microsoft Security is also actively tracking more than 35 ransomware families, 250 unique attack operators and criminal cybercriminals. It is estimated that Microsoft technologies prevent 900 password thefts worldwide every second.

Unfortunately, advanced technology alone is not enough to fight cybercrime. Although various technological solutions are critically important, effective protection is determined by a combination of several factors - leading technologies, threat research and highly qualified professionals. For example, in the US labor market there is an extreme shortage of specialists with knowledge of cyber security - one out of three job positions in this field remains unfilled. As a result, companies are turning to security services to outsource the maintenance of their security systems or to bolster their internal cyber defense teams.

New category of services

Noticing this increased demand, Microsoft has expanded the capabilities of its existing services by introducing a new category called Microsoft Security Experts. It combines expert-engineered technology with human-powered services to help organizations achieve better performance in security, compliance, identity, governance and privacy.

With input from Microsoft's experienced partner ecosystem, the corporation has developed three new managed services that can help expand teams of experts that meet customer needs without the need to recruit and train them.

• Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting is designed for customers who have a strong security operations center but want Microsoft to proactively help them search for threats in the information collected by Microsoft Defender, including Office 365, cloud applications, and identity. Microsoft experts will investigate all sources available to them and provide contextual alert information and remediation instructions so that the company can quickly prevent threats.
• Meanwhile, Microsoft Defender Experts for XDR is for those looking to strengthen their security operations center. Defender Experts for XDR is a managed advanced detection and response (XDR) service that not only can detect endpoints, but also enables threat detection and response across Microsoft 365 Defender. In order to be able to respond to incidents as efficiently as possible together with the company team, alert research, automated solutions and human competences are used.
• Microsoft Security Services for Enterprise was created for large enterprises looking for more comprehensive and even more personalized solutions managed by Microsoft experts. This comprehensive, expert-driven service combines proactive threat scanning with advanced threat detection and response (XDR), leveraging Microsoft's full security information and event management (SIEM) and XDR suite to protect the entire cloud environments and platforms. Dedicated Microsoft security experts manage logins, day-to-day interactions, modernization and incident response on behalf of the customer.

Protection against known and unknown hazards

Another Microsoft service for small and medium-sized businesses is Microsoft Defender for Business. It provides enterprises with layered protection, detections and responses to help protect against and prevent known and unknown security threats.

Defender for Business Threat and Vulnerability Management helps you focus on the vulnerabilities that pose the highest risk and greatest risk to your business. The service enables you to proactively build a secure foundation for your environment using detections and prioritization, as well as fixing software vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.

• Meanwhile, options for reducing the scope of the attack help to reduce the attack surface, that is, those places where the company's systems are vulnerable to cyber attacks, incl. all devices and applications. This effectively reduces the number of ways hackers can launch attacks.
• Microsoft's new business solution also offers next-generation anti-virus and anti-malware protection across devices and the cloud.
• In addition, Endpoint Detection and Response provides behavior-based detection and response alerts so you can easily identify persistent threats and remove them from your environment.
• Finally, Defender for Business features automated investigation and remediation that helps extend security operations by investigating alerts and taking immediate action when a customer experiences an attack. By reducing the number of alerts and eliminating threats, Defender for Business allows customers to prioritize tasks and focus on more complex threats.