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AWS CloudTrail vs. Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    AWS CloudTrail

    Score8.8 out of 10
    N/AAWS CloudTrail is a service that enables governance, compliance, operational auditing, and risk auditing of an AWS account. With CloudTrail, users can log, continuously monitor, and retain account activity related to actions across AWS infrastructure. CloudTrail provides event history of AWS account activity, including actions taken through the AWS Management Console, AWS SDKs, command line tools, and other AWS services. This event history simplifies security analysis, resource change tracking,…N/A

    Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management

    Score9.7 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft Defender External Attack Surface Management is a service available on Microsoft's Azure, that provides insights into vulnerabilities, risks, and exposures for web-based resources. It defines an organization’s unique internet-exposed attack surface and discovers unknown resources to help users proactively manage security posture.

    $0.01

    per day per asset

    Pricing
    AWS CloudTrailMicrosoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    AWS CloudTrailMicrosoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsYou can view, filter, and download the most recent 90 days of your account activity for all management events in supported AWS services free of charge. You can set up a trail that delivers a single copy of management events in each region free of charge. Once a CloudTrail trail is set up, Amazon S3 charges apply based on your usage. You will be charged for any data events or additional copies of management events recorded in that region. In addition, you can choose CloudTrail Insights by enabling Insights events in your trails. CloudTrail Insights analyzes write management events, and you are charged based on the number of events that are analyzed in that region.—
    More Pricing Information
    Features
    AWS CloudTrailMicrosoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    Threat Intelligence
    Comparison of Threat Intelligence features of AWS CloudTrail and Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    Feature
    AWS CloudTrail
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    9.7
    1 Ratings
    18% above category average
    Network Analytics00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Threat Recognition00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Vulnerability Classification00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Automated Alerts and Reporting00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Threat Analysis00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Threat Intelligence Reporting00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Automated Threat Identification00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Vulnerability Management Tools
    Comparison of Vulnerability Management Tools features of AWS CloudTrail and Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    Feature
    AWS CloudTrail
    -
    Ratings
    Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    9.4
    1 Ratings
    12% above category average
    IT Asset Realization00 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Authentication00 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Configuration Monitoring00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Web Scanning00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Vulnerability Intelligence00 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    AWS CloudTrailMicrosoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    Small Businesses
    Armor
    Score6 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Trend Micro Deep Security
    Score9.3 out of 10
    Tenable Nessus
    Score8.8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Wiz
    Score9.4 out of 10
    Tenable Vulnerability Management
    Score8.9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    AWS CloudTrailMicrosoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (4 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    AWS CloudTrailMicrosoft Defender External Attack Surface Management
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Amazon AWS
    It is necessary to enable [AWS] Cloudtrail when using AWS in a production environment, otherwise you will not have any idea what is happening within your accounts. Third party monitoring applications will all require [AWS] CloudTrail to be enabled as well. I would not recommend it solely as a monitoring tool, to get the most out of it you must send the logs elsewhere. Either to Cloudwatch logs or a third party product.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management is particularly well-suited for discovering, inventorying, and continuously monitoring the external attack surface, especially in environments with heavy Microsoft adoption. It is less suitable as a standalone solution for internal scanning, real-time attack detection, automated remediation, or advanced application testing. Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management es especialmente adecuado para descubrir, inventariar y monitorear continuamente la superficie de ataque externa, sobre todo en entornos con fuerte adopción de Microsoft. Es menos adecuado como solución única para escaneo interno, detección de ataques en tiempo real, remediación automática o pruebas avanzadas de aplicaciones. Parts of this review were originally written in Spanish and have been translated into English using a third-party translation tool. While we strive for accuracy, some nuances or meanings may not be perfectly captured.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Amazon AWS
    • API Log
    • User activity tracking
    • Real-time alerts
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Lack of visibility of external assets
    • Reduction of the risk of external attacks
    • Falta de visibilidad de activos externos
    • Reducción del riesgo de ataques externos
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Amazon AWS
    • [In my experience] Cost can easily get out of control with multiple trails on full logging
    • Logs can be difficult to decipher
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Asset Attribution and Ownership Clarity
    • Risk Prioritization and Business Context
    • Noise and False Positives
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Amazon AWS
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    We rate Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management’s overall usability as 10 out of 10 because it delivers a strong balance between depth of capability and ease of use, particularly within organizations already operating in the Microsoft security ecosystem.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Amazon AWS
    I think in the end, CloudTrail has more features and you can dive deeper inside the logs so it depends on your usage and what you expect in the end to make the right choice, I would say that both tools are really useful and bring a lot of benefits to I.T. companies.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Because Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management is part of the broader Microsoft Defender family (including Defender XDR, Entra ID, Azure Security, Sentinel, etc.), it:
    Shares identity, endpoint, and threat context across tools
    Reduces the need for custom integrations or connectors
    Works in a “single pane of glass” experience for SOC analysts
    Why it matters:
    Organizations already invested in Microsoft security tools gain greater contextual insight and lower operational overhead.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Amazon AWS
    • Allows us to investigate any strange api actions
    • Increases security
    • Audit trail of changes made in AWS
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Reduced Business Risk from Unknown External Assets
    • Operational Efficiency and Cost Avoidance
    • Faster Risk Identification During Change Events
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    AWS CloudTrail Screenshots

    Screenshot of CloudTrail Insights: Identify and respond to unusual operational activity
•Unexpected spikes in resource provisioning
•Bursts of IAM management actions
•Gaps in periodic maintenance activity
•Automatic analysis of API calls and usage patterns
•Alerts when unusual activity is detected