Microsoft Defender for Identity vs. Varonis Data Security Platform

Microsoft Defender for Identity is a great solution for each company that has an Active Directory. It fills in the blanks for Identity related incidents that are being missed in the XDR platform. To get a full view on identity risks it is an essential component

The most highlighted feature of Varonis Data Security Platform is the data analyzing mechanism. It analyzes your data all the time with some special algorithms to detect any unusual activities so that it can identify any unusual behavior or users and
take necessary action to save your sensitive data. They also offer a complete dashboard solution for their customers to control across different data stores, see their current state, and any security breaches to be addressed manually.

Incentivized

• detect threats and suspicious activities
• pro-active measurements on possible breaches
• identity security posture

• Varonis logging is very robust and captures all audit events being sent from the file servers.
• The ability to report and alert on Active Directory account events works very well with file activity monitoring. It can show the complete picture of what an account did while being used.
• Have a customizable dashboard is great for being able to show upper management information that only pertains to them.

• setup can be complicated, with AD complexity
• Sometimes the load on DCs is pretty high, leading to performance issues
• Better tuning options for preventing false-positive/bening alerts

• Implementation can be challenging in some areas and can only be executed by the vendor
• Implementation can only be executed by the vendor and additional work can be chargeable
• Licensing can be improved upon
• Agent based so implementation can be longer than expected

Incentivized

Because the tool delivers on its promises and forces us to explore each functionality. Using the tool leads us to seek more knowledge and apply it to our environment, mitigating risks, reducing the attack surface, increasing the team's technical knowledge, and boosting team growth. It also demonstrates to senior management that the tool is extremely necessary for the environment.

Support has always been very responsive and addressed any issues we may have had in the past. Some local engineers are willing to come onsite or work over a web session to discuss creating a new rule set or look at some issues. Getting issues address has never been a problem. There was one feature we had trouble getting to function correctly, but support and local engineers were willing to work with us as much as needed to get it working correctly for our organization.

Incentivized

Microsoft Defender for Identity is more specialized on the Identity platform, it is a single solution compared to a multi-solution. The integration is better when using the XDR suite in combination with Sentinel. Microsoft Defender for Identity gives a better overview of the security posture

Actually, we didn't expend much time evaluating other file auditing platforms. We chose Varonis just after a serious incident and we had already heard about Varonis at a Netapp event. So it was an easy choice. We called Varonis and asked them for a PoC, that's it. The PoC became a production and it is running until this day.

Incentivized

• Cost impact was pretty high
• Learning curve, needed time (money) for training
• Greatly improved detections and gives more insights

• We have identified data classifications issues that our organization was not aware of prior to the implementation.
• The tool does take a dedicated resource for it to be effective.
• Varonis has improved the speed with which we can fulfill audit requests, leaving us more time for other tasks.

Incentivized