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Illumio vs Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Illumio
Average Rating
8.0
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
Cloud and Data Center Security (3rd), Cloud Workload Protection Platforms (CWPP) (14th), Microsegmentation Software (3rd)
Microsoft Defender for Clou...
Average Rating
8.4
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB) (4th), Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) (12th), Microsoft Security Suite (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

While both are Network Security Systems solutions, they serve different purposes. Illumio is designed for Cloud and Data Center Security and holds a mindshare of 23.0%, up 15.7% compared to last year.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, on the other hand, focuses on Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB), holds 18.4% mindshare, down 24.1% since last year.
Cloud and Data Center Security
Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB)
 

Featured Reviews

Vincent TOH - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 15, 2024
Offers real-time application dependency mapping that is useful
The product's initial setup phase is not difficult. We are using a cloud version of the tool. Picking up the PC for the setup was difficult because Illumio's service provider took care of it. In our company, we only installed the tool on our devices, so it wasn't much of a difficult process. On a scale of one to ten, one is difficult, and ten is easy, I rate the setup phase as nine. I didn't deploy Illumio. My company uses the cloud version of the tool. I created my account and paired my device, which was all that was required.
Anthony Alvarico - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 9, 2024
Provides discovery, data exfiltration, and sensitive data exposure at low cost
The deployment process is quick, taking two to three days. The implementation and customization require more time. We need to adjust the setup to fit the client's needs, which involves fine-tuning notifications and alerts to avoid overwhelming them. First, you need the appropriate licensing. Once you have that, go to security.microsoft.com and integrate with Defender for Endpoints to receive information. While you can ingest logs from different firewalls, such as Palo Alto or Cisco, we usually implement them with Defender for Endpoints. Once a laptop or desktop is set up in Defender for Endpoints, integrating Cloud Apps with the endpoints allows us to collect the data easily. I rate the initial setup a nine out of ten, where one is difficult and ten is easy.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The solution is easy to use."
"It has helped us to understand internal network visibility and firewall policy implementation. We use the product to simplify firewall policy implementation."
"The solution helps to maintain logs and monitor activities. It also helps us with access management. The tool helps us to secure organizational data that include files."
"The most valuable feature of Illumio Adaptive Security Platform is monitoring. When I have no requirement from the other application, I can use the web block traffic to build."
"The flexibility of the solution is its most valuable feature."
"The tool helps with my company's security posture."
"The features that I have found most useful is the ability to centralize all the rules and then distribute them across various locations. However, I've encountered challenges related to tagging policies, which can be complex to devise. It's a matter that requires careful consideration and stakeholder involvement before implementing such policies."
"The Explorer allows you to know the traffic between source and destination."
"The ability to prevent users from using certain applications is one of the most valuable features. It doesn't require any configuration for implementation from the client perspective. It just works right away and gives you the information you need."
"The most valuable feature is the alerting system."
"All of the features are valuable because all of the features are related."
"The solution does not affect a user's workflow."
"Everything from Microsoft is integrated. You receive regular reports on them all. You can push your reports, logs, and security alerts, which are all integrated. It is crucial that these solutions work natively together to deliver coordinated detection and response across our environment."
"We have become more aware of what services our users are using, how often they are using them, and what data is being sent out of the organization and to which services. So, it is really a lot about visibility and helping us make decisions based on that. It drives some of our policy decisions for adding extra security controls."
"I like the web GUI/the management interface. I also like the security of Microsoft. As compared to other manufacturers, it's less complex and easy to understand and work with."
"In Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, there is an option to enable files. Once you enable that, it will give you all the files in your organization and where they are located in the cloud... That feature is very useful for investigation purposes."
 

Cons

"It requires a low-level re-architecting of the product."
"The product’s agents don't work very well in OT environments."
"I would like to see better data security in the product."
"The customer service is lagging a bit. It could be better."
"Some of the features that can be improved is offer additional guidance on creating an effective and risk-free tagging policy would be highly beneficial."
"We need more details on areas where there is an error or a traffic blockage. I would like the tool to offer a more detailed view."
"The interaction we've had with the support team hasn't been ideal. Technical support should be improved."
"The solution is very basic and doesn't do anything other than the orchestration of layer four endpoint firewall rules."
"The interface needs to be more user-friendly."
"In the future, I would like to see more plug-and-play capabilities that use AI to tell you what needs to be done. It would be helpful if it scanned our devices and made security suggestions, on a configuration basis."
"It doesn't actually decrease the time to respond. This has been an issue with Microsoft recently. Sometimes, there is a delay when it comes to getting an alert policy email... Sometimes it takes two or three hours for that email to be sent."
"There are challenges with detection and there are challenges with false-positive rates."
"Defender for Cloud Apps could come with more configured policies out of the box. Also, integration could be easier. Integration is moderately difficult because Microsoft hasn't developed a solution that unifies device onboarding and management. You have to use Intune to manage devices and Defender for Endpoint to enforce policies. They need to fix their integration, but I believe they will straighten it out by the end of the year."
"Currently, reporting is not very straightforward and it needs to be enhanced. Specific reports are not included and you need to run a query, drill down, and then export it and share it. I would love to have reports with more fine-tuning or granularity, and more predefined reports."
"The technical support team has room for improvement."
"They need to improve the attack surface reduction (ASR) rules. In the latest version, you can implement ASR rules, which are quite useful, but you have to enable those because if they're not enabled, they flag false positives. In the Defender portal, it logs a block for WMI processes and PowerShell. Apparently, it's because ASR rules are not configured. So, you generally have to enable them to exclude, for example, WMI queries or PowerShell because they have a habit of blocking your security scanners. It's a bit weird that they have to be enabled to be configured, and it's not the other way around."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The product's pricing is around 10,000-15,000 USD. The pricing is on a yearly basis."
"There is a subscription needed to use Illumio Adaptive Security Platform and we pay every three years. Overall the solution is expensive."
"We utilize the Microsoft E5 licensing, which encompasses the entire Microsoft suite; however, it is costly."
"Where we are right now, this is an acceptable pricing. I would like to see more transparency given to the end user. The end user given to us is via the cloud service provider. There are different programs and license models. Some include this, and some include that. It is all over the place. There can be a little more consistency or simplification in the pricing so that your parts list is not ten pages long, and you are not trying to determine, "If I have an E3, does this cover that?", or "Do I need to pay separately for the license?" Simplification would probably be better."
"Our clients normally use the Microsoft E1 licensing, which is renewed yearly."
"The pricing is fair."
"Its pricing is on the higher side. Its price is definitely very high for a small-scale company. As an enterprise client, we do get benefits from Microsoft. We get a discounted price because of the number of users we have in our company. We have a premier package, and with that, we do get a lot of discounts. There are no additional costs. It only comes in the top-tier packages. Generally, the top-tier license is the best license that you can get for your organization. If you want, you can buy it separately, but that's not a good idea."
"I'm not totally involved in the pricing part, but I think its pricing is quite aggressive, and its price is quite similar to Netskope. Netskope has separate licensing fees or additional charges if you want to monitor certain SaaS services, whereas, with MCAS, you get 5,000 applications with their Office 365. It is all bundled, and there's no cost for using that. You only have the operational costs. In the country I am in, it is a bit difficult to get people with the required skill sets."
"The E5 license offers everything bundled. People are moving to Microsoft because you buy one license and it gives you everything."
"It has pretty good pricing."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Government
6%
Computer Software Company
17%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Government
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Illumio Adaptive Security Platform?
The features that I have found most useful is the ability to centralize all the rules and then distribute them across various locations. However, I've encountered challenges related to tagging poli...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Illumio Adaptive Security Platform?
The product's pricing is around 10,000-15,000 USD. The pricing is on a yearly basis.
What needs improvement with Illumio Adaptive Security Platform?
The log collection part needs improvement, and the tool should offer more details about the logs. We need more details on areas where there is an error or a traffic blockage. I would like the tool ...
Which is the better security solution - Cisco Umbrella or Microsoft Cloud App Security?
Cisco Umbrella is an integral component of the Cisco SASE architecture. It integrates security in a single, cloud-native solution, unifying multiple features like DNS-layer security, threat intelli...
What do you like most about Microsoft Cloud App Security?
It does a great job of monitoring and maintaining a security baseline. For us, that is a key element. The notifications are pretty good.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft Cloud App Security?
It's relatively low-cost, especially since it's often bundled with Microsoft 365.
 

Also Known As

Illumio Adaptive Security Platform, Illumio ASP
MS Cloud App Security, Microsoft Cloud App Security
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Plantronics, NTT Innovation Institute Inc.
Customers for Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps include Accenture, St. Luke’s University Health Network, Ansell, and Nakilat.
Find out what your peers are saying about VMware, Akamai, Illumio and others in Cloud and Data Center Security. Updated: November 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.