Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

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

It is well suited if your team is working with Microsoft tools and Azure services. but if you are using other cloud service providers and don't want to spend efforts in learning integration with third-party software then this is not a great fit for you. overall we are very satisfied with the product. If your corporation with Microsoft tools then I would recommend it.

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

• The integration to Microsoft Entra ID is seamless, which allows Conditional Access to redirect the session to Microsoft Defender for Cloud App for it to take actions (Block or Monitor).
• Tracker users' activity is very good when troubleshooting or running an investigate.
• Detecting risky users through tight integration with Microsoft Entra ID is a very good feature.
• Detecting mass downloads and blocking the download of files from non-manage company devices is a very good feature as well.

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

• Cloud discovery throws away found services not found in the MCAS database of SaaS apps.
• Many panes of glass required for a fully enabled implementation to administer, configure and utilize 100% of the product.
• Room for improvement in the reporting realm - not enough records are visible and exportable for high record count policy reports.

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

The interface is pretty simple and easy to use; however, you will need to do a lot of investigative research on your own to get comfortable with it. Originally, many of the Microsoft security tools had their own seperate consoles. Overtime, they have blended into one interface which is the ideal state. In some cases it is clear Microsoft had to pick which console a certain feature or setting was going to reside in and this leads to some confusion. For example, DLP is managed through Defender for Cloud Apps but you will also need to jump into Purview. For things like reverse proxy on your M365 tenant, you will need to go into Azure and setup conditional access rules. Not a big problem and I can understand why the settings are located where they are but for someone just starting out with Defender for Cloud Apps, it will take some time to figure out.

Incentivized

I have not utilized actual support but the Sales and Product teams have been super helpful in moving our implementation forward and showing us the best practices.

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

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps stacks up against Netskope. There are areas in which Netskope offers more insights into web traffic however because of the tight integration to the Microsoft ecosystem is one of the reasons why we choose Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps. It also offered savings. We didn't have to invest in another tool to gain the benefits of a CASB. For productivity tools we use Micorosft Office 365 and therefore Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps provides very good insight into these applications because of the tight integration with the Microsoft ecosystem. These are both Microsoft products.

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

• It has good features which helps our organization to quickly fix challenges.
• It depends on the requirements. Certain requirements are really complex.
• The deployment itself is quite fast because [Microsoft Cloud App Security] is on the cloud, but there are a lot of requirements from the regulations and the bank's standards perspective.

Incentivized