Once again, Microsoft emphasizes that it is prioritizing security. At the 2024 RSA Conference, the company is expanding its own offerings with -of course- AI-focused features.
Many companies want to get started with AI, but security is difficult to guarantee in the process. All the data, applications, access and development phases have different safety challenges facing them. Microsoft is trying to solve this with a holistic approach through Microsoft Defender for Cloud, whether it’s deployment, development or runtime.
CNAPP
Organizations can map the entire AI infrastructure thanks to the new functionality. This goes beyond Microsoft’s own platforms like Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Azure Machine Learning and also includes external services like Amazon Bedrock. Defender for Cloud is a CNAPP (cloud native application protection platform) that Microsoft says provides SOC teams with the right information instantly.
The problems Defender for Cloud is designed to solve, as it happens, are not limited to cybercrime. For example, organizations can also find compliance risks through the Microsoft Purview AI Hub. Currently, this solution is still in preview, but it makes AI apps and possible associated problems transparent so that an audit with authorities does not unexpectedly detect irregularities. In other words: Purview AI Hub ideally helps avoid fines or worse.
Also updates to Sentinel and Defender XDR
Microsoft recently came out with a public preview of a “unified security operations platform” experience. This solution simplifies complex security information into a pleasant user experience. A new dashboard, according to Microsoft, would mean the end of visits to separate tools that do not exploit each other’s context.
Read more: Microsoft now offers a unified SecOps platform: what does it entail?
Microsoft Sentinel and Defender XDR also get new features such as global search, custom detections and automation rules.
Copilot rolls out at Security
As with other parts of the Microsoft portfolio, Copilot appears on the scene. Microsoft Copilot for Security now integrates with Purview, Azure Firewall and Azure Web Application Firewall. Third-party solutions are also supported via partner plugins. Interestingly, this mention of AI assistance dangles at the bottom of the Microsoft blog. Instead, Microsoft appears to prefer to focus on the actual expansions to its security offering that protect AI use itself.