Defender (Security)

Endpoint, email and identity protection tuned for real-world threats — with policies that balance security and usability.

Endpoint (EDR) Email & links Identity Threat policies Hunting

From noisy alerts → actionable signal

Before

Too many low-value alerts and email noise.
No triage rules; everything is “urgent”.
Incidents lack owners or playbooks.

After

Tuned policies and suppression for known-good.
Severity thresholds and routing to the right queue.
Documented playbooks and auto-isolation where safe.

Outcome: fewer false positives, faster MTTR.

From risky email → Safe Links & detonation

Before

Malicious URLs slip through traditional filters.
Users open unknown attachments.
No post-delivery remediation.

After

Time-of-click URL scanning (Safe Links).
Sandbox detonation (Safe Attachments) with policy scopes.
ZAP and AIR for post-delivery clean-up.

Outcome: fewer successful phish, rapid containment.

From weak endpoints → hardened & monitored

Before

Local admin sprawl and inconsistent AV settings.
No ASR, no tamper protection.
Poor visibility of exposure and risk.

After

Defender for Endpoint with EDR, AV & tamper protection.
ASR rules, Controlled Folder Access, PUA protection.
Device exposure score and Secure Score improvements.

Outcome: lower attack surface, measurable posture gains.

Example security building blocks we ship fast

MDE onboarding

Policies + EDR

MDO policies

Safe Links/Attachments

Identity protection

MFA & CA

ASR hardening

Baselines via Intune

How we build (Defender)

Discover

estate • threats • gaps

Review current Defender setup, identity/email posture, and endpoint coverage. Agree priorities and risk appetite.

Licences & coverageThreat modelRoles & triageSuccess criteria

Output: quick wins list + roadmap.

Design

policies • scopes • CA

Map policy scopes and exceptions, alert routing, and Conditional Access. Define playbooks and owner responsibilities.

Safe Links/AttachmentsEDR baselinesAlert routingConditional Access

Output: policy matrix + rollout rings.

Build

deploy • tune • hunt

Deploy policies, enable tamper protection & ASR, tune suppressions, and set up advanced hunting queries/dashboards.

ASR + tamperSuppression rulesHunting queriesDashboards

Output: pilot tenants/groups + reports.

Ship

handover & run

Promote to production, document runbooks and response flows, and hand over with review dates and owners.

Pipelines to ProdRunbooks & docsTrainingReview date

Output: go-live checklist + secure defaults.

Defender — FAQ

What Defender components do you set up?

Defender for Endpoint (EDR/AV), Defender for Office 365 (Safe Links/Attachments, anti-phish), and identity protections tied into Conditional Access.

Can we run Defender alongside another AV?

Yes — Defender can run in passive or active mode depending on your stack. We configure tamper protection and safe exclusions.

How do you tune alerts to avoid noise?

Policy baselines, suppression for known-good events, severity thresholds, and routing alerts to Teams/Email or your SIEM.

Safe Links and Safe Attachments — what’s the benefit?

Time-of-click URL scanning and sandbox detonation stop late-breaking threats. We also enable ZAP/AIR for post-delivery remediation.

Do you enable Attack Surface Reduction (ASR) rules?

Yes — we start in Audit to assess impact, then enforce high-value rules (e.g., block Office child processes), adding targeted exclusions only when necessary.

Email auth: SPF, DKIM, DMARC?

We align all three, set a sensible DMARC policy, monitor, and then move to enforcement to reduce spoofing and brand abuse.

Can Defender integrate with Intune and Entra?

Yes — device risk informs Conditional Access (block/quarantine non-compliant or high-risk). Intune enforces Defender settings and onboarding.

Do we need Defender for Business or Plan 2?

SMBs often fit Defender for Business (in Business Premium). Advanced hunting and some EDR features require Plan 2 — we’ll recommend per need and licence mix.

What reporting do we get?

Device exposure score, Secure Score deltas, email threat trends, and incident timelines. We can schedule summaries to stakeholders.

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