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Microsoft Defender for Business pros and cons

Vendor: Microsoft
3.8 out of 5

Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Microsoft Defender for Business offers scalable protection for small and medium-sized businesses, combining features of Defender for Endpoint EDR with strong security flexibility.
It provides valuable alerting for intrusions, malware deployments, and suspicious activities, ensuring endpoint protection across regions like North America, Canada, and Mexico.
The central console is considered the most valuable feature, offering single-dashboard management integrated with Microsoft 365.
Microsoft Defender for Business is recognized for its effective threat detection and response capabilities, excelling in managing vulnerabilities and ransomware attacks.
Microsoft Defender for Business is highly recommended due to its ease of use, consistent improvements, and integration with the Microsoft Azure Security ecosystem, including Defender for Endpoint and Office 365 Cloud.

CONS

Defender's reporting is scattered, and URL filtering does not work effectively.
The threat protection requires fine-tuning to reduce false positives and needs faster threat identification.
There are issues with technical support and the complexity of resolving problems with technicians.
Pricing poses a challenge, especially in multi-year contracts compared to other solutions.
Integration with other environments, such as Microsoft Outlook, could be enhanced.
 

Microsoft Defender for Business Pros review quotes

reviewer1728189 - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 6, 2023
A few things are valuable. One is the alerting we see when any kind of intrusion is happening, any kind of malware is being deployed across the endpoints, or any kind of suspicious activity is going on. We have a footprint across all of North America, Canada, and Mexico, so we want to make sure that all our endpoints are protected and we are able to look for any anomalous activity.
TC
Jul 29, 2024
The most valuable feature of the solution is its central console.
Tim_Howard - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 11, 2024
I haven't had any problems with the tool's stability.
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Defender for Business. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer2516193 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 22, 2024
The solution provides good scalability.
KK
Jan 2, 2025
Microsoft Defender for Business works well with the Microsoft Azure Security ecosystem, including Defender for Endpoint and Office 365 Cloud.
NS
Nov 25, 2024
The solution includes attack-savvy service and risk protection, part of data center management, and offers an effective single-dashboard view with Microsoft 365.
Wondimu Almu - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 24, 2024
Microsoft Defender for Business stands out due to its ease of use, particularly due to the fact that many of my customers already use Microsoft and Azure.
Vincent Gagnon - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 18, 2024
The security features are valuable because they come with more capabilities that other licenses do not have, including the enterprise license like E3.
MK
Dec 2, 2024
The most effective features of Microsoft Defender for Business include its threat detection and response capabilities in managing vulnerabilities and ransomware attacks.
reviewer2264217 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 6, 2023
Microsoft Defender for Business is good for small and medium-sized businesses. It offers solid security flexibility and integration with tools like Microsoft Lighthouse and some other software. It takes some of the features of Defender for Endpoint EDR and provides those services for small and medium-sized business environments.
 

Microsoft Defender for Business Cons review quotes

reviewer1728189 - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 6, 2023
The biggest one is that Defender needs to be more proactive to the emerging threats. There can be tighter integration with email, especially how it integrates with our email system, which is the Microsoft Outlook suite. There should be the ability to react a lot quicker to emerging threats because sometimes, it takes a few days before some of these new threats are fully identified, and we need that to be a few hours.
TC
Jul 29, 2024
Talking with the tool's technician about any problem is very complicated.
Tim_Howard - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 11, 2024
The tool's support is an area of concern where improvements are needed.
Learn what your peers think about Microsoft Defender for Business. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2025.
831,265 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer2516193 - PeerSpot reviewer
Jul 22, 2024
The solution's AI is notorious for false positives, and the time you have to spend training it is ridiculous.
KK
Jan 2, 2025
The threat detection capabilities require significant customization for multistage threat detection.
NS
Nov 25, 2024
Microsoft should provide batch management solutions with the application, integrating pass management with roles.
Wondimu Almu - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 24, 2024
The user interface has a lot of features which can make it complex and hard to adapt to for some users.
Vincent Gagnon - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 18, 2024
It is not quick to make exclusions or specific configurations compared to other antiviruses on the market.
MK
Dec 2, 2024
Technical support could be faster to respond.
reviewer2264217 - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 6, 2023
Defender's threat protection should be fine-tuned to reduce false positives. It could be more targeted, reflecting a continuous evolution in detecting. Also, it could be easier to integrate into other environments.