Microsoft is launching the general availability of the stand-alone version of Microsoft Defender for Business, a new offering designed for small-to-mid-sized businesses that brings enterprise-grade endpoint security, detection and response to smaller organizations.
According to Microsoft, this is designed to provide protection against ransomware and other sophisticated cyberattacks for SMBs, who say cyberthreats are becoming more of a business risk s nearly one in four recently surveyed have reported a security breach in the past year.
Defender for Business offers SMBs multilayered protection, detection and response, covering the five phases of the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) framework, including identify, protect, detect, respond and recover, the company says.
The solution comes with built-in policies to get customers up and running quickly, including automated investigation and remediation capabilities in Defender for Business to help automate the type of work handled by cybersecurity professionals. It provides onboarding, configuration, and security experiences for Windows, iOS, Android, and MacOS devices, the company says.
Defender for Business is included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium, the company’s comprehensive security and productivity solution or businesses with up to 300 employees. However, organizations can choose to buy it stand-alone for $3 per user per month, with additional support for servers planned for later this year.
In a Tech Community blog, the company says customers with Microsoft 365 Business Premium got access to endpoint security on march 1, and customers with Microsoft 365 Business Basic or Standard can upgrade to Business Premium or purchase endpoint security through the stand-alone offering through the company’s product page, Microsoft Admin Center or an IT service provider partner.
According to Microsoft, Defender for Business features threat and vulnerability management that helps prioritize and focus on threats that pose the most urgent risk to the business, including software vulnerabilities and misconfigurations.
The solution is also designed to help reduce attack surface and offer next-generation protection via antimalware and antivirus protection on devices and in the cloud.
Defender for Business also features behavioral-based endpoint detection and response alerts as well as automated investigation and remediation capabilities to help protect organizations and enable IT pros to focus on more sophisticated threats.
“Microsoft believes in security for all,” said Vasu Jakkal, CVP, security, compliance & identity at Microsoft, in a statement., “We are proud to further deliver on that vision today. With the GA of Defender for Business, SMBs will get greater protection with simplified security to help them better protect, detect and respond to threats.”
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