Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs Microsoft Defender for Identity comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Microsoft Defender for Identity based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Microsoft Security Suite solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Microsoft Defender for Identity Report (Updated: May 2024).
772,679 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The most valuable features are ransomware protection and access controls. The solution has helped us secure some folders on our systems from unauthorized modifications.""Good compliance policies.""It isn't a highly complex solution. It's something that a lot of analysts can use. Defender gives you a broad overview of what's happening in your environment, and it's a great solution if you're a Microsoft shop.""Threat protection is comprehensive and simple.""The first valuable feature was the fact that it gave us a list of everything that users were surfing on the web. Having the list, we could make decisions about those sites.""It's quite a good product. It helps to understand the infections and issues you are facing.""The vulnerability reporting is helpful. When we initially deployed Defender, it reported many more threats than we currently see. It gave us insight into areas we had not previously considered, so we knew where we needed to act.""The most valuable feature is that it's intuitive. It's very intuitive."

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"Microsoft Defender for Identity provides excellent visibility into threats by leveraging real-time analytics and data intelligence.""The basic security monitoring at its core feature is the most valuable aspect. But also the investigative parts, the historical logging of events over the network are extremely interesting because it gives an in-depth insight into the history of account activity that is really easy to read, easy to follow, and easy to export.""The most valuable aspect is its connection to Microsoft Sentinel and Defender for Endpoint, and giving exact timelines for incidents and when certain events occured during an incident.""Defender for Identity has not affected the end-user experience.""The feature I like the most about Defender for Identity is the entity tags. They give you the ability to identify sensitive accounts, devices, and groups. You also have honeytoken entities, which are devices that are identified as "bait" for fraudulent actors.""One of our users had the same password for every personal and company account. That was a problem because she started receiving phishing emails that could compromise all of her accounts. Defender told us that the user was not changing their password.""The best feature is security monitoring, which detects and investigates suspicious user activities. It can easily detect advanced attacks based on the behavior. The credentials are securely stored, so it reduces the risk of compromise. It will monitor user behavior based on artificial intelligence to protect the identities in your organization. It will even help secure the on-premise Active Directory. It syncs from the cloud to on-premise, and on-premise modifications will be reflected in the cloud.""The solution offers excellent visibility into threats."

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Cons
"The solution's portal is very easy to use, but there's one key component that is missing when it comes to managing policies. For example, if I've onboarded my server and I need to specify antivirus policies, there's no option to do that on the portal. I will have to go to Intune to deploy them. That is one main aspect that is missing and it's worrisome.""Azure is a complex solution. You have so many moving parts.""When you work with it, the only problem that we're struggling with is that we have 21 different subscriptions we're trying to apply security to. It's impossible to keep everything organized.""There is no perfect product in the world and there are always features that can be added.""It needs to be simplified and made more user-friendly for a non-technical person.""From my own perspective, they just need a product that is tailored to micro-segmentation so I can configure rules for multiple systems at once and manage it.""Customizing some of the compliance requirements based on individual needs seems like the biggest area of improvement. There should be an option to turn specific controls on and off based on how your solution is configured.""The documentation could be much clearer."

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"I would like to be able to do remediation from the platform because it is just a scanner right now. If you onboard a device, it shows you what is happening, but you can't use it to fix things. You need to go into the system to fix it instead.""The tracking instance needs to be configured appropriately.""Defender for Identity gives us visibility, but we often get false positives from Azure that take us down the garden path. We go through 30 incidents each day and most of those are false positives or benign positive alerts. Occasionally, we get true positive alerts.""We observe a lot of false positives. Sometimes, when we go for a coffee break, we lock our screens. Locking the screen has a separate Windows event ID and sometimes I see it is detected as a failed login.""There is no option to remedy an issue directly from the console. If we see an alert, we can't fix it from the console. Instead, we must depend on other Microsoft products, such as MDE. That is a significant drawback. It simply works as a scanner, which can sometimes put enough load on the sensors. Immediate actions should be possible from the dashboard because. It can prevent issues from spreading further.""The impact of the sensors on the domain controllers can be quite high depending on your loads. I don't know if there's any room for improvement there, but that's one of the things that might be improved.""One potential area for improvement could be exploring flexibility in the installation of Microsoft Defender for Identity agents.""And when you are working in a priority IP address, Identity is not able to know that those IPs are from the company. It sees that the IPs are from Taiwan or from Hong Kong or from India, even though they are internal IPs, resulting in a lot of false positives."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "I'm not privy to that information, but I know it's probably close to a million dollars a year."
  • "We are using the free version of the Azure Security Center."
  • "Azure Defender is a bit pricey. The price could be lower."
  • "This is a worldwide service and depending on the country, there will be different prices."
  • "Security Center charges $15 per resource for any workload that you onboard into it. They charge per VM or per data-base server or per application. It's not like Microsoft 365 licensing, where there are levels like E3 and E5. Security Center is pretty straightforward."
  • "There is a helpful cost-reducing option that allows you to integrate production subscriptions with non-production subscriptions."
  • "Its pricing is a little bit high in terms of Azure Security Center, but the good thing is that we don't need to maintain and deploy it. So, while the pricing is high, it is native to Azure which is why we prefer using this tool."
  • "I am not involved in this area. However, I believe its price is okay because even small customers are using Azure Security Center. I don't think it is very expensive."
  • More Microsoft Defender for Cloud Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "You won't be able to change your tenants from where you deploy them. For example, if you select Canada, they will charge you based on Canadian pricing. If you are also in London, when you deploy in Canada, the pound is higher than Canadian dollars, but your platform resources are billable in Canadian dollars. Using your pounds to pay for any of these things will be cheaper. Or, if you deploy in London, they will charge you based on your local currency."
  • "Defender for Identity is a little more expensive than other Microsoft products. Identity and Microsoft Defender for Cloud are both a bit costly."
  • "The product is costly, and we had multiple discussions with accounting to receive a discounted rate. However, on the open market, the tool is expensive."
  • "It is very affordable considering that other SIEM solutions are much more expensive and have many more licensing restrictions and fees."
  • More Microsoft Defender for Identity Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Azure Security Center is very easy to use, integrates well, and gives very good visibility on what is happening across your ecosystem. It also has great remote workforce capabilities and supports a… more »
    Top Answer:The entire Defender Suite is tightly coupled, integrated, and collaborative.
    Top Answer:Our clients complain about the cost of Microsoft Defender for Cloud. Microsoft needs to bring the cost down. What we're doing to their detriment is simply lowering the amount of log retention we're… more »
    Top Answer:Microsoft Defender for Identity provides excellent visibility into threats by leveraging real-time analytics and data intelligence.
    Top Answer:One potential area for improvement could be exploring flexibility in the installation of Microsoft Defender for Identity agents. Currently, it is mandatory to install the agent on the on-premises… more »
    Top Answer:Microsoft Defender for Identity is like a personal security guard for our organization's identity. It keeps a close eye on how we use our identities across both on-premises and Azure Active Directory… more »
    Ranking
    2nd
    Views
    9,701
    Comparisons
    7,384
    Reviews
    20
    Average Words per Review
    1,073
    Rating
    8.0
    8th
    Views
    5,725
    Comparisons
    3,233
    Reviews
    9
    Average Words per Review
    956
    Rating
    8.9
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Microsoft Azure Security Center, Azure Security Center, Microsoft ASC, Azure Defender
    Azure Advanced Threat Protection, Azure ATP, MS Defender for Identity
    Learn More
    Interactive Demo
    Overview

    Microsoft Defender for Cloud is a comprehensive security solution that provides advanced threat protection for cloud workloads. It offers real-time visibility into the security posture of cloud environments, enabling organizations to quickly identify and respond to potential threats. With its advanced machine learning capabilities, Microsoft Defender for Cloud can detect and block sophisticated attacks, including zero-day exploits and fileless malware.

    The solution also provides automated remediation capabilities, allowing security teams to quickly and easily respond to security incidents. With Microsoft Defender for Cloud, organizations can ensure the security and compliance of their cloud workloads, while reducing the burden on their security teams.

    Microsoft Defender for Identity is a comprehensive security solution that helps organizations protect their identities and detect potential threats. It leverages advanced analytics and machine learning to provide real-time visibility into user activities, enabling proactive identification of suspicious behavior. 

    With its powerful detection capabilities, it can identify various types of attacks, including brute force, pass-the-hash, and golden ticket attacks. The solution also offers rich reporting and alerting capabilities, allowing security teams to quickly respond to incidents and mitigate risks. By continuously monitoring user activities and providing actionable insights, Microsoft Defender for Identity helps organizations strengthen their security posture and safeguard their sensitive data.

    Sample Customers
    Microsoft Defender for Cloud is trusted by companies such as ASOS, Vatenfall, SWC Technology Partners, and more.
    Microsoft Defender for Identity is trusted by companies such as St. Luke’s University Health Network, Ansell, and more.
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company24%
    Agriculture10%
    Consumer Goods Company10%
    Recruiting/Hr Firm10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Financial Services Firm13%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Government7%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Computer Software Company15%
    Financial Services Firm14%
    Government8%
    Manufacturing Company7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business27%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise62%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business20%
    Midsize Enterprise15%
    Large Enterprise65%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business17%
    Midsize Enterprise17%
    Large Enterprise67%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business21%
    Midsize Enterprise16%
    Large Enterprise63%
    Buyer's Guide
    Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Microsoft Defender for Identity
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Microsoft Defender for Identity and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    772,679 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Microsoft Defender for Cloud is ranked 2nd in Microsoft Security Suite with 46 reviews while Microsoft Defender for Identity is ranked 8th in Microsoft Security Suite with 13 reviews. Microsoft Defender for Cloud is rated 8.0, while Microsoft Defender for Identity is rated 9.0. The top reviewer of Microsoft Defender for Cloud writes "Provides multi-cloud capability, is plug-and-play, and improves our security posture". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Microsoft Defender for Identity writes "Offers robust protection from insider threats, but the customer support is poor". Microsoft Defender for Cloud is most compared with AWS GuardDuty, Prisma Cloud by Palo Alto Networks, Microsoft Defender XDR, Wiz and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, whereas Microsoft Defender for Identity is most compared with Microsoft Entra ID Protection, Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Microsoft Entra Verified ID, Splunk User Behavior Analytics and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. See our Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Microsoft Defender for Identity report.

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    We monitor all Microsoft Security Suite reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.