Overview
Wizard Cyber partnered with a well-established organisation in the financial intelligence sector to deliver a Modern Security Operations Envisioning Workshop. The primary goal was to assess their current security infrastructure and provide practical insights into how Microsoft’s Unified Security Operations Platform can help modernise their threat detection and response capabilities.
By exploring the integration of Microsoft Sentinel, Defender XDR, and Entra ID, the engagement demonstrated how financial services organisations can achieve enhanced threat visibility, operational efficiency, and compliance support within a highly regulated industry.
Customer Goals
The customer was focused on achieving the following outcomes:
- Strengthen detection and investigation across identities, endpoints, and cloud environments
- Gain unified visibility and control across Microsoft 365 and Azure platforms
- Investigate opportunities for automating SOC workflows
- Understand data management, ingestion, and cost modelling for Microsoft Sentinel in a scalable way
Wizard Cyber’s Approach
Following Microsoft’s official methodology, Wizard Cyber designed and delivered a tailored workshop to help the customer understand and test the capabilities of Microsoft’s security stack within their business context.Key Activities Included:
Discovery & Strategic Scoping
We initiated the engagement by working with stakeholders to identify key security use cases and align the workshop focus to their risk landscape and operational goals.
Delivery of Core Workshop Modules
All mandatory modules outlined in Microsoft’s Modern SecOps workshop were covered in depth:
- Defender XDR & Unified SecOps Platform
Showcased how security tools operate cohesively, providing a centralised incident and response workflow across platforms. - Identity-Based Threat Detection
Demonstrated how Microsoft Entra ID and Defender for Identity identify compromised accounts, lateral movement, and privilege misuse. - Threat Detection in Microsoft 365 Apps
Focused on risks and advanced threats within email, Teams, and collaboration tools frequently targeted in financial services. - Threat Monitoring in Azure
Analysed telemetry and threat indicators from Azure services, revealing insights into cloud-native attack surfaces. - Threat Intelligence Integration
Highlighted Microsoft’s built-in threat intelligence capabilities, providing additional context and prioritisation during investigations.
Optional Module: SOC Automation
We presented use cases for automated response playbooks, enabling more consistent handling of alerts and reducing time-to-response for high-frequency events.
Interactive Threat Simulations
Using active Microsoft licences and lab environments, Wizard Cyber guided the customer through real-world detection and investigation scenarios, simulating threats across hybrid infrastructure and Microsoft 365 services.
Key Outcomes
- Enhanced Visibility Across the Attack Surface: The organisation gained greater insight into its identity, endpoint, and cloud environments.
- Increased Operational Maturity: Automation concepts and integrations helped support a more streamlined and responsive SOC workflow.
- Stronger Security Platform Alignment: The customer validated Microsoft Sentinel and Defender XDR as viable solutions for improving detection and response across their ecosystem.
- Clear Next Steps: Wizard Cyber delivered a comprehensive roadmap aligned with their environment, helping plan for future implementation and scale.
Next Steps Provided
As part of the final deliverables, Wizard Cyber provided strategic recommendations tailored to the customer’s business and security needs, including:
- A deployment roadmap for Microsoft Sentinel
- Data ingestion and retention strategy aligned with compliance and cost-efficiency
- Licensing options and optimisation guidance
- Actionable next steps for further automation and integration across their SOC
Conclusion
This workshop reinforced how Microsoft’s Unified SecOps platform can meet the demands of complex, data-driven organisations in the financial services sector. Wizard Cyber helped the customer explore how Microsoft Security tools can reduce risk, improve operational agility, and support long-term cyber resilience.