“Backbone” for businesses in a security crisis

As cyber attack tools increase in size, so do our defenses. That’s why Microsoft is strengthening security services to go along with its technology products. Because security is inherently Microsoft’s fastest-growing broad product portfolio.

Microsoft’s security business is growing faster than any of its major products, and the company is now powering its offerings with three new services designed to help organizations enterprises detect and respond to network security incidents.

Microsoft is one of the leaders in cloud infrastructure and software, which means its technology has become the backbone for many businesses of all sizes. That puts the company in a position to not only provide secure software to its customer base, but also provide consulting-oriented services in a market where demand far exceeds supply.

The investment comes as organizations ramp up their security spending to manage the growing threats of ransomware attacks and cyber hacks. Last year, Microsoft and other tech companies pledged to help fill about 500,000 cybersecurity jobs in the US, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said annual spending on research and development in the field Cybersecurity will increase from 1 billion USD to 4 billion USD.

The security industry already represents Microsoft’s $15 billion annual business, and by 2021 it’s growing faster than any other key product or service the company has sold. .

Vasu Jakkal, corporate vice president of security-focused Microsoft, told CNBC that a large portion of Microsoft’s additional spending is on people. “We’re just scaling because of the needs we’re seeing,” Jakkal said.

Among the new products being launched is Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting for customers who have a strong security operations center but want Microsoft to help them proactively find threats on Microsoft Defender data, including including across endpoints, Office 365, cloud apps and identity, and other identity programs.

At this service, you can consult a Microsoft expert on a specific incident, country agent or attack vector with a simple click. You will also receive specific recommendations to help you understand and improve your security posture. Defender Expert for Hunting is coming summer 2022 and you can request to join the preview now. The launch of this service will put Microsoft in more direct competition with pure security software companies like CrowdStrike.

The second is Microsoft’s Protection Expert, managed extensibility detection and response (XDR), for customers who need to expand the capacity of their security operations center. It is also a managed extensibility detection and response (XDR) service that extends beyond endpoints to provide detection and response capabilities across Microsoft 365, alarm investigation, and automation usage. and the people expertise to respond to incidents, along with your business team. Thanks to that, your business always controls and reduces costs, limiting manual processes. Microsoft Defender Expert Services for XDR will move into preview in the fall of 2022.

Finally, large enterprises looking for more comprehensive, highly touch-managed services from Microsoft experts will benefit from Microsoft Security Services for Business. This comprehensive expert-led service combines proactive threat discovery and XDR management, leveraging Microsoft’s complete security intelligence and event management (SIEM) and XDR stack to protect all cloud environments and all platforms. Microsoft’s dedicated security experts manage the rollout, day-to-day interactions, modernized practices, and incident response for your business.

Craig Robinson, a security analyst at IDC, says Microsoft is poised to gain market share in managed security services. “The whole region is growing at double-digit rates,” said Robinson.

One of Microsoft’s top cloud competitors, Google, is also looking to grow in this area. In March, Google announced its intention to acquire Mandiant for $5.4 billion. Bloomberg reported in February that Microsoft was in talks to buy Mandiant, which for years has helped government agencies and companies hit by cyberattacks. With its new services, Microsoft now has to scale to meet demand. “I’m sure there are 1,000 openings at Microsoft right now, at least in terms of cybersecurity,” says Robinson.

Microsoft hopes their managed security services will be used by businesses struggling to fulfill cybersecurity roles. Last year, Microsoft estimated there were more than 460,000 open cybersecurity roles in the US, representing 6% of all unfilled jobs nationwide.

Highlighting his scale, Microsoft says it employs more than 8,500 security professionals and is investing $20 billion in security over the next five years. The company is also actively monitoring more than 35 ransomware groups and 250 other independent cyber threat actors.