Microsoft is releasing a new service category it calls Microsoft Security Experts, a new line of managed security solutions that combines advanced technology with human-led services to help customers become more secure, including threat hunting services, investigations and more.
The Redmond, Wash.-based IT giant says it hopes to deliver this new category of services across security, compliance, identity, management and privacy, starting with new and expanded security services.
The new offering includes Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting, a service for customers with a “robust security operations center (SOC),” but still want Microsoft to help them proactively hunt for threats using data from Microsoft Defender from endpoints, Office 365, cloud applications and identity. The service, available this summer, will see Microsoft experts conducting investigations into any irregularities and handing off the contextual alert information and remediation instructions so IT and security can respond.
Customers can consult the company about a specific incident, nation-state actor or attack vector and get specific recommendations to help them understand and improve their security posture, according to a Microsoft blog penned by Vasu Jakkal, the company’s corporate vice president of security, compliance, identity and management.
The new group of services also includes Microsoft Defender Experts for XDR, an offering for customers who need to extend the capacity of their SOC and extend detection and response (XDR) beyond endpoints and across Microsoft 365 Defender. This includes investigating alerts and using automation and human expertise to respond to incidents alongside the customer’s security team.
According to Jakkal, the customer stays in control to keep costs low and reduce noise and manual processes. Defender Experts for XDR will move into preview this fall, Jakkal adds.
For larger enterprises looking for more comprehensive, high-tough managed services from Microsoft, the company is also releasing Microsoft Security Services for Enterprise, an expert-led service that combines proactive threat hunting and managed detection and response and leverages Microsoft security information and event management and XDR stack to protect cloud environments and platforms.
According to the company, the enterprise-focused service will include Microsoft security experts to manage onboarding, daily interactions, practice modernization and incident response. The service is available now through a custom statement of work.
Also becoming part of the Microsoft Security Experts portfolio of services are existing security services the company already offers, including Security Services for Incident Response and Security Services for Modernization.
Jakkal says the company is committed to working with its ecosystem of partners ad technologies to deliver some of these services, including more than 300 members of its Microsoft Intelligence Security Association and its more than 100 service partners.
In addition, Microsoft will be making an “incremental multimillion-dollar financial investment” in its managed detection and response partner community this year to expand the company’s integration with its partners and create new go-to-market opportunities.
That relationship will include a managed detection and response designation and co-marketing benefits, co-sell benefits for partners and new APIs to help give partners access to Microsoft threat intelligence.
“Wherever you are in your security journey, Microsoft Security Experts will meet you there, whether you need additional security expertise, help with specific technologies, or guidance in navigating new security challenges,” Jakkal writes. “Leveraging industry-leading technology, the best defenders from Microsoft and our partner community, and the most comprehensive threat intelligence in the world, we can build a safer world for everyone, together.”
If you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our digital newsletters!
Leave a Reply