Defender for Business, Microsoft‘s security solution for small and medium businesses (SMBs), is now widely available. A quarter of small to medium-sized businesses has had a security breach in the last year, despite the fact that they lack the resources of large corporations to secure themselves.

Defender for Business provides SMBs with enterprise-level endpoint security, including endpoint detection and response capabilities to protect against ransomware and other advanced cyber threats.

Microsoft conducted an online quantitative survey of more than 150 small and medium businesses in the United States in April 2022 to better understand changing SMB security demands. According to the report, more than 70% of SMBs believe cyber threats are becoming a greater business risk. Nearly one-quarter of small businesses surveyed said they had had a security breach in the previous year.

Despite the fact that SMBs face identical threats to corporations, they frequently lack the necessary resources and tools, including specialized security staff. Traditional antivirus programs are still used by many SMBs for protection. Despite the fact that 80 percent of SMBs say they use antivirus software, 93 percent are concerned about the expanding and developing nature of cyber-attacks.

“Microsoft believes in security for all,” said Vasu Jakkal, CVP at Microsoft. “We are proud to further deliver on that vision today. With the general availability of Defender for Business, SMBs will get greater protection with simplified security to help them better protect, detect and respond to threats.”

SMBs get multi-layered protection, detection, and response with Defender for Business, which covers the five phases of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Nist) cyber-security framework – identify, protect, detect, respond, and recover – to protect and remediate against known and unknown threats.

Defender for Business has policies that help users get up and running quickly. By continuously detecting and automatically remediating various threats, the automated investigation and remediation capabilities help automate the type of work performed by dedicated sec-ops teams.

“Automated investigation and remediation are a huge part of the product,” said Adam Atwell, cloud architect at consulting firm Kite Technology Group. “It’s just happening in the background. Defender for Business makes our security so simple.”

Microsoft 365 Business Premium, a security and productivity service for enterprises with up to 300 employees, includes Defender for Business. Users can also purchase it separately for $3 per month per user. Later this year, an add-on will provide further server support.

Threat and vulnerability management helps in prioritizing and focusing on the weaknesses that offer the most danger to the company. By detecting, prioritizing, and remediating software vulnerabilities and misconfigurations, users may proactively build a safe foundation for their environment.

Attack surface reduction alternatives target areas of the company that are vulnerable to cyber-attacks across devices and applications, giving bad actors fewer choices for attack execution.

Antimalware and antivirus protection on devices and in the cloud assist prevent and guarding against threats.

Detection and response to endpoints deliver behavioral-based detection and reaction notifications so users may recognize and remove persistent threats from their surroundings.

By investigating alerts and taking immediate action to address attacks, auto-investigation and remediation help scale security operations. Defender for Business allows users to prioritize tasks and focus on more sophisticated threats by lowering the alert volume and remediating issues.