If your company is into the Microsoft ecosystem, you might want to consider subscribing to the Microsoft 365 platform. Microsoft 365 is a cloud-first platform that gives you access to various services and tools like the Office Suite, OneDrive, Power apps, and of course Windows. Microsoft offers two main 365 plans: E3 and E5. From these two, you can choose the one that suits your company’s needs and budget.
These plans offer different sets of tools and features. It’s important to carefully examine them before deciding which plan is right for you. In this article, we’ll focus on comparing the security features and capabilities of each plan. By the end, you should have a clear idea of which plan meets your company’s security requirements.
Microsoft 365 E5 Vs E3 Overview
Microsoft 365 E3
Microsoft 365 E3 offers a comprehensive package catering to the core needs of most organizations. This plan grants users access to essential collaboration and productivity applications, ensuring seamless workflow. It incorporates all the core security features necessary for safeguarding organizational data.
All the included apps are available on both mobile and desktop platforms, ensuring flexibility in usage while on your desk or away from work. This plan also provides up to 1 TB of cloud storage. Priced at $36 per user per month, Microsoft 365 E3 serves as an entry-level option, making it particularly suitable for businesses that may not require advanced tools like PowerBI or the most advanced security features.
Microsoft 365 E5
Microsoft 365 E5 is a high-end offering tailored for enterprises with extensive needs. This plan includes all the collaboration and productivity apps available in the E3 plan, also available for both desktop and mobile versions. However, E5 gives you access to more apps and advanced security tools that are not available in E3.
Priced at $57 per user per month, the E5 plan is positioned for organizations that demand the full suite of Microsoft tools and advanced security features.
Microsoft 365 E5 vs E3 Security Capabilities
Core Security features in E3 and E5
These are core security features and tools that you will both plan.
- Microsoft Defender Antivirus: Microsoft Defender Antivirus is a comprehensive security solution that protects against various types of malware, including viruses and spyware. The antivirus engine employs real-time scanning and behavioral analysis to identify and neutralize potential threats before they can compromise the integrity of the system.
- Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (for email and files): Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is a tool designed to automatically identify and monitor sensitive data within emails and files. This tool utilizes deep content analysis to recognize and protect confidential information, preventing unauthorized access and mitigating the risk of data breaches.
- Microsoft Intune: Microsoft Intune is a mobile device management (MDM) and mobile application management (MAM) solution. It enables organizations to manage and secure mobile devices used by their workforce. Intune ensures that employees can be productive on their mobile devices while implementing policies to protect organizational data.
- BitLocker: BitLocker is a data encryption tool that addresses the threat of data theft or exposure resulting from lost, stolen, or decommissioned computers. It encrypts the data on storage drives, preventing unauthorized access even if the physical device is compromised.
- Microsoft Security and Compliance Center: The Microsoft Security and Compliance Center serves as a centralized repository for monitoring an organization’s overall compliance posture. It provides insights into compliance status, recommends actions to improve compliance, and allows admins to configure settings to meet complex compliance requirements.
- Windows Defender Credential Guard: Windows Defender Credential Guard is a security feature designed to protect derived domain credentials. It isolates and safeguards these credentials from potential attacks, particularly those aiming to exploit vulnerabilities in credential-based authentication.
- Microsoft Secure Score: Microsoft Secure Score is a tool that provides a centralized dashboard for organizations to assess and improve their security posture. It assigns a score based on implemented security measures and recommends actions to enhance security.
- Windows Information Protection: Windows Information Protection is a data leakage prevention feature that helps prevent accidental data leaks on both enterprise and personal devices. It achieves this by distinguishing between corporate and personal data and applying appropriate access and encryption controls to prevent unintentional sharing or leakage of sensitive information.
- Device Guard: Device Guard is a security tool that helps prevent malicious code from running on your Windows devices. It ensures that only known, trusted, and signed applications can be executed, minimizing the risk of malware and unauthorized software compromising the system.
Extra Security features you get with E5
These are the security features that exclusive to the Microsoft E5 plan
- Microsoft Defender for Endpoint: Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a unified endpoint security platform that scales your security measures. With this tool, all your endpoint devices on various platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS are protected.
- Microsoft Defender for Identity: Microsoft Defender for Identity is a cloud-based solution designed to protect your organization’s identities from various advanced and targeted cyberattacks. By continuously monitoring and analyzing user activities, it helps detect and respond to potential security threats related to identity compromise.
- Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps: With Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, you gain visibility into the applications used within your organization. This tool enables you to identify and combat cyber threats, monitor data travel in real time, and implement controls to ensure the secure use of cloud-based applications.
- Microsoft Purview eDiscovery: Microsoft Purview eDiscovery facilitates the quick and cost-effective discovery of relevant data within your organization. This feature is especially valuable for legal and compliance purposes, allowing you to efficiently locate and manage data for eDiscovery processes.
- Microsoft Defender XDR: Microsoft Defender XDR (Extended Detection and Response) enhances your organization’s defense against sophisticated attacks, including phishing and zero-day malware. It provides advanced threat protection and proactive measures to identify and neutralize emerging security threats.
- Azure Information Protection Plan 2: Azure Information Protection Plan 2 offers a comprehensive set of tools to discover, classify, label, and protect sensitive documents and emails. This helps organizations maintain control over their sensitive information, ensuring proper handling and protection.
- Information Protection and Governance: This tool helps identify risks by locating data and understanding how it’s used within the organization. It enables safeguarding data where it resides by configuring protection and retention labels, promoting better information protection and governance practices.
- Microsoft Entra ID P2 (formerly Azure Active Directory or Azure AD): Microsoft Entra ID P2 provides identity and access management solutions tailored for hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
- Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management: Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management intelligently identifies, investigates, and enables quick action on insider risks. This helps organizations mitigate the potential impact of insider threats by proactively monitoring and addressing the risky user behavior of your team.
Final Thoughts – Which One Should You Choose
Choosing between Microsoft 365 E3 and E5 can be challenging, especially if it’s your first time using the Microsoft 365 platform. As discussed in this article, the E3 plan, priced at $36 per user, offers all the major productivity and collaboration apps along with core security tools to protect you against common threats. For most businesses, this plan is sufficient, especially those in industries that don’t handle overly sensitive data.
However, if your business deals with a significant amount of sensitive and valuable information or operates in highly risky industries like healthcare, the $57 price for the E5 plan becomes a worthy investment. Tools such as Defender for Endpoint, Purview eDiscovery, and advanced threat-hunting tools like XDR provide advanced security measures that some businesses may need. Of course, it also gives access to all productivity apps such as Power BI that are not included in the E3 plan.
If you’re still unsure about the best plan that suits your needs or risk tolerance, consider reaching out to the WizardCyber team for assistance. Our experts will assess your organization’s operations and industry to help you choose the most appropriate plan that aligns with your security requirements.
