Microsoft expands Defender range with new products

The technology giant is debuting new threat intelligence and attack management software

Microsoft has expanded its suite of ‘Defender' products as it looks to grow its security portfolio available to channel players and customers.

The technology giant is debuting new threat intelligence and attack management software as it claimed the threat landscape "is more sophisticated than ever and damages have soared" in a blog post.

Vasu Jakkal, Microsoft's corporate vice president of security, compliance, identity, and management, highlighted in the post that the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 2021 IC3 report found that the cost of cybercrime now totals more than $6.9bn.

"To counter these threats, Microsoft is continuously aggregating signal and threat intelligence across the digital estate, which is enabling us to track threat actors much more closely and to better understand their behaviour over time," he wrote

Microsoft Defender Intelligence provides direct access to real-time data from Microsoft's security signals and maps the internet to provide security teams with information to understand adversaries and their attack techniques.

Meanwhile, Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management helps customers discover unmanaged resources that could be potential entry points for an attacker.

"These new threat intelligence offerings expand our growing security portfolio, offer deeper insights into threat actors and their behaviours, and help security teams accelerate the identification and prioritization of risks," Jakkal said.

"Today, Microsoft tracks 35 ransomware families, and more than 250 unique nation-states, cybercriminals, and other threat actors.

"Our cloud also processes and analyses more than 43 trillion security signals every single day. This massive amount of intelligence derived from our platform and products gives us unique insights to help protect customers from the inside out."