Why Businesses Are Moving To Microsoft Sentinel

We now know that a SIEM is needed by many organisations to centrally manage all the alerts generated by the business systems, devices and services. Historically there have been many on-premises SIEM’s on the market and the business usually went with the SIEM recommended by their chosen MSSP based on their requirements and based on Gartner recognition  Microsoft developed their own Cloud ready SIEM ahead of everyone on the market and released this as a Free Service to their existing customers. Microsoft Sentinel (which was formerly Azure Sentinel) is free to use and free to ingest logs from many Microsoft services  Microsoft Sentinel provides enterprise-wide threat information and intelligent security analytics. For attack detection, threat awareness, proactive hunting, and threat response, Microsoft Sentinel offers a unified solution. 

Here are some of the reasons why organisations are moving to Microsoft Sentinel: 

• SIEM is recognised as a Leader in the SIEM space as recognised by Gartner 
• For a relatively new player in the SIEM and Cyber Security space Microsoft are rapidly becoming Gartner recognised Leaders in all the cyber security Magic Quadrants, therefore experienced 
• Comprehensive protection – get end-to-end visibility across your resources, users, devices, applications and infrastructure 
• Ability to detect sophisticated threats 
• Ability to investigate prioritized incidents 
• Facilitate quick and effective action 

What is Microsoft Sentinel? 

Microsoft Sentinel, formerly Azure Sentinel, is a scalable, cloud-native solution that provides: 

• Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) 
• Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) 

Enterprise-wide threat information and intelligent security analytics are provided by Microsoft Sentinel. You may obtain a single solution for attack detection, threat visibility, proactive hunting, and threat response with Microsoft Sentinel  Microsoft Sentinel gives a bird’s eye perspective of the entire organisation, reducing the stress caused by more complex assaults, high alert volumes, and lengthy resolution times 

How Does Microsoft Sentinel Work? 

• Collects data at cloud scale from all users, hardware, software, and infrastructure, both locally and across many clouds 
• Detect threats that have previously gone undiscovered and reduce false positives using analytics and unrivaled threat intelligence from Microsoft 
• Investigate threats using artificial intelligence and look for unusual activity at scale, utilizing decades of Microsoft cyber security work 
• Respond to crises quickly with integrated orchestration and automation of routine processes 

What is Microsoft Sentinel Used For? 

Microsoft Sentinel is key to implementing Microsoft Security and XDR or MDR services within an organisation Historically an organisation would regularly change their SIEM provider when they change their MSSP, and the SIEM setup stays with the MSSP  Any MSSP implementing Microsoft Sentinel for an organisation leaves the SIEM with the organisation when the MSSP contract ends  Once an organisation switches to Microsoft Sentinel they expect to remain with it as opposed to switching to another SIEM after the contract finishes 

Why do I Need to Use Multiple Microsoft Sentinel Workspaces? 

Your first action after installing Microsoft Sentinel is to choose your Log Analytics workspace. While you may fully enjoy Microsoft Sentinel with just one workspace, there may be times when you’d like to expand it so you can analyze your data across workspaces and tenants  Microsoft Sentinel supports multiple workspace incident view where you can centrally manage and monitor incidents across many workspaces. Multiple workspaces are used for compliance or separation reasons such as by company department or sub brands/companies within. Compliance might be because you could be global and want to keep the logs “in region” but within the same Azure Tenancy  

What is the Importance of Microsoft Sentinel? 

Microsoft Sentinel is a recognized Leader (Gartner) in the SIEM space, powered by Microsoft Azure  with dependable billing and flexible options. By automatically scaling resources and only paying for what you need, infrastructure expenses can be reduced. The ROI on running a Microsoft Sentinel SIEM is more cost effective than its cloud competitors   With Microsoft Sentinel, security teams have access to complete threat awareness, proactive hunting, and rapid threat response capabilities. Once threat anomalies are discovered, Microsoft  Sentinel automatically sends security teams real-time notifications. Teams may also speed up incident reaction times and get rid of the expensive risks associated with successful data breaches this way 

Microsoft Sentinel Free Data Sources 

There are the following Microsoft 365 data sources which are free to ingest for all Microsoft Sentinel users as an ongoing benefit: 

• Azure Activity Logs 
• Office 365 Audit Logs (all SharePoint activity and Exchange admin activity) 
• Alerts from Microsoft Defender for Cloud, Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Microsoft Defender for Identity, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps 
• For more information on Microsoft Sentinel free data sources please see plan costs for Microsoft Sentinel 

Managed Microsoft Sentinel Service by Wizard Cyber 

Our managed Microsoft Sentinel service provides industry-leading protection against all forms of internal and external cyber threats, including data breaches, ransomware, malicious employees, and much more  As a certified Microsoft Gold Partner and Microsoft Sentinel Expert MSP, Wizard Cyber are the ideal Microsoft Sentinel partner. Our team of cyber security engineers are experts in threat hunting, threat detection, incident response, and threat intelligence Supported by our 24x7x365, global security operations centre (SOC), we ensure that your business is protected every minute of every day  Supported by our fully managed 24x7x365 global SOC, our proprietary incident management and response platform CYBERSHIELD, and Microsoft Sentinel’s industry-leading functionality, your business will achieve the best possible level of protection.  

CYBERSHIELD 

CYBERSHIELD is an incident management platform designed to improve Microsoft Sentinel’s basic interface and functionality  The platform features an advanced ticket management & escalation process, visual & easy to understand dashboards and analytics, complete SLA & SLO tracking & management, and much more, all from a single pane of glass   Designed by our team of expert Azure-certified developers, CYBERSHIELD allows you to run an efficient, effective, and secure SOC using Microsoft Sentinel in a way that no other solution on the market can: 

Analyse 

CYBERSHIELD has been designed to provide all the advanced analytics and data you need from a single pane of glass. The dashboard presents information intuitively and visually, whilst also providing interactivity and complete customisation Analysts are empowered to easily locate, analyse, and drill down into data. Security teams can effortlessly analyse detailed tickets, supported by powerful information automation from the Analytical Rule Control Module (ARC) and the Vulnerability Management Module (VM), leading to faster and more effective analysis of threats 

Prioritise 

Automatic alerts, comprehensive rules and use cases, direct synchronisation with Azure AD provide security analysts with the ability to prioritise threats easily and accurately CYBERSHIELD provides incredibly informational depth, all available within each ticket, making it far more efficient to prioritise threats and escalate incidents to senior analysts 

Collaborate 

Due to the purpose-built mobile app, collaboration between employees is seamless. Almost every system is accessible from everywhere, regardless of device or location. This ensures that security teams and SOCs can easily work together, wherever they are in the world All updates to the platform are made in real-time, ensuring that multiple analysts can work on the same ticket or incident without confusion. This allows for rapid response to threats that isn’t achievable with conventional incident response platforms 

Eliminate 

Eliminating threats with CYBERSHIELD is efficient and effective. ARC, combined with Microsoft  Sentinel’s automation technology, makes dealing with many threats simple and quick More advanced threats may require deeper investigation, which analysts can handle by utilising VM. Common vulnerability and exposure (CVE) data and other critical information is automatically added to relevant tickets, reducing the time it takes for analysts to investigate and eliminate dangerous threats   

Conclusion 

Microsoft Sentinel provides one of the most comprehensive solutions in the market. Advanced features like true machine learning, user behaviour analytics, and integration for security orchestration and response playbooks via Logic Apps and Power Automate are just a few of its many features  Interested in finding out how our Microsoft-certified cyber security services can benefit your organisation? To know more about Managed Microsoft Sentinel, contact our team of experts today.