Microsoft Defender for Cloud vs. Salt Security API Protection Platform

If you need to proceed with pay as you go service then go ahead with Microsoft Defender for Cloud. This could be expensive in the long run but if the organization usage is slightly less than then this would suite the purpose. Also, it has the latest threat updates, so you're future proof in terms of potential treats.

Incentivized

Salt is highly recommended for anyone who wants to discover, monitor and protect their APIs against various types of attacks. Salt should not be used as a SIEM.

• Automation is crucial to managing sprawl and the additional complexity that comes with it. SOC management workbooks and process automation give significant flexibility.
• The Security posture score and Security Alerts are neatly centralized and offer me crucial information quickly.
• Defender for Cloud avoids the common compromise of simplicity for completeness (former Azure Security Center). The security warnings and advice go into great detail while remaining current and useful.

Incentivized

• PII identification in API traffic.
• Divergence between API traffic and documentation (swagger files).
• Potential attacks with information to take counter measures.

• UI/UX. It can get a little messy when navigating around with all the flyouts in the Azure portal which can be frustrating, particularly when under time pressure.
• The query languages for the queries and workbooks are another language that needs to be learned - it would be nice to have kept it closer to T-SQL or something like that to minimize the need to learn new syntax.
• Adding cost estimations to the security recommendations would really improve the experience.

Incentivized

• The platform could have more options for exporting detailed data from attackers' dashboards.
• The Attackers dashboard could also have more options of filters in order to support the investigations of the attack.
• The OAS analysis could present a more detailed view of the found issues.

It is a great product that integrates nicely when running an Azure platform and even multi-cloud environment. Not looking for point-solutions but a suite that answers most requirements. It is very comfortable being able to use KQL, workbooks and automation that is native to the azure platform

Compliance mapping capabilities of the software and reporting.

Ease in deployment and implementation.

Seamless integration of the software with cloud and other third party applications.

The software ensures quick incident response and avilability of ready to help customer services providers.

User interface of the product is very friendly.

I believe Microsoft Defender for Cloud stacks up well against the other tools we looked at. It is native to the Azure platform and provides the same insights as the other tools. We selected Microsoft Defender for Cloud because it integrates well with the Azure resources and gives the needed insight, security alerts and recommendations.

Incentivized

We tried controls offered by the IaaS providers but these were hard to manage and did not provide the visibility we wanted. We also protected APIs with a normal WAF but this was only helpful for assets we knew about and API attacks were not caught by the WAF.

• Ensuring compliance with data protection regulations can prevent costly fines and legal issues, positively impacting ROI.
• Effective cloud resource protection can optimize cloud spending and resource utilization, ultimately reducing cloud infrastructure costs.
• The subscription costs associated with Defender for Cloud can add to an organization's operational expenses, impacting ROI.
• Smaller organizations may find the feature set and complexity of Defender for Cloud unnecessary, potentially overinvesting in security solutions.

Incentivized

• Salt Security API Protection Platform has provided detailed information that is helping us to identify and investigate attacks in our environment