BeyondTrust Network Security Scanner, powered by Retina (Legacy) vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Retina Network Security Scanner is well suited for any environment and infrastructure that would like to expose security deficiencies across their network as well as visualize vulnerabilities as they pertain to assets in their environment. I cannot think of any scenario that would not be appropriate for this product. Since the product carries over to pretty much all assets in your environment, I don't know off the top of y head what it wouldn't be appropriate for.

Incentivized

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is very good at allowing users to see how their Azure environment is secure through the secure score. The recommendations are an excellent source of the controls that should be in place to ensure a secure environment. There needs to be more protection and features for data security.

Incentivized

• Besides the fact that Retina NSS performs the fundamental task of scanning all my network devices, one of the main strengths is the speed at which it scans. Time is money and I know people tent to wear that cliché out a bit, but when you are as small as we are of a team, every minute counts.
• We have utilized other network security scanners over the past 21 years and Retina NSS seems to have the smallest footprint with no evidence of scanning degrading performance of the devices scanned.
• They seem to update their database frequently enough that we notice a correlation of threats to discovery.
• There is a small learning curve, but overall, a seasoned IT professional can quickly get up and running in a few hours and get usable results quickly. This falls back on the speed at which Retina NSS scans. My previous network security scanners would sometimes take hours to complete a full vulnerability scan of between 250 - 400 devices, now it only takes a fraction of that time.

Incentivized

• Automation is crucial to managing sprawl and the additional complexity that comes with it. SOC management workbooks and process automation give significant flexibility.
• The Security posture score and Security Alerts are neatly centralized and offer me crucial information quickly.
• Defender for Cloud avoids the common compromise of simplicity for completeness (former Azure Security Center). The security warnings and advice go into great detail while remaining current and useful.

Incentivized

• I do not have any obvious cons to report at this time.

Incentivized

• UI/UX. It can get a little messy when navigating around with all the flyouts in the Azure portal which can be frustrating, particularly when under time pressure.
• The query languages for the queries and workbooks are another language that needs to be learned - it would be nice to have kept it closer to T-SQL or something like that to minimize the need to learn new syntax.
• Adding cost estimations to the security recommendations would really improve the experience.

Incentivized

It is a great product that integrates nicely when running an Azure platform and even multi-cloud environment. Not looking for point-solutions but a suite that answers most requirements. It is very comfortable being able to use KQL, workbooks and automation that is native to the azure platform

My visibility is limited because I'm only doing very small pieces of what the overall org does. And also, we have limitations on what we're allowed to use. It's not like we get a new product as users or leadership level users, and everything is on, and we can just do whatever we want. We're very restricted in what we can use any tooling within the org because of the different levels of regulatory constraints we have, because of just the nature of who we are inherently. So that's why. I don't think it's necessarily the product. I think it's more or less of what we're able to do with the product.

Incentivized

Retina Network Security Scanner is the only product we have used in our enterprise. I have used a product in the past called GFI LanGuard Network Security Scanner and while it did perform the functions of vulnerability testing, etc...it just wasn't nearly as refined as Retina NSS. It was slow and was not as lightweight as Retina as far as end-user detection.

Incentivized

Barracuda goes neck to neck with Microsoft Defender for Cloud in the anti-spam, anti-phishing email suite. But why I chose this product is because again, it's very well embedded with Microsoft technology, and we're a Microsoft shop, and it works well for us to use that product and have better visibility versus Barracuda being just an offshore, just a single product versus Microsoft Defender for Cloud being blended with other applications.

Incentivized

• The product is extremely easy to deploy, extremely positive.
• If you take full advantage of this product as I did, you will maximize your ROI quickly as we did.
• We were able to visualize our vulnerabilities efficiently and effectively and maintain scheduled scans that allowed us to maintain a continuous improvement atmosphere while securing our investments.
• The ability provide reporting allows our IT department to prioritize issues and remediate as required without chasing down low risk issues over high risk issues that need immediate attention.

Incentivized

• Ensuring compliance with data protection regulations can prevent costly fines and legal issues, positively impacting ROI.
• Effective cloud resource protection can optimize cloud spending and resource utilization, ultimately reducing cloud infrastructure costs.
• The subscription costs associated with Defender for Cloud can add to an organization's operational expenses, impacting ROI.
• Smaller organizations may find the feature set and complexity of Defender for Cloud unnecessary, potentially overinvesting in security solutions.

Incentivized