New attack vectors and sophisticated delivery have placed organisations of every size at increased risk of cyber-attack, and smaller businesses remain prime targets for exploit. 82% of ransomware attacks target businesses with under 1,000 employees, but these organisations often lack the skills and resources needed to deploy protections that secure them against emerging threats. Additionally, many security solutions are geared towards larger organisations seeing that cost and complexity become blockers to implementation for smaller business.
In the face of this challenge, these organisations must find ways to deploy the same level of protection as enterprises within the confines of strict budgets and limited resource. This is exactly why Microsoft has created Microsoft Defender for Business to help smaller organisations achieve resilience without breaking the bank. Designed for organisations with up to 300 employees, Defender for Business delivers genuine enterprise-grade security that is optimised for their needs.
What does Microsoft Defender for Business offer?
Available with Microsoft 365 Business Premium, or as a standalone solution, Defender for Business delivers a range of important security capabilities that enable smaller businesses to deploy more sophisticated protection. This includes tools and functionality beyond what is currently available as part of the existing Defender for Endpoint Plan 1. Here’s a summary of what is included:
- Attack Surface Reduction: Cybercriminals are looking to expand the threat landscape by exploiting new vulnerabilities. As such, reducing your attack surface (i.e., the places where you are vulnerable to attacks) is key to ensuring better protection. Defender for Business includes a number of tools to reinforce vulnerabilities including ransomware mitigation, application control, web protection, network protection, network firewall, and rules for attack surface reduction.
- Next-Generation Antimalware and Antivirus: Powerful anti-malware and anti-virus protections can be deployed across user devices and the cloud to help further reduce the attack surface.
- Endpoint Detection and Response: Using behaviour-based threat alerts Microsoft Defender for Business identifies and removes persistent threats within a company’s environment. Defender for Business also gives users access to manual response actions to act on processes and files, while live response allows you to assume direct control of a device to ensure that potential breaches are remediated and secured.
- Automated Investigation and Remediation: Small businesses typically lack the time and resource to support dedicated security management. Defender for Business overcomes this with automated security processes that help interrogate alerts and action resolutions on the user’s behalf. This automation frees up IT and security teams to focus on more challenging threats, or on delivering other projects that create new business value.
- API and Integration: Deploying a joined up security posture is crucial to ensuring fast and efficient protection, and Defender for Business can be easily integrated into existing security platforms and reporting tools allowing you to seamlessly share alerts and detections as part of an enhanced user experience..
Is Microsoft Defender for Business right for you?
There’s no doubt that Microsoft Defender for Business delivers a powerful combination of enterprise security features, and its inclusion with Microsoft 365 Business Premium licenses makes it a cost-effective and easy-to-deploy option for smaller businesses looking to scale up their capabilities.
Delivered with the same management familiarity as other Microsoft tools, it’s also easy to deploy and configure with no specialist knowledge required. A wizard-driven set up and in-built recommended security policies allow smaller businesses with limited security know-how to quickly and easily deploy enterprise-grade protections that secure them against new threats.
If you are interested in Microsoft 365 Defender for Business, and want to learn more about how it can help streamline and reinforce your security posture,, simply get in touch with the team.