Microsoft is working on a Holistic Security Platform

Due to the recent surge in attacks by hackers on enterprises, Microsoft announced that it is building a holistic security platform that combines the attack protection, detection and response features built into Windows 10, Office 365, Azure and the Microsoft Enterprise Mobility Suite to help companies safeguard their data regardless of where it resides.

According to the company’s CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft is spending more than $1 billion a year in research and development to build security into its products.

At the Microsoft Government Cloud Forum, the company showed on stage how Windows 10’s Microsoft Passport, Windows Hello and Credential Guard provide secure authentication and integrate with Azure Active Directory; how Advanced Threat Analytics can detect anomalous login patterns, brute-force and pass-the-hash attacks; and how the Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) can be used to manage data and applications on mobile devices and work with Microsoft Intune and Azure Rights Management Services (RMS) to prevent accidental data leaks.

The company is planning to integrate third-party apps and services into its own products and is therefore working with industry partners. For example, the Azure Security Center, allows users to integrate threat detection and protection technologies into their cloud-based infrastructure from a number of security vendors including Barracuda, Checkpoint, Cisco Systems, CloudFlare, F5 Networks, Imperva, Incapsula, and Trend Micro.

Box, Adobe, and SAP Fiori will also provide native apps for Android and iOS that will integrate with Microsoft Intune, Microsoft’s cloud-based mobile device management platform.

Microsoft has created a Cyber Defense Operations Center internally that brings together security response specialists from all of the company’s different divisions. They not only work together to resolve security threats, but also to build the security intelligence that’s then used by the company’s products and is shared with partners.

Microsoft Enterprise Cybersecurity Group was created to better serve the company’s enterprise customers. The group will perform security assessments, monitor for threats and respond to cybersecurity incidents.

The new strategy, focused on operational security, has “been the biggest sea change inside Microsoft to get us to come up with new solutions, new technologies, that in turn help us really secure your environments,” Nadella told the audience.