Overview
Wizard Cyber partnered with a respected housing organisation in the UK to deliver a Modern Security Operations Envisioning Workshop. The focus was to assess their current cybersecurity approach and introduce them to Microsoft’s unified security ecosystem — designed to improve visibility, automate detection and response, and reduce complexity across their security operations.
The session demonstrated how Microsoft Sentinel, Defender XDR, and Entra ID work together to deliver a streamlined, cloud-native security solution tailored to meet the unique needs of housing and public service providers.
Customer Goals
The organisation’s key goals were to:
- Expand visibility into potential threats across users, endpoints, cloud services, and communication platforms
- Evaluate Microsoft’s integrated tools as a foundation for a more efficient and proactive SOC
- Identify ways to reduce manual effort through automation
- Gain clarity on deployment, ingestion strategies, and cost management for Microsoft Sentinel
Wizard Cyber’s Approach
Wizard Cyber executed the workshop following Microsoft’s official framework, adapting the experience to fit the customer’s technical landscape and priorities.Key Activities Included:
Discovery & Objective Alignment
We began by conducting planning sessions to uncover the organisation’s top security concerns, ensuring the workshop would address their real-world needs.
Core Security Modules Delivered
All mandatory components of the Modern SecOps workshop were successfully covered:
- Microsoft Defender XDR / Unified SecOps Integration
We demonstrated how Microsoft’s tools work together to provide unified incident visibility and correlation. - Identity Threat Detection
Focused on highlighting identity-based attack detection and investigation using Microsoft Entra ID and Defender for Identity. - Communication & Collaboration Threat Detection
Explored security risks across Microsoft 365 apps such as Exchange, SharePoint, and Teams. - Azure Threat Detection
Provided insight into threat activity within their Azure environment using Microsoft Sentinel's analytics. - Threat Intelligence
Showed how built-in threat intelligence helps uncover and contextualise threats in real time.
Optional Module: SOC Automation
We explored the value of Sentinel playbooks to help the organisation standardise incident response and reduce human intervention during common alerts.
Real-World Demonstrations
By using available Microsoft licences and trials, we guided the customer through real-life threat scenarios to show how the tools can be applied in a live environment.
Key Outcomes
- Broader Security Visibility:
The customer gained greater clarity over their security landscape, improving coverage across hybrid workloads and Microsoft 365. - Streamlined Operations:
Automation workflows and integration strategies helped reduce response times and improve SOC productivity. - Platform Validation:
The organisation confirmed Microsoft’s stack as a scalable and effective option for their evolving security needs. - Custom Recommendations:
Wizard Cyber delivered actionable insights to support the organisation's continued security maturity and adoption of Microsoft tools.
Next Steps Provided
Wizard Cyber delivered a tailored roadmap that included:
- Guidance for onboarding Microsoft Sentinel
- Recommendations on data ingestion and retention to meet compliance and cost-efficiency goals
- Licensing insights and budgeting support
- Advice on next phases of SOC integration and automation
Conclusion
This engagement demonstrated how Microsoft’s Unified Security Operations Platform can be adapted to support the needs of housing associations and public service organisations. With Wizard Cyber’s expertise, the customer now has a clearer path to enhancing their cybersecurity capabilities through automation, visibility, and integration.