On Sep 15 odix hosted an informative webinar featuring odix CTO Omri Eytan & Michael Osterman of Osterman on the importance of third-party security integration for Microsoft 365.

Osterman, a globally recognized expert on IT technology, market trends and innovative industry leaders presented his recent research on the scope of Microsoft 356’s native security offerings, including ATP, EOP as well as the potential added value of third-party solution to enhance malware protection.

Michael touched upon current market trends in Microsoft 365 security deployments as well as many of the common approaches to optimizing 365’s security options.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

Microsoft 365’s EOP & ATP alone will not prevent malware risk

Microsoft 365’s EOP & ATP security options are effective at providing a base level threat protection to users, however they lack the specialized file filters and admin functionality needed to stop many malware attacks.

According to Micahel Osterman, “While office 365 is a solid platform with included security, archiving and encryption features, some third-party solutions offer better performance and are often better suited to meet specific systems requirements of customers.”

Eytan remarked “with the sheer number of Microsoft 365 users it was only a matter of time before third party security vendors found a way to fill the gaps in 365 malware prevention capabilities. FileWall, does just that and was designed specifically to bridge the current native security constrains of EOP & ATP with the evolving cyber threat faced by SMBs.”

Third party solutions perfectly complement lower priced 365 security plans

Microsoft 365 deployment consideration rely upon a balance of technical functionality and cost. While enterprise customers may weight security capabilities higher in the equation, SMB’s don’t have this luxury

Osterman said “We highly recommend you take a look at third party solutions. It takes a bit more work, and you have to do the evaluations but you’re really much better off from a cost and coverage perspective. The combination of lower-priced Office 365 plans and third-party specialized solutions can result in better performance and lower TCO.”

Eytan reflected “Third-party security solutions can facilitate better accuracy and protection capability then Microsoft’s native protocols alone. As Microsoft 365 currently has hundreds of millions of users with diverse system requirements it’s difficult to effectively meet all the security demands of every sector precisely. Realizing this opportunity, third party solutions like FileWall intend to bridge this gap and provide improved coverage and admin capabilities at very minimal added cost or onboarding time.

Third party solutions can often fill gaps and provide better value than built-in Microsoft features

Microsoft’s native security provide built-in, basic protection, but often lack advanced features. Through the use of third party addons, security functionality can be improved at a fraction of the cost per user.

According to Osterman “Microsoft 365 has a lot of good capability and is a very robust platform, the problem is it can’t be everything for everyone. Our analysis of 365 has shown that it has some deficiencies from the security perspective and in practice, third party solutions could do better to supplement security capabilities then relying exclusively upon Microsoft’s security offering.”

Eytan expressed “Third party solutions have far better accuracy in malware prevention and provide more dynamic functionality then standard EOP or ATP deployments. Third party solutions often implement cutting edge technologies at a faster pace than Microsoft and have the ability to be more fluid in addressing specific sector needs.”

With Michael’s broad knowledge of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem and the exciting recent deployment of FileWall, the event was a great opportunity to publicize the value third party solutions can bring to improving cybersecurity for over 200 million Microsoft 365 users worldwide.

To view the webinar click Here