Microsoft Inspire also brought some security updates. If you missed it, I covered the AI ones on yesterday’s show.
At the show, Microsoft revealed that Partners had seen 14 percent growth year over year while partners focused on SMBs have seen “even more dramatic demand”—37 percent market expansion this last year. That growth is unsurprising when 82 percent of ransomware attacks target small businesses, according to Microsoft. SMBs typically lack internal security specialists, hence the importance of solution providers.
Security CoPilot will get an early access program in the fall, and Partners and customers who use the Microsoft Defender for Endpoint enterprise networks security platform will get the invitation. Defender for Business is getting new streaming API features, and there is a new managed service called Microsoft Defender Experts for XDR. This includes guidance to respond to incidents.
And unrelated to Inspire, CISA announced that it has been working with Microsoft to identify critical logging data points that should be included for all Microsoft customers for free. Microsoft says they are expanding access to the premium cloud logging to all customers for free, with more becoming available in September 2023.
While I’m on the government, earlier this week, the White House revealed its implementation plan for the national cybersecurity strategy. It’s a 57-page “living document” featuring more than 65 “high-impact initiatives” to align with the five pillars already released: defending critical infrastructure, disrupting and dismantling threat actors, shaping market forces to drive security, and investing in a resilient future.
The Office of the National Cyber Director then announced a request for information to get input on how to harmonize the cybersecurity protocols governing the nation’s networks efficiently. Comments are accepted until September 15.
Why do we care?
Besides the tactical product updates, I’ll focus on that strategy. These larger government frameworks help create implementation plans, and now is precisely the time to review them – as you can submit feedback.