Microsoft Security Blog: Transparency on Microsoft Defender for Office 365 email security effectiveness

Jul 17, 2025

—

Source URL: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2025/07/17/transparency-on-microsoft-defender-for-office-365-email-security-effectiveness/
Source: Microsoft Security Blog
Title: Transparency on Microsoft Defender for Office 365 email security effectiveness

Feedly Summary: Microsoft believes in transparently sharing performance data from Microsoft Defender for Office 365, and other ecosystem providers, to help customers evaluate email security solutions and make decisions to layer for defense in depth.
The post Transparency on Microsoft Defender for Office 365 email security effectiveness appeared first on Microsoft Security Blog.

AI Summary and Description: Yes

**Summary:** The text highlights Microsoft’s initiatives to enhance transparency and effectiveness in email security through two key efforts: a new customer-facing dashboard and comparative benchmarking reports. These initiatives aim to empower organizations to understand the efficacy of email security solutions, crucial in the fight against sophisticated cyber threats.

**Detailed Description:**
The article discusses the growing threat of cyberattacks and the necessity for robust email security measures. Microsoft is focusing on transparency to build trust with customers and improve the decision-making process for Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and security architects. Key initiatives announced include:

– **Customer-Facing Dashboard:**
– Provides insights into the effectiveness of Microsoft Defender for Office 365.
– Tracks efficacy across multiple threat vectors, indicating threats blocked pre-delivery and mitigation efforts post-delivery.
– Features capabilities like Safe links, Safe attachments, and Zero-hour Auto Purge to clarify protection measures.

– **Comparative Benchmarking Reports:**
– Aim to assist in evaluating the benefits of various email security solutions.
– Use real-world data to measure the effectiveness of Integrated Cloud Email Security (ICES) vendors and Secure Email Gateways (SEGs) relative to Microsoft Defender for Office 365.
– Emphasizes that data shared with customers is aggregated and anonymized to protect user privacy.

Key findings from the benchmarking include:
– Analysis shows Defender for Office 365 has the lowest missed threat rate when compared to other solutions.
– Layering ICES products with Defender for Office 365 showed a 20% improvement in detecting promotional and bulk emails, enhancing user experience by reducing inbox clutter.
– Effectiveness for detecting malicious messages and spam showed minimal improvement across all analyzed vendors, but nevertheless provided valuable insights.

**Conclusion:**
Microsoft reaffirms its commitment to data-driven cybersecurity practices and believes in the importance of clarity and reliability in security tools. Future plans include quarterly updates to the announced benchmarks and soliciting feedback to enhance their security offerings further. This approach aims to support organizations in making informed decisions about their cybersecurity solutions, particularly in an era of increasing email-related threats.

– **Transparency and Collaboration:** Microsoft emphasizes collaboration within the ecosystem to improve protection for customers.
– **Commitment to Quality Standards:** Engaged SE Labs for independent reviews of their benchmarking methodology to uphold high quality.

The post concludes with invitations for further learning and engagement with Microsoft Security solutions, highlighting the importance of staying updated on security matters in a constantly evolving threat landscape.

1 2 2025 3 5 7 a Act AI analysis and app Arch art as at ated attack attacks Auto benchmark benchmarking benchmarks benefits Bi board Box by C capabilities Chief Information Security Officer chief information security officers CI CIA CISO Cloud co Col collaboration commit constant cross Customer cyber cyber threat cyber threats cyberattack Cyberattacks cybersecurit Cybersecurity cybersecurity practices cybersecurity solutions D dashboard data data-driven de decision decision-making decisions Defender defense depth drive driven e E 3 ecosystem effective effectiveness email email security email security solutions end engagement exp experience feature features feedback first for future g Gateway gateways gs H high Highlight HR http HTTPS in information information security initiatives insights io IRS ite k Key l Labor land learning led Li liability Link low M making man matt measures Micro Microsoft Microsoft Defender Microsoft Security Microsoft Security Blog mini mitigation mitigation efforts multi N new no non o of off on organization organizations oS other out PAM per performance phi post Power practices pre privacy pro process product products protection protection measures ps Q quality R rack rate RCE real real-world data red reliability report review reviews Ro RoT row Rust s safe sec secure security security measure security measures security practices security solutions security tool security tools SHA sharing Sig size solutions source spam SSE standards support system T ted text the threat threat landscape threat vector threats to tool tools Tor TP transparency transparent trust two UI under up update updates US use user user experience user privacy V val vectors vendor vendors Wi world x z zero