Forum Discussion

HoltGRCFlinders's avatar
HoltGRCFlinders
Copper Contributor
May 20, 2025

MS Defender User Journey Areas for Improvement

Hi Team, 

We are currently working toward utilising MS Defender for our Training and Awareness. User Journey planning related to the migration from our current provider to MS Defender found some undesirable features of the Defender portal. As these concerns are currently unavoidable, a ticket will be logged with Microsoft and a forum post made attempting to prompt MS to resolve these issues. 

Issues include: 
- Left hand side navigation panel with more content than desired (ie. buttons such as threat intelligence, trials, more resources, etc.)
- Inability to customise the home page of the MS Defender portal 
- Inability to return to the designated training page when you have clicked away from it
- '?' help button which is not obvious in that it contact MS Support, not IDS @ Flinders
- Other minor desirable customisation options to improve user experience 

Whilst all are issues within the Defender portal, the primary cause for concern is that left hand side navigation panel which has potential to be confusing for non-privileged staff.

 

Does anyone know of a way to remove these additional tabs for non-privileged staff or know of a workaround? 

 

Thank you for any help, 

2 Replies

  • Ankit365's avatar
    Ankit365
    Iron Contributor
    May 25, 2025

    Hi Holt, you've raised some valid and commonly echoed concerns regarding user experience within the Microsoft Defender portal, especially when deploying it for non-technical audiences like during security training or awareness programs. At present, the Defender portal does not allow granular customization of the left-hand navigation pane, nor does it offer homepage personalization or restricted views tailored for specific roles like non-privileged users. This limitation can indeed create confusion, particularly when users encounter features such as "Threat Intelligence," "Trials," or "More Resources" that are irrelevant or inaccessible to them. The '?' help icon is another usability issue, as it misleadingly connects users directly to Microsoft Support rather than internal support teams like IDS at Flinders. Unfortunately, these interface elements are part of the standard Microsoft Defender UX and cannot be modified or hidden without changes at the product level. 

    • HoltGRCFlinders's avatar
      HoltGRCFlinders
      Copper Contributor
      May 28, 2025

      Thank you for your response Ankit and for acknowledging the limitations. 

      As these are commonly raised concerns, are there any existing plans to modify the user experience in the Defender portal? Alternatively, is there a way I can go about requesting development of these features formally? 

      We would love to take full advantage of the attack simulation training offering but find that the user experience is often sub-par. 

      Appreciate your help, 
      Ollie