Microsoft is the biggest security company you’ve never heard of – and the breadth and strength of their security platform is proof. If you’re still not convinced, see what Gartner had to say.
Despite being best known for business productivity and desktop solutions, Microsoft spends over $1billion each year on security research and development, integrating those breakthroughs into the products and services you rely on every day.
That continued investment sees Microsoft Security continue to be named a Leader in four Magic Quadrants by Gartner. This achievement recognises vendors who demonstrate continued effort in execution and vision, with a strong focus on developing technology, and meeting the needs of their customers now and in the future.
The four security areas in which Microsoft has been named a leader are as follows:
- Access Management
- Enterprise Information Archiving
- Security Information and Event Management
- Endpoint Protection Platforms
Microsoft delivering best of breed AND best of suite
Microsoft’s strength in these areas is not in isolation either, one of the key priorities for Microsoft has been to ensure that their solutions integrate smoothly to provide greater cohesion and visibility.
Because of the scale of the technology they build and operate, Microsoft are able to capture diversity of threat signals all the way from sensors through to clients and to the back–end cloud services and share that data with their customers.
A Leader in Access Management
(2)
A Leader in Enterprise Information Archiving
Microsoft’s archiving solution is built on the Microsoft 365 SaaS platform, and it was released in October 2015. Microsoft’s EIA solution is designed for a variety of digital communication and user/application-generated data sources. It operates worldwide, and its clients tend to be MSEs to large enterprises across multiple vertical industries.
During the past 12 months, Microsoft has added expanded support to multiple sources outside of Microsoft 365; Compliance Manager customer-focused assessments; and the ability to collect and review encrypted content from SharePoint and OneDrive. Microsoft is best-suited for in-place archiving, records management, regulatory compliance, e-discovery and end-user archiving. (3)
A Leader in Security Information and Event Management
Microsoft’s SIEM product, Microsoft Sentinel, is delivered only as SaaS via Microsoft’s Azure data centers. Microsoft has a large and diverse customer base, catering for large and small customers alike, and offering the SIEM product in multiple settings internationally. Licensing is based on the volume of data ingested, via reserved capacity, or pay-as-you-go. However, many of the Microsoft enterprise tiers for Microsoft 365 include credit for Sentinel and Defender usage. (4)
A Leader in Endpoint Protection Platforms
Microsoft offers a collection of Defender-branded EPP/EDR capabilities across two license tiers in its Defender for Endpoint offering. The base Microsoft Defender Antivirus is included with Windows OS licenses. Threat and vulnerability management, attack surface reduction, EDR, and an increasing array of direct managed services are available in various licensing options.
Microsoft is expanding its security capabilities to macOS, Linux and mobile OSs, as well as solutions for IoT devices. The Microsoft Defender Security Center provides an out-of-the-box XDR capability across Microsoft’s security products (EPP/EDR, SEG, cloud access security broker, IoT and Active Directory) complete with automated paybook actions. Microsoft’s Sentinel SIEM/SOAR solutions can expand on the security center workflow through integration with third-party vendors. Both Sentinel and Defender for Endpoint solutions benefit from integration with Microsoft’s UEM, and from Azure capability. (5)
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* This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Microsoft.
1. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
GARTNER and Magic Quadrant are registered trademarks and service marks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
2. Gartner Magic Quadrant for Access Management, Henrique Teixeira | Abhyuday Data | Michael Kelley | James Hoover | Brian Guthrie, 1 November 2022.
3. Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Information Archiving, Michael Hoeff | Jeff Vogel | Chandra Mukhyala, 24 January 2022.
4. Gartner Magic Quadrant for Security Information and Event Management, Pete Shoard | Andrew Davies | Mitchell Schneider, 10 October 2022
5. Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection Platforms, Peter Firstbrook | Chris Silva, 31 December 2022.
