It’s never been more critical to build resilience and protect your organisation against cyber-attacks. It’s not surprising when you learn that there were on average 270 attacks per organisation last year – that’s a massive increase of 31% compared to 2020. Yes according to the latest State of Cyber Resilience report 81% of companies said that “staying ahead of attackers is a constant battle and the cost is unsustainable”.

Stepping into the breach is Microsoft Sentinel – a modern, cloud-native Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solution that’s powered by AI and that also includes Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR). It was launched in 2019 and since then Microsoft has continued to make investments to build its threat-protection capabilities. Today, as a mature technology Sentinel can address complex cybersecurity requirements for global organisations – delivering a single pane of glass through which an organisation can view its entire security estate.

Post-pandemic cybersecurity challenges
Sentinel certainly addresses many of the challenges facing organisations trying to grapple with the post-pandemic cybersecurity landscape. The threat from cyber criminals and nation-state hackers is not only growing in volume but also in sophistication. Ransomware attacks rose by 92.7% in 2021 compared to 2020 levels. The problem has been compounded by the widespread move to remote working. When the pandemic took hold, almost overnight everyone needed to work from home, which exponentially increased the number of entry points for cyber-attacks. Instantly cybersecurity became a very urgent and real issue and even those with exceptional cybersecurity teams became under immense pressure.

Adding more fuel to the fire is the ongoing cybersecurity manpower and skills shortage. Unfortunately, it’s a very recognisable and real problem. In Ireland alone, it’s estimated that 10,000 workers are needed to plug the cybersecurity gap. On a slightly more positive note, Ireland does appear to be making some headway. There’s a reported 17.7% year-on-year increase in people working in the sector in Ireland, but globally the picture isn’t quite so encouraging. With cybersecurity job postings continuing to rise, organisations need to find alternative solutions to the skills shortage.

Tools for the trade
A lot of existing security tools that are available are siloed or not designed to meet the needs of today’s hybrid ecosystems. As the threat landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace, protecting today’s hybrid cloud environments requires a comprehensive approach that gives security teams the context they need to protect their organisation better and faster.

With Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft has taken the best of SIEM and combined it with the best of extended detection and response (XDR) to deliver a unified security operations platform. It’s a solution that delivers the breadth of coverage only a SIEM can provide and the depth of insight that XDR provides, granting security teams with more context to work from to detect, investigate and resolve threats faster.

Leaders in the field
Microsoft was recently named a Leader in the 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Security Information and Event Management and is positioned highest on the measure of Ability to Execute axis. It’s why we are so excited that Avanade was selected as one of only four global Microsoft Security Solutions for Enterprise (MSSE) security framework partners.

Avanade is the most certified Microsoft partner in the world - with Microsoft Advanced security specialisations in Information Protection and Governance, Cloud Security, Threat Protection and Identity and Access Management. This gives us a fantastic inside track into investment and innovations in Microsoft’s security stack.

Unsurprisingly we’re seeing many more customers reaching out for threat detection platforms and security monitoring services, especially within the public sector. With Accenture as our parent company and our partnership with Microsoft, we are uniquely positioned to support clients in their journey towards cyber resiliency.

Our Managed Security Services (MSS) leverage Accenture’s security delivery capabilities and capitalise on the fact that together Avanade and Accenture have over 16,000 security professionals, with delivery centres across the globe. It means we can support our global clients’ regional offices with world-class threat intelligence from a local team.

Build resilience with a proactive security model
Today’s cyber onslaught requires organisations to consolidate their security tools and teams, reduce the volumes of alerts going unattended and the noise from false positives. With the MSSE proactive security model, threats can be prioritised through automation and risk assessment, and with AI and Machine Learning, human error can be reduced.

For existing Microsoft customers, Sentinel is relatively easy to get value from pretty quickly. It will provide a view of the security posture across your entire security landscape whilst reducing manual work and addressing the skills gap, speeding up response times through automation and increasing the scale of your security operations to meet the growing volume and sophistication of attacks.

And with an MSS provision in place, we can help you optimise and improve your security posture, keeping it evergreen and up-to-date, and leaving you safe in the knowledge that the security of your organisation is in very safe hands.

Find out how Avanade helps clients build resilience and minimize the impact of security incidents.