More Efficient and More Secure? Inside Microsoft’s Evolving Cyber Security Catalog

More Efficient and More Secure? Inside Microsoft’s Evolving Cyber Security Catalog

Change is in the air for Microsoft’s cyber security portfolio. Beginning at last fall’s all-virtual Ignite conference, the company embraced a mission to help organizations more efficiently navigate and deploy its security catalog. We reached out to our in-house Microsoft experts to learn more about these changes and what they could mean for organizations eager to better their cyber security posture in the new year.

Up first, back at Ignite, Microsoft announced a wholesale rebrand of its security catalog. Billed as more than a cosmetic change, Microsoft saw this as a chance to simplify its naming conventions to better enable organizations to find the solutions they needed to keep users and their on premises infrastructure safe. This meant ditching the “Advanced Threat Protection” moniker in favor of more widespread adoption of the Microsoft Defender brand (itself launched in 2019 as a refresh of Windows Defender). Here’s an outline of what this change looks like:     

  • Microsoft Threat Protection, the company’s high-end enterprise infrastructure security suite, became Microsoft 365 Defender 
  • Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, its endpoint and forensics solution, became Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
  • Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection, the company’s email and phishing security offering, transformed into Microsoft Defender for Office 365
  • Azure Advanced Threat Protection, its identity authentication solution, became Microsoft Defender for Identity

On the topic of name changes, it’s also worth noting that Microsoft’s cloud and hybrid infrastructure offerings underwent a rebranding of their own:

  • Azure Security Center Standard Edition, which brings threat detection and advanced defenses to Windows and Linux machines, became Azure Defender for Servers
  • Azure Security Center for IoT, which provides holistic threat detection for IoT/OT environments, became Azure Defender for IoT
  • Advanced Threat Protection for SQL, which detects advanced threats targeting SQL machines, became Azure Defender for SQL 

Fast-tracking your way to greater cyber security 

Not content to leave its transformative efforts in 2020, Microsoft has continued to revise its security catalog into the new year. Back in January, the company announced that its newly re-named end user and on premises infrastructure security offerings would be entering the FastTrack.   

Microsoft’s FastTrack program connects eligible organizations with expert-level resources to ensure efficient and optimized rollouts of select solutions. This support can come either directly from Microsoft or from a strategic partner like Arraya. The latter option combines a high-degree of knowledge about the Microsoft solution in question and a pre-existing familiarity with an organization’s unique IT footprint. FastTrack already covered cornerstone technologies such as Windows 10 and Microsoft 365 applications, putting the Microsoft 365 Defender series in elite company.

Next Steps: Lean on a security partner who knows you and your environment

To be eligible for inclusion in FastTrack, an organization must have at least 150 Microsoft 365 licenses. If your organization fits the bill or would like to learn more about Microsoft’s transforming cyber security catalog, Arraya’s team can help. As a Microsoft FastTrack partner, we can help you deploy and optimize Microsoft solutions that more than deliver on their initial promise. Reach out to our team of experts today to strike up a conversation.

Visit https://www.arrayasolutions.com//contact-us/ to connect with our team now.

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