Microsoft Defender Claims Superior Email Security Performance Over Competitors

• •Microsoft Defender missed 59% fewer high-severity threats than competitors.
• •Defender's post-delivery protection rate improved to 96.03% from 45%.
• •Experts recommend a layered approach to email security despite Microsoft's claims.

Microsoft released a report indicating that Defender for Office 365 outperforms traditional secure email gateways and integrated cloud email security solutions in catching malicious emails. The report shows that Defender missed 59% fewer high-severity threats compared to competitors like Mimecast and Proofpoint. It also reported a post-delivery protection rate of 96.03%, significantly improved from 45% in earlier assessments. Despite these claims, experts caution against relying solely on a single vendor's solution, advocating for a layered security approach. The report includes a new metric for threat miss rates, with Microsoft at 194 per 1,000 employees. Microsoft argues that its integrated partners provide minimal additional benefits, improving catch rates by less than 0.05%. The findings are based on a year-long study of real-world telemetry data.