Office 365 Threat Intelligence: Detecting and Responding. In the fast paced landscape of today’s office environments, staying ahead of advanced threats is not just a priority—it’s a necessity. Dive into the Office 365 Threat Intelligence world, where we unravel the intricacies of detecting and responding to sophisticated cyber threats, empowering us to safeguard our digital workspace with knowledge and precision.
Office 365 Threat Intelligence: Detecting and Responding to Threats
Understanding and anticipating cyber security threats is improved with Threat Intelligence (TI). TI includes information about current and emerging threats and potential impacts. Use TI to help organizations protect themselves from attacks in an informed manner.
Despite its advantages, it has certain shortcomings that this blog post delves into by discussing how to take advantage of other tools to strengthen our overall security strategy. The following sections discover how to protect our organization from emerging cyber threats.
Note: Since Microsoft has renamed Office 365 to Microsoft 365, this article uses its new terminology.
Threat Intelligence Overview
Microsoft Sentinel is a cloud-based Security information and event management (SIEM) tool that uses machine learning to detect and investigate security threats. In addition, Microsoft offers a Threat Intelligence API to enable organizations to access third-party Threat Intelligence data.
Organizations use Threat Intelligence to improve their security posture in several ways. For example, they use it to identify high-priority targets for security monitoring and incident response or develop better detection rules and responses. Additionally, TI aids organizations in preventing attacks by helping them understand the motives and methods of attackers.
Benefits of Threat Intelligence
A key component of Microsoft Sentinel is Threat Intelligence, which detects, investigates, and responds to threats. An organization defends itself against potential threats by analyzing data from various sources to identify trends, indicators of compromise, and attacker techniques.
Organizations benefit from Threat Intelligence in several ways:
- Identifies new and emerging threats by analyzing data from various sources.
- Points out the cause of an incident: Investigators identify an incident’s root cause more quickly and accurately with insight into trends and attacker techniques.
- Organizations craft more effective responses to incidents with Threat Intelligence.
- They develop better countermeasures and strategies for dealing with incidents by understanding the tactics, techniques, and procedures used by attackers.
Getting Started with Microsoft Sentinel
To start using Microsoft Sentinel we must first sign up for a free Azure account to enable the Sentinel service within the Azure portal. Once we have a free Azure account, we can use it immediately.
Once enabled by the Sentinel service, start ingesting data into Sentinel. There are many ways to do this, but using one of the built-in connectors, we import data from various sources, including on-premises systems and cloud-based services.
Once data flows into Sentinel, create queries and alerts based on that data. Queries allow us to explore our data and look for specific patterns, while alerts notify us when certain conditions meet a threshold. Create playbooks to automate actions when certain situations occur.
Microsoft Sentinel provides a powerful platform for detecting and responding to threats and is easy to set up.
Try our Active Directory & Office 365 Reporting & Auditing Tools
Try us out for Free. 100’s of report templates available. Easily customise your own reports on AD, Azure AD & Office 355.
Using Threat Intelligence for Microsoft 365 Defender
In addition to providing visibility into and protection against malware, ransomware, and other threats, Microsoft 365 Defender is a cloud-based security solution. Investigate and respond to incidents more quickly and effectively with Microsoft 365 Defender integration with Microsoft Sentinel.
Benefits of Using Threat Intelligence in Microsoft 365 Defender
With using Threat Intelligence, it is possible to identify malicious activity quickly and respond before it can do significant damage or disruption. It also provides context about suspicious activity, resulting in fewer false positives.
In addition, it allows us to understand better the techniques used by attackers, enabling us to implement more successful preventative measures for our organization.
Accessing and Using Threat Intelligence in Microsoft 365 Defender
From the top menu bar of Microsoft 365 Defender, select Threat Analytics to access and use Threat Intelligence. Select or search for a threat from the list in the middle of the page. Also, customize the alerts it sends us based on the security events we want to be informed about.
Leveraging Threat Intelligence to Investigate and Respond to Incidents
Threat Intelligence is a beneficial asset when delving into security incidents. For example, finding an odd file on our endpoints helps to establish if we can link it with any recognized threats. Furthermore, it also detects any malicious activities that traditional security measures may have overlooked.
With this extra information, we investigate and tackle incidents before they lead to destruction or disruption. To access this data within Microsoft 365 Defender, go to the Dashboard tab on the left side of the screen, then click on Threat Analytics.
By connecting data from Defender for Endpoint, Defender for Cloud, Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP), and Microsoft Defender Research, we value information about possible security issues used to determine the best use of resources.
In addition, queries in MDE make it possible to search rapidly through large datasets based on keywords or expressions. Finally, custom playbooks automatically take action when specific incidents are encountered multiple times across multiple devices or users within an organization.
Using keywords or phrases, we filter vast amounts of data using Microsoft Sentinel’s query capabilities. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint also lets us create custom playbooks if specific incidents occur repeatedly across multiple devices or users within our organization.
Microsoft Security Graph
With Microsoft Security Graph, organizations protect their assets using big data and machine learning. In addition to providing a real-time view of global security landscapes, it helps organizations identify, investigate, and respond to threats quickly.
With Security Graph, organizations analyze large volumes of data to detect anomalies and gain insight into their security posture. In addition to identifying malicious activities, files, and suspicious activity patterns, the service also guides addressing threats and reducing the likelihood of being compromised again.
Benefits of Microsoft Sentinel
- Helps us collect data from various sources, including Office 365, Azure Active Directory, Cloud Defender, and more.
- Uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help us identify anomalies and potential threats.
- Provides a centralized dashboard to view all our security data in one place.
- Offers built-in connectors that make integrating with other security tools easy.
- Includes a query language that lets us easily create custom queries to find the necessary information.
Office 365 Threat Intelligence: Detecting and Responding Conclusion
Microsoft Sentinel offers an essential tool for consuming Threat Intelligence by integrating Microsoft 365 Defender, AI, and machine learning to detect risks quickly. Various third-party systems can add to Sentinel’s abilities to secure organizations further. Having the ideal Threat Intelligence and monitoring systems in place gives businesses the assurance they need regarding their security.
Try InfraSOS for FREE
Try InfraSOS Active Directory, Azure AD & Office 365 Reporting & Auditing Tool
- Free 15-Days Trial
- SaaS AD Reporting & Auditing Solution
