Deploy Microsoft Defender XDR today and start protecting your entire digital estate
The average organization now hosts 351 exploitable attack pathways, says Microsoft’s 2024 State of Multicloud Security Risk Report 1 , so it’s no wonder leaders across sectors are calling for enhanced protection of high-value assets within applications, email, endpoints, identity, and more. But deploying a comprehensive security solution like Microsoft Defender XDR can be a big lift, especially in organizations using legacy systems or a mix of third-party tools. Complex integrations and configurations combined with common issues like limited staffing resources can further delay or even prevent full product implementation. Fortunately, FastTrack for Microsoft 365 is ready to help streamline your security product deployment and today we’ll explain how. In this blog, you’ll learn: Why Microsoft Defender platform adds value beyond security. How to deploy Microsoft Defender efficiently and securely using Microsoft admin center advanced deployment guides. Answers to FAQs. Microsoft Defender: The industry leading 2 , XDR solution with added value Microsoft Defender protects your entire organization with a unified security platform that consolidates multiple security functions (e.g., endpoint, identity, cloud security) under a single tool. This comprehensive coverage creates overlapping security, which strengthens overall security and helps reduce workloads for security and IT teams. And while in some cases, transitioning security systems can create vulnerabilities in the short term, FastTrack engineers at Microsoft have solved for this by providing incremental security coverage as you wind down third-party point solutions. We’ll describe this in more detail later on but first let’s go over the Microsoft Defender platform. The Microsoft Defender platform: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Helps prevent, detect, investigate, and respond to advanced threats with next-gen antivirus, endpoint detection response (EDR), automated investigation, and prioritized remediation capabilities. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint setup guide Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Protects email and collaboration tools like SharePoint, OneDrive, and Microsoft Teams against advanced threats, i.e., phishing, business email compromise, and malware attacks. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 setup guide Microsoft Defender for Identity Protects on-premises Active Directory from targeted attacks with signals that identify, detect, and investigate compromised identities and malicious insider actions. Microsoft Defender for Identity setup guide Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps A Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) that uses rich visibility, control over data travel, and sophisticated analytics to identify and combat cyber threats across cloud services. Gain visibility into Shadow IT, discover cloud apps in use, control and protect data within apps, and detect and respond to threats across all potential threat vectors. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps setup guide Microsoft Defender XDR, powered by AI, integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft 365 products and security tools Seamless integration provides for stronger, more consistent, automated security across the entire software ecosystem. For example: Microsoft Defender is embedded with Microsoft Sentinel Microsoft Sentinel is a new FastTrack offering. It’s a very powerful cloud-native, AI-powered security information and event management (SIEM) solution that helps teams address top cyberthreats, including ransomware attacks, by: Enriching data with machine learning: Sentinel employs machine learning to enrich data with Microsoft's threat intelligence, the secret ingredient that fuels capabilities, including threat hunting, detecting, investigating, and responding to threats across an ecosystem. Reducing “alert fatigue”: Sentinel filters through billions of signals, correlates them into alerts and incidents, and even prioritizes incidents. This allows for more efficient and cost-effective remediation strategies and reduced alert fatigue for SOC teams. Microsoft Defender integrates with Azure’s Microsoft Defender for Cloud Microsoft Defender for Cloud is a cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) that secures full-stack workloads, end to end, across Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Azure Cloud Services with constant cyberthreat monitoring at the code level. How to deploy Microsoft Defender security products efficiently and securely Because each organization’s deployment scenario will be as unique as the organization itself, Microsoft engineers designed Defender to be highly customizable and able to accommodate a variety of different scenarios. However, no one should let complexities surrounding custom configurations delay deployment. FastTrack for Microsoft 365 is here to help With a variety of self-serve resources, detailed documentation, automated, step-by-step deployment guides, and even one-on-one assistance (with an eligible license), FastTrack can help you reduce complexity and get your Microsoft Defender products up-and-running quickly. Here’s how to start: 1. Visit the Microsoft 365 Setup site Regardless of license status or credentials, start your journey at the Microsoft 365 Setup site for open, self-service access to detailed setup guides, on-demand videos, and helpful blogs to plan secure and efficient Microsoft Defender deployment workloads. 2. Sign in to the Microsoft admin center Once your organization owns a license and you’re ready to deploy, sign in to the Microsoft admin center and access Microsoft Defender advanced deployment and setup guides. 3. Deploy using Microsoft Defender advance deployment guides Start with zero trust Microsoft Defender for Endpoint setup guide Microsoft Defender for Office 365 setup guide Microsoft Defender for Identity setup guide Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps setup guide These streamlined, automated guides combine detailed documentation with stateful personalization, so you know you’re following the right instructions for your organization’s scenario. The step-by-step instructions also lead you through the correct order of operations so you can be confident you’re setting up each Microsoft Defender solution correctly, from beginning to end. Microsoft Defender setup guides: What to expect once you get there Each Microsoft Defender setup guide follows a similar pattern. They begin with an Overview, describing foundational prerequisites and Requirements, then have you identify your organization’s particular Scenario and goals, before walking you through your recommended Deployment and Configuration steps based on your scenario and Microsoft’s best practices. Let’s walk through the Microsoft Defender for Endpoint guide as an example: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint setup guide Arrive at Overview (see above) to learn more about the Defender setup guide and watch a short video. Follow the subway navigation and review Microsoft Defender for Endpoint’s minimum setup requirements to make sure you’re ready for a secure setup experience before you begin. At Scenario, identify your organization’s current security situation and your goals, for example: Do you already have an endpoint security solution in place? Would you like to see how Defender for Endpoint works before rolling it out? Do you want help designing configurations? At Deployment, find Microsoft’s recommended next steps based on your Scenario. These steps include: Preparation: Key points to consider as you prepare for migration. Setup: Guidance on which specific steps you should carry out next. Onboarding to your tenant: Advice on how to onboard while protecting other platforms in your environment. 5. Lastly, Configuration is where you’ll configure various settings and learn more about: Attack surface reduction Mobile threat defense Next-generation protection Auto remediation and investigation Microsoft Secure Score Endpoint detection and response Threat and vulnerability management Frequently asked questions Transitioning to or implementing a new security suite can be tricky. However, Microsoft Defender setup guides have been designed to eliminate as much risk and friction as possible from the deployment process. They also do a great job of anticipating and addressing questions admins frequently ask. Here are a few frequently asked questions and answers: How do I securely migrate to Microsoft Defender for Office 365? Read this Learn article to understand securely migrating from a third-party protection service or device to Microsoft Defender for Office 365. How should I deal with urgent security incident response issues? Get a better understanding of the complex threats affecting your organization. Subscribers to Defender Experts for Hunting can engage with their own security incident response teams to address urgent security incident response issues. Where can I go to learn how to fix onboarding issues myself? Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Microsoft Defender for Identity Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps 4. Does Microsoft offer training for Microsoft Defender? Yes! To get started with Microsoft Defender training, browse the list of learning paths, and filter by product, role, level, and subject. Need additional assistance? Whether you have a few questions or want assistance with deployment of your entire Microsoft Defender suite, FastTrack Engineers and Partners are ready to help. Eligible customers can request direct, remote assistance from FastTrack for Microsoft 365. [1] Microsoft’s 2024 State of Multicloud Security Report [2] Microsoft Defender was named an XDR leader in The Forrester Wave: XDR platforms, Q2 2024, receiving top scores in 15 of 22 criteria, including Endpoint Detection, Threat Hunting, and Innovation.
Announcing FastTrack assistance for Employee Experience scenarios including Microsoft Viva!
FastTrack can now help you enable Microsoft Viva and the foundational services that support an Employee Experience scenario. What is Viva? Microsoft Viva is an employee experience platform that brings together communications, knowledge, learning, resources, and insights into the flow of work. Visit the Microsoft Viva webpage to learn more and stay up-to-date with the latest Microsoft Viva news! Now more than ever, organizations need tools to foster a culture where people and teams are empowered to be their best from anywhere. As you work to address today’s challenges, Microsoft Viva and FastTrack can help. Viva consists of four key scenarios: Harness knowledge and expertise: Viva Topics automatically organizes content and expertise across your organization, making it easy for people to find information and put knowledge to work. Amplify culture and communications: Viva Connections is your gateway to a modern engagement experience designed to keep everyone involved and informed. Accelerate skilling and growth: Microsoft Viva Learning empowers employees with formal and informal learning when and where it’s needed, making it easier for people to learn while working. Balance productivity and wellbeing: Microsoft Viva Insights helps people and business thrive with data-driven, privacy-protected insights and recommendations to improve productivity and wellbeing. Scenario based deployment FastTrack deployment assistance for Microsoft Viva is offered through the Employee Experience scenario. The scenario-based approach begins with the premise that the IT admin we assist is in the middle of a mindset shift in their organization. The blurring of the line between business and tech is reflected in our Employee Experience scenario approach. How so? First, the guidance for IT Admins is organized by use cases that the Admin’s business partners would consider relevant. The intention behind this packaging is to empower the IT Admin to move back and forth from a business, human resources, or communications discussion to a tech enablement project. Second, the technical guidance is intended to simplify deployment by integrating workload guidance for Viva and its technical prerequisites rather than relying on the IT Admin to locate disparate guidance and do the synthesizing themselves. Third, through our self-service automation (wizards) we offer a dashboard that allows the IT Admin to see where they are in the journey. Our hope is that this view helps the IT Admin manage internal stakeholder expectations and coordinate with their business partners. FastTrack provides this guidance via a team of experts (engineers and architects), as well as self-service automation set-up guides that are available to customers in their admin portal. What FastTrack can do for you FastTrack can help you, the IT Admin, accelerate or enhance the employee experience in your organization no matter where you are on your journey. This includes enablement assistance for the Microsoft 365 tools you already own which are foundational for Viva, as well as deployment with each of the specific Viva modules. Remote guidance from FastTrack will help you: Confirm relevant Viva modules to address your needs including Viva Connections, Viva Insights, Viva Topics, and Viva Learning Assess your source environment and scenario requirements Bring your source environment to the minimum requirements for a successful deployment Walk through Employee Experience scenario configuration steps for each Microsoft Viva service you want to enable based on your requirements How to engage with FastTrack Customers with 150 or more licenses of an eligible product will be able to use FastTrack for remote deployment guidance on Employee Experience scenarios, including Microsoft Viva at no additional cost. Log in to submit a Request for Assistance at www.microsoft.com/FastTrack.FastTrack now assists with more threat protection capabilities
Announcing FastTrack remote guidance for Microsoft Cloud App Security and Microsoft 365 Defender solutions for endpoints, identities, cloud apps, email, and docs Microsoft FastTrack is committed to helping you realize the value of your Microsoft 365 security solutions by providing remote deployment guidance. FastTrack for Microsoft 365 provides remote deployment guidance at no additional cost for customers with 150 or more licenses of eligible plans. In addition to the baseline security assistance we already offer, FastTrack has expanded the benefit in threat protection to now include Microsoft Defender for Identity and Microsoft Cloud App Security, and guidance to leverage Microsoft 365 Defender. FastTrack will provide remote deployment guidance to help eligible customers configure and deploy these Microsoft security products: Microsoft Cloud App Security discovers and controls Shadow IT, helps ensure secure access to your apps and resources, protects your sensitive information, and detects threats in the cloud for you to take action on, surfacing valuable insights and recommendations to help improve your cloud security posture. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (formerly Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection) delivers preventative protection, post-breach detection, automated investigation, and response for your endpoints. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 (formerly Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection) helps protect all of Office 365 against advanced threats like business email compromise and credential phishing, and automatically investigates and remediates attacks. Microsoft Defender for Identity (formerly Azure Advanced Threat Protection) helps secure on-premises identities across your organization by leveraging Active Directory signals to identify, detect, and investigate advanced threats, compromised identities, and malicious insider actions directed at your organization. In addition, Microsoft FastTrack will show you how to leverage the capabilities of Microsoft 365 Defender (formerly Microsoft Threat Protection), which protects against attacks with automated cross-domain security. You can use your security data to prevent and detect threats, heal affected assets, and proactively hunt across your Microsoft 365 data. FastTrack for Microsoft 365 provides remote guidance for customers with 150 or more licenses, at no additional cost with your eligible Microsoft 365 subscription. This is an ongoing benefit throughout the duration of your eligible subscription, delivered by Microsoft and approved FastTrack Ready Partners. If you want to learn more, review eligibility and the service description here. If you’re ready to get started, request assistance at microsoft.com/FastTrack (sign in required). When you request assistance from FastTrack, you’ll select which product you want guidance on, and Microsoft 365 Defender assistance will also be included with that product. Here is a screen shot of the Request for Assistance page on the FastTrack site: Interested in deploying Azure services to improve your security posture? FastTrack for Azure is a technical enablement program that works directly with customers and partners to help you build Azure solutions quickly and confidently. FastTrack for Azure brings together best practices and tools from engineering and real customer experiences, including business continuity and disaster recovery, security and management, and many more to guide customers from design, configuration, and development to production of Azure solutions. Learn more and check your eligibility at azure.microsoft.com/programs/azure-fasttrack/. We’d love to hear from you on our Tech Community channel. Give us feedback in comments or tell us what we should write about in the future.Join the Microsoft FastTrack team at Ignite
Microsoft Ignite will be here before we know it and our team is working hard to help make your experience the best ever. From high-level strategy and deep technical and informational dives, to hands-on labs and one-on-one meetings, the insights and connections you’ll gain at Ignite will be great for your company—and your career.
