Microsoft Defender for Business Reviews

I work as a service provider, and I use different kinds of EDRs for our customers. Many of my clients are based on Microsoft Azure and also use Microsoft Defender. I utilize it for endpoint protection and also for XDR, using most of its features.

My customers find it easy to use Microsoft Defender because it integrates seamlessly with their existing Microsoft infrastructure. This ease reduces the need for additional products, allowing me to provide a convincing argument for its use.

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. This reduces the need for additional software. The threat detection capabilities are robust, with a dedicated research team and a continuously updated threat feed. This live update feature is crucial as it ensures protection against recent threats.

The user interface has a lot of features which can make it complex and hard to adapt to for some users. There can be improvements in the user interface to make it more intuitive. Customer support and their responsiveness could also be improved, as it is perceived to be lacking.

I have been dealing with Microsoft Defender for more than five years.

I consider Microsoft Defender to be stable, however, there are some ongoing issues with bugs. Problems often arise due to the complexity of the system.

In terms of scalability, I find Microsoft Defender for Business to be good and reliable. I would rate its scalability an eight out of ten.

I do not have much experience with the customer support for Microsoft Defender, yet it is generally rated a seven out of ten for support skills and response time.

Neutral

The installation of Microsoft Defender is relatively easy, and one person is typically enough to manage the installation process.

I consider Microsoft Defender to be expensive, however, it offers considerable value for the features provided.

Make sure to be familiar with the user interface, which might seem complex. Microsoft Defender is rated highly with an overall score of eight out of ten.

Hybrid Cloud

Microsoft Azure

I use the solution in my company, and we have already been using it for our laptop security. We have been using the tool from Microsoft to protect our laptops from viruses.

The tool's most valuable feature is that it runs behind the scenes, and you don't have to worry about virus protection.

I like the Defender for Business because it is a known entity. It is good quality software. Bug fixes and enhancements continue to be made. It has a good suite of products,

The tool's support is an area of concern where improvements are needed. I have had issues trying to get support or even trying to get to somebody. I often give up chasing the support and end up going to Google because I can't get any help from the support team. Microsoft's intent may be to push Google to users so that they end up searching on Google about the issues and see whether anyone else has had such problems before.

I have been using Microsoft Defender for Business for a couple of years.

I haven't had any problems with the tool's stability. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

It is a good and scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten.

There are about 15 people in my company who benefit from the use of the tool.

We are an IT company developing software and working with universities, farms, and manufacturing businesses.

I rate the technical support a two out of ten.

Negative

I have ten years of experience with Microsoft SQL Server. My team uses Azure Cosmos DB, but I don't have much access to Azure. Our company uses third-party tools on our Azure Cloud.

My company uses Microsoft Master Data Services Overview (MDS).

My company has had experience with some other tools in the past. The difference between the past tools and Microsoft Defender for Business stems from the latter being from Microsoft, and it was nice to have all the products we used bundled under the same vendor.

The product's initial setup phase wasn't too bad. The product's installation phase wasn't terrible, but it could have been good to club the things in the process, especially for the ones who are doing it for the first time, and it would be good if Microsoft offered users, someone, to talk to who knows the product. You will be gambling if you use Google for the tool because who knows if it really knows what Microsoft Defender for Business is all about.

On a scale of one to ten, if ten is the easiest, I rate the setup phase as an eight out of ten. The setup phase was straightforward.

As the tool was needed in a small shop, the solution's deployment was done in a couple of days.

The solution was deployed in my company with the help of a small team of ten people. I had my head of IT help me in rolling it out in our company.

With Microsoft Defender for Business, it would be hard to get an ROI. The tool offers assurance to its users. You know that the tool helps some problems and stops some of the issues from occurring, and you won't even know that.

The tool's cost has been a little high, but I do not think it was terrible.

The tool doesn't require any maintenance; we check it all every now and then, but other than that, we don't do anything with the solution in our company.

I recommend the tool to others.

The tool doesn't help with AI initiatives.

I rate the tool a seven out of ten.

We use Windows 11 Enterprise in our organization.

We utilize Microsoft Defender for Business primarily for firewall and total security, including threat detection and malware protection. The system is overall good.

We face a licensing issue with Windows 11 Enterprise not reflecting in our portal, which affects activation. Microsoft's support did not resolve this issue, even after sharing remote desktop and screen details.

We have been using Microsoft Defender for several years.

Everything is stable. There have been no technical errors or stability issues.

Microsoft's remote support through remote desktops did not resolve our issue, and I would rate their service three or four out of ten.

Neutral

We have a campus agreement, and licensing is managed through the VLSC portal. We experience issues with Windows 11 Enterprise edition and license keys not showing.

I advise ensuring that licenses are correctly reflected in your portal. Overall, I would rate Microsoft Defender for Business as seven out of ten.

On-premises

I use the solution in my company to protect computers with Windows 10 and Windows 11 Professional in Active Directory. I don't really like the tool, but our head of service has chosen it in our company.

The most valuable feature of the solution is its central console.

Our company cannot take action remotely with Microsoft Defender for Business. If I know a computer has opened a compromised email, it is very difficult to take action from Microsoft Defender's console. The tool is mainly informative, but we cannot do updates remotely. We cannot do almost anything remotely from Microsoft Defender's console. For economic reasons, our head of service has chosen the tool because we already have Office 365.

In the tool, it should be made easier to take actions from the console to the workstations. With the tool, being able to do updates, not just from Microsoft products on workstations, but also other programs should be made possible while including third-party products like Firefox, 7-Zip, and Java.

In the next release, I want the tool to quarantine computers and remotely manage our workstation's Windows Firewall from the console. Workstations and computers should be able to see each other to make managing Windows Firewall easy. The tool should offer better integration with Linux servers.

I have been using Microsoft Defender for Business for a year. I am a customer of the solution.

I have no complaints about the tool's stability. Stability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

It is an easily scalable solution. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

There are 150 users of the tool in my company. Some of the tool's users are engineers, while some are psychologists, so we have a broad range of users. I work in the government sector.

It does not depend on my opinion whether the organization I work for wants to increase the tool's usage or not.

Talking with the tool's technician about any problem is very complicated. The problem is to reach out to a technician by phone because the product's team redirects you to someone else, and it gets complicated. There are no straightforward emails that can be sent to Microsoft to raise tickets. I rate the technical support a four out of ten.

Neutral

I have worked with Kaspersky and found it to be better than Microsoft Defender for Business because you can do updates from Kaspersky's console and not from the central console. The console was useful for updating the workstations.

The product's initial setup phase is difficult because we have to make a script. In short, I rate the setup phase a three out of ten.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

The solution can be deployed in two days.

The tool is cheap, while some other solutions are more expensive. I remember the tool cost about five euros for a workstation or for a user on a monthly basis.

Against Microsoft Defender for Business, we have looked at Sophos because its deployment was more straightforward.

I really don't know about the threat detection capabilities of Microsoft Defender for Business because I have been using it only for a year and it hasn't detected anything yet. Microsoft Defender for Business has a good detection rate because it hasn't detected anything associated with viruses, malware, and other normal issues in programs over a span of one year, during which we had 150 computers in our company.

The tool is well-integrated, at least in the area of threat detection. It is not well integrated with Windows updates. The tool cannot be used to trigger updates remotely.

I am not aware of any AI feature in the tool.

The advantage of the tool is that once it is deployed, you don't even notice that there is an additional product planning on the orchestrations because it is a part of Windows. The tool is very transparent to manage, and it feels like there isn't any third-party product required to use it. The product also integrates with Office 365 and Windows. In addition, as the provider is the same, you don't have to indulge in paperwork.

I don't recommend the tool to others since I don't have much feedback about its scanning ability or detection. With Microsoft Defender for Business, I don't feel I have as much control over the workstations as I do with other products.

I rate the tool a four out of ten.

On-premises

The solution provides good scalability.

The solution's AI is notorious for false positives, and the time you have to spend training it is ridiculous. I can't believe that Microsoft was using CrowdStrike, which is known for its poor execution protocols.

I do not like that Microsoft does not post the changes it will make beforehand. For example, when you log in to their security portal, they will change the blades on it without any pre-warning. They are terrible at pre-communication. It's like I have to relearn once a month how to use Microsoft every time I log in. They make many changes without warning anyone or communicating with them.

I have been using Microsoft Defender for Business for four years.

Microsoft Defender for Business is a scalable solution. Around 2,000 users are using the solution in our organization.

Since Microsoft is a big company, you'll never get a personal MSP-type response from its support. You need to go in with your eyes wide open and know your expectations with Microsoft.

Neutral

The solution’s initial setup is easy.

It took us two months to deploy the solution from start to finish. Microsoft got us up and going pretty quickly, but we hired an MSP to come in and do security tests. They reviewed everything and told us about the changes we needed to make inside our tenant. You can lock everything down, but if you're truly supporting a business, you must ensure their needs are met first and then lock down what you can.

I think the solution's pricing is pretty much on point. Since we're a nonprofit, we get pretty good discounts on the tool.

Microsoft does a good job. My big issue with it is that it has gotten so big that it has over 100 portals for administrative purposes. As a director, I spend more of my time going through the portals, doing my due diligence, and trying to ensure that my cloud tenant is in okay shape. I know we need to hire more people, but Microsoft is clunky.

I rate the solution's protection features a six or seven out of ten. The solution's AI is notorious for false positives, and the time you have to spend training it is ridiculous. I have three hours carved out every week just to go in and pull all the phishing emails that people flag, and I have to run it through and train the AI. Artificial intelligence should be automated, and I should not have to do it.

Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

The solution comes bundled with Microsoft 365 for Business and is a security feature. 

It offers a mix of EDR, which we find quite useful. 

When we sell Microsoft's 365 business solution, we tend to promote this particular product as it is a good security feature for businesses. 

It has helped out client replace their previous antivirus. 

The setup process is easy.

It is easy to configure the solution as needed. 

It is scalable.

I've found the product the be stable. 

The security could always be improved. 

It could have better DLP. For example, we find that Sopho offers better DLP for businesses. 

I've used the solution for three or four years so far. 

The stability is good. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It is reliable. 

So far, the scalability has been fine. 

I've never spoken with technical support in the past. I'm in pre-sales, and therefore, my relation to the solution is more commercial than technical. 

Our clients previously did use another antivirus software. They now use Defender.

I'm also familiar with Sophos, which offers better DLP. 

The initial setup is not complicated at all. It's very easy.

This solution is included in Microsoft's business premium license. It's free to use under 365. 

We are Microsoft partners. We resell Microsoft solutions. We're actually gold partners. 

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten. It's a nice compliment to the 365 Business license. 

We are managed service providers. We provide the solution to our clients.

We are quite happy with the product. The product provides us with stable protection. The interface is quite user-friendly.

We faced some issues while running some applications on Mac.

My organization has been using the solution for four months.

The product is quite stable.

We also use Deep Instinct. We are slowly moving away from the product because we faced a lot of trouble while using it. While it's a good tool, it's probably too good for its own benefit. It made our life very challenging. I had to devote a lot of technical teams and my end resources to figure out problems with the application. There was a financial cost associated with it.

The solution is easy to deploy. It is not as complicated as Deep Instinct.

We use the product in conjunction with a few other solutions. I'm the company's managing director, and I am not involved with the product’s rollout. The complication with Deep Instinct wasn't just in installation. The product hasn't really been used extensively in our organization yet. We are doing gradual implementations. Overall, I rate the product an eight out of ten.

We get various services with Defender for Business, including endpoint detection and response and threat prevention plus vulnerability management, attack surface detection, and automated investigation.

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. 

The threat landscape is rapidly changing over time, and the scanning can always be improved. Microsoft sees trillions of signals every day, helping them to build their threat intelligence and improve their products.

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. 

I rate Microsoft support seven out of 10. Microsoft customer service is generally good, but they take time to resolve some situations. Time is critical in security. Their support has room for improvement. They could be more proactive and efficient, fixing the issue without multiple follow-ups. 

Neutral

The pricing for Microsoft products can be a little costly at times. On the other hand, Microsoft has an entire ecosystem that covers all the pillars of security, such as identity, applications, endpoints, etc. 

It helped us avoid purchasing products from multiple vendors and integrating those as an ecosystem. It can be somewhat expensive for small organizations, but it's competitive. I don't see a significant difference between Microsoft products and other solutions. 

I rate Microsoft Defender for Business eight out of 10. It's a good solution for protecting small and medium-sized businesses. 

Public Cloud

Microsoft Azure