Microsoft Defender for Office 365 vs SEG & ICES: Email Security Effectiveness Unveiled

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Introduction

Microsoft’s latest analysis on Defender for Office 365 reveals critical insights into email security effectiveness compared to Security Email Gateways (SEGs) and Integrated Cloud Email Security (ICES) solutions. The study highlights detection gaps and improvements, offering cybersecurity professionals actionable data to optimize email threat protection.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand Microsoft’s methodology for measuring email security effectiveness.
  • Compare SEG and ICES solutions in detecting malicious, spam, and bulk emails.
  • Learn how to leverage Microsoft’s benchmarking tools for security assessments.

1. Microsoft’s Email Threat Detection Methodology

Microsoft analyzed aggregated threat signals from environments using SEGs alongside Defender for Office 365, normalizing results per 1,000 users. A threat was classified as “missed” if:
– Not detected pre-delivery (by the SEG).
– Not removed post-delivery (by Defender).

Key Finding:

  • ICES solutions improved bulk email detection by 20%, reducing inbox clutter.
  • Malicious email catch rates improved by 0.30%, spam by 0.51%.

Takeaway:

  • Defender enhances post-delivery remediation, filling SEG detection gaps.

2. Benchmarking Email Security Solutions

Microsoft provides a public benchmarking tool (link) to compare security vendors.

How to Use the Benchmarking Tool:

  1. Access the Microsoft Security Benchmarking Portal.
  2. Select your email security vendor (Proofpoint, Mimecast, etc.).
  3. Compare missed threat rates against Defender for Office 365.

Example Query (PowerShell):

 Fetch Microsoft Defender threat detection stats via API 
$apiEndpoint = "https://security.microsoft.com/api/threatdetection/benchmark" 
$response = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $apiEndpoint -Method Get -Headers @{"Authorization"="Bearer $accessToken"} 
$response.data | Format-Table -AutoSize

What This Does:

  • Retrieves normalized threat detection data for analysis.

3. Improving Detection with Defender for Office 365

Defender’s post-delivery protection relies on AI-driven analysis and automated remediation.

Enable Advanced Threat Protection (ATP):

Set-MDOAtpPolicy -Identity "Default" -EnableAtp $true

Steps:

1. Log in to Microsoft Defender Security Center.

2. Navigate to Threat Policies > ATP Policies.

3. Enable ATP for post-delivery scanning.

Why It Matters:

  • Reduces false negatives from SEG-only filtering.

4. Configuring ICES for Bulk Email Filtering

ICES solutions (Abnormal AI, Darktrace) excel at marketing email filtering.

Example Rule (Exchange Online):

New-TransportRule -Name "BulkEmailFilter" -SubjectOrBodyContainsWords "promo", "discount" -SetSCL 6 -MoveToMessage JunkEmail

What This Does:

  • Flags promotional emails with SCL 6 (high spam confidence).
  • Moves them to Junk Mail.

Best Practice:

  • Combine ICES with Defender for layered protection.

5. Mitigating Missed Threats with Automated Remediation

Defender’s Automated Investigation & Response (AIR) helps mitigate missed threats.

Trigger an Investigation via API:

curl -X POST "https://api.security.microsoft.com/automatedinvestigations" -H "Authorization: Bearer $token" -d '{"alertId": "12345"}'

Steps:

1. Detect a missed threat (via Defender logs).

2. Initiate an automated investigation.

3. Review remediation actions.

Why It’s Critical:

  • Reduces manual SOC workload.

What Undercode Say:

  • Key Takeaway 1: Defender for Office 365 complements SEGs, particularly in post-delivery threat removal.
  • Key Takeaway 2: ICES solutions improve bulk email filtering, but malicious email gains are marginal.

Analysis:

Microsoft’s study highlights that no single solution is perfect—SEGs miss pre-delivery threats, while ICES excels in noise reduction. The best approach is a layered defense:
– SEG for pre-delivery filtering.
– Defender for post-delivery cleanup.
– ICES for marketing/bulk email reduction.

Prediction:

As AI-driven email security evolves, expect tighter integration between SEGs, ICES, and Defender. Future solutions may automatically share threat intelligence, reducing detection gaps. Organizations that adopt hybrid email security will see the lowest miss rates.

Action Step:

  • Benchmark your current solution using Microsoft’s tool.
  • Enable Defender’s AIR for automated remediation.
  • Combine SEG + ICES + Defender for maximum protection.

For deeper insights, read Microsoft’s full report here.

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