Busting myths on Microsoft Security Copilot

Microsoft’s Security Copilot is a new AI-powered security assistant (launched in April 2024) that integrates with Microsoft Defender, Sentinel, Intune, Entra and Purview to help analysts protect and defend at the speed and scale of AI. As a cutting-edge generative AI tool, Security Copilot has naturally sparked interest and close attention from users and experts. This has resulted in various articles and blogs sharing experiences, perspectives, and feedback about the product. As a Microsoft Certified Trainer and a Microsoft ‘Consultant’, I happen to both teach and implement Security Copilot for professionals and organizations respectively. Lucky me! But one thing that I encounter frequently in both my roles, is a list of common myths (or concerns) that people have about Security Copilot especially given that it is a relatively newer product.

Today we are going to talk about such myths (or concerns) and try to see how they are either completely hokum or does have another aspect which you may/may not know about. In other words, we will try to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s. I’ll do it in respective sections which may have one or more myths included, so let’s get started.

Cost and Licensing

Myth #1: High Consumption Cost:

• Validity: The perception of high cost is relative and often lacks full context. While the consumption-based pricing of Security Copilot may appear higher when compared to certain other tools, it delivers significantly greater value through its advanced capabilities, seamless integration with the Microsoft Security ecosystem, and ability to accelerate threat detection and response. When evaluated alongside comparable AI-driven security solutions—both Microsoft and non-Microsoft—Security Copilot stands out for its category-defining use cases and operational efficiency, helping security teams do more with less.
• Reasoning: While cost considerations are valid, they should be viewed through the lens of operational impact rather than raw consumption. Security Copilot functions as an intelligent assistant operating around the clock—enhancing threat detection, accelerating incident response, and enabling deeper, more proactive threat hunting. Many organizations have reported significant improvements in reducing mean time to respond (MTTR), increasing automation in routine investigations such as phishing, and expanding their overall security coverage without scaling headcount. By augmenting human expertise with AI, Security Copilot empowers teams to focus on high value tasks and strengthens organizational resilience against evolving threats.

Myth #2: Unpredictable billing:

• Validity: This is a complete myth not only with Security Copilot but with any other Microsoft solution.
• Reasoning: You get a dedicated usage dashboard in the Security Copilot portal and a link to the billing view that takes you to Microsoft Azure where you can not only see the incurred costs but can also have a reliable forecast of future costs. Whether you are a large organization with multiple instances of Security Copilot or an SMB with a limited usage, these dashboards and views will help you equally to ensure you are not under or overspending on Security Copilot.

Myth #3: It's free or covered by an existing license:

• Validity: This misconception likely arises from confusion with other Copilot offerings and becomes a myth!
• Reasoning: The overall pricing model of Security Copilot is completely different from other Microsoft Security solutions. While other solutions operate on a licensing model, Security Copilot works on a consumption-based model meaning there is no per user or per device charges here! Hence, no existing license whether Entra or Office 365 based, can give you access to ‘Security Copilot’. Also, please note that Microsoft 365 Copilot (available in Teams, Word, PowerPoint or Azure portal) is not the same as Security Copilot.

Performance and Reliability

Myth #4: Slow responses and high latency:

• Validity: This is a completely anecdotal and definitely a myth. There are a variety of factors that affects the response latency of Security Copilot.
• Reasoning: You need to consider some important factors like number of SCUs provisioned, concurrent number of Security Copilot users, number of plugins and/or skills being invoked, length and complexity of the prompt etc. in order to understand why you may have gotten a response slower than usual. Moreover, Security Copilot has the feature of showing its response in streaming mode. This approach significantly enhances perceived latency for users, enabling them to begin reading responses as they are generated, like the below image. Reference: What's new in Microsoft Security Copilot?

Source: Security Copilot Portal

Myth #5: Poor Quality or Unreliable responses:

• Validity: All I am going to say here is ‘Your Copilot is as good as the quality of your prompts’!
• Reasoning: AI is here to augment our intelligence, but it can only do that when it gets sufficient, clear and well thought prompts. There is a reason to call it a ‘Co’-‘Pilot’ because you are driving/flying/learning along with it. BTW, I prefer flying almost any time! Point is, we need to understand that the quality of AI output is heavily influenced by the tone, context and specificity of prompts. There have been numerous users who agree that refined prompts can yield better results if not the best! I am not suggesting going for in-depth prompt engineering classes here but just including the following elements when writing a prompt, should give you a considerable improvement in the quality of responses. More information on effective prompting practices here: Prompting in Microsoft Security Copilot

1. 1. Goal - specific, security-related information that you need
   2. Context - why you need this information or how you plan to use it
   3. Expectations - format or target audience you want the response tailored to
   4. Source - known information, data sources, or plugins Security Copilot should use

• Moreover, I also suggest leveraging the OOTB (Out-Of-The-Box) prompts and promptbooks in order to understand the way on how you should structure your prompts. Security Copilot has a dedicated ‘Promptbook Library’ where you can see all the custom and OOTB prompts. You have the option of duplicating and creating a custom promptbook of your own from an OOTB promptbook. This way you can ensure you are leveraging the available resources to make your own use case work more efficiently.

Myth #6: Service Interruptions:

• Validity: This is a fact portrayed as a myth. If provisioned Security Copilot Units (SCUs) are fully consumed without additional configuration, service may pause until capacity is restored. This behaviour aligns with standard consumption-based service models.
• Reasoning: To maintain continuous service, Security Copilot now supports Overage Units, which automatically activate when the initially provisioned SCUs are exhausted. This helps ensure uninterrupted functionality without requiring manual intervention. Additionally, the platform provides clear usage notifications and warnings in advance, allowing teams to proactively monitor and manage consumption. Combined with its role as a 24/7 AI-powered assistant, Security Copilot continues to deliver high availability and operational efficiency—even under dynamic workloads. For details on how to configure and manage overage units, refer to this blog: Overage Units in Security Copilot.

Near Limit notification in Security Copilot standalone portalAbove Limit notification in Security Copilot standalone portal

Privacy and Data Security

Myth #7: Data sharing with Microsoft:

• Validity: This is one of the most common myths that still exists amongst users and make them hesitant to adopt the product.
• Reasoning: Microsoft has been very transparent and vocal on claiming that ‘customer data’ is never used to train the underlying LLM model nor is it accessible by any human including any non-relevant Microsoft employees. All Security Copilot data is handled according to Microsoft's commitments to privacy, security, compliance, and responsible AI practices. Access to the systems that house your data is governed by Microsoft's certified processes. Even when enabled by default, the option to share your data does:

• • Not shared with OpenAI
  • Not used for sales
  • Not shared with third parties
  • Not used to train Azure OpenAI foundational model

Security Copilot provides options to enable/disable user data collection

Myth #8: Data Privacy Compromises:

• Validity: Concerns about data privacy are common with AI tools but this is another completely ironical myth for a security product.
• Reasoning: One important thing to know when using Microsoft products and solutions is that Microsoft provides you with contractual commitments on giving you control over your own data! Microsoft takes data security so seriously that even if a law enforcement agency or the government requests your data, you will be notified and provided with a copy of the request! And hence Microsoft defends your data through clearly defined and well-established response policies and processes like:
  • Microsoft uses and enables the use of industry-standard encrypted transport protocols, such as Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) for any customer data in transit.
  • The Microsoft Cloud employs a wide range of encryption capabilities up to AES-256 for data at rest.
  • Your control over your data is reinforced by Microsoft compliance with broadly applicable privacy laws, such as GDPR and privacy standards. These include the world’s first international code of practice for cloud privacy, ISO/IEC 27018.

Uncategorized Myths

“Security Copilot will replace our SOC team”:

No! It’s a fact that Security Copilot is an assistant, not an infallible sensor. It is created to “assist security professionals” and acknowledges it may make mistakes (false positives/negatives). The very conception of Security Copilot is essentially taking over the manual and tiresome analysis of raw logs and events while giving time to security professionals to do what they do best, discovering vulnerabilities and securing organizations! Do you ever think why there is not a single capability in Security Copilot to take an action on its own or without your approval? What? You didn’t know that?! This is by design to ensure that you and I are always in the driving seat while our “Co”-pilot augments our capabilities, automates repetitive tasks and provides actionable insights. But users must always validate its advice.

“Copilot only works well with Microsoft products”:

Another anecdotal myth. While Security Copilot is deeply integrated with Microsoft's own security tools, it is also designed to work effectively with a variety of third-party solutions. In fact, Microsoft provides you with more than 35+ non-Microsoft plugins out-of-the-box including some popular tools like Splunk, ServiceNow, Cyware, Shodan etc. And that’s not it, you can create your own custom plugin using one the three methods amongst API, GPT and KQL.

“You cannot track Copilot’s activities”:

The notion that “you cannot track Copilot’s activities” is definitively a myth. Security Copilot’s integration with Microsoft Purview and the Office 365 Management API provides full visibility into every interaction—prompt inputs, AI responses, plugin calls, and admin configurations. Administrators can enable, search, export, and retain these logs for compliance, forensics, or integration into broader SIEM and SOAR workflows, ensuring that Copilot becomes a transparent, auditable extension of your security operations rather than an untraceable “black box.”

Conclusion

As with any transformative technology, Microsoft Security Copilot has naturally invited speculations. However, many of the concerns—ranging from cost and licensing, to performance, reliability, and data privacy—are either based on misconceptions or lack full context. Through this article, we’ve examined these myths objectively and highlighted how Security Copilot’s design, operational model, and deep integration with Microsoft’s security ecosystem work together to empower, not replace, human defenders. It is built to scale security operations with intelligence and agility, not disrupt them with unpredictability. For organizations navigating increasingly complex threat landscapes, Security Copilot offers a way to enhance response, reduce fatigue, and operationalize AI securely and responsibly. The key is not to view it as just another product, but as a strategic co-pilot—working alongside your team to defend at the speed and scale that modern security demands.

Want to have a much deeper understanding of Security Copilot? Check out these awesome resources:

• Microsoft Security Copilot - Microsoft Adoption
• Microsoft Security Copilot video hub - Microsoft Adoption
• Security Copilot – Tech Community Blog Hub
• SC-200: Mitigate threats using Microsoft Security Copilot - Training
• Become a Microsoft Security Copilot Ninja