You Bought the Licence.
Now Deploy Real Protection.
Most organisations have MDE deployed with default settings — leaving Attack Surface Reduction rules in Audit mode and advanced threat detection inactive. We change that.
| # | Hostname | OS | AV Mode | Sig Age | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | NL-WRK-0147 | Win 11 23H2 | Active | 0 days | Current |
| 02 | NL-SRV-DC01 | Win Srv 2022 | Active | 0 days | Current |
| 03 | BE-WRK-0089 | Win 11 22H2 | Passive | 2 days | Review |
| 04 | NL-LAP-0234 | Win 11 23H2 | Active | 0 days | Current |
| 05 | NL-WRK-0091 | Win 10 21H2 | EDR Block | 1 day | Config Check |
Your Endpoints Are Exposed. Here's Why.
MDE is one of the most powerful endpoint security platforms available. But default deployment leaves the majority of its capabilities switched off — and adversaries know exactly where to look.
Paying for Plan 2, Running Like Plan 1
Most organisations with E5 licences have MDE Plan 2 — but without expert configuration, ASR rules sit in Audit mode, automated investigation is inactive, and your attack surface exposure is identical to day one of deployment.
FastTrack Gets You Licensed, Not Protected
Microsoft FastTrack's mandate ends at onboarding. They ensure MDE is switched on — not that it is configured to your environment, hardened against your threat model, or tuned to reduce the alert noise that is overwhelming your SOC.
Alert Fatigue Is Neutralising Your SOC
Misconfigured MDE generates hundreds of low-fidelity alerts daily. Security teams spend more time triaging false positives than investigating real threats. The signal-to-noise ratio is broken — and adversaries count on it.
Endpoint Blind Spots Are Your Biggest Breach Risk
Unmanaged devices, shadow IT, and BYOD without policy enforcement represent the most common initial access vector for ransomware. If you cannot see it, you cannot protect it — regardless of how good your EDR platform is.
Of breached endpoints were running antivirus at time of compromise (Verizon DBIR)
Of MDE deployments have Attack Surface Reduction rules in Audit-only mode
Average time to detect an endpoint compromise without EDR tuning
Average cost of an endpoint-originated breach for mid-market organisations (IBM 2024)
From Deployment to Hardened Defence
End-to-end Microsoft Defender for Endpoint consulting — initial deployment, configuration hardening, ongoing EDR management, and executive-level reporting.
MDE Deployment & Baseline Configuration
Full deployment from a clean state or migration from legacy AV. We configure MDE to CIS benchmarks, define device groups, and establish policy inheritance — before a single user is onboarded.
- •CIS benchmark hardening
- •Device group & policy structure
- •Legacy AV migration planning
Attack Surface Reduction Rule Enforcement
ASR rules are MDE's most powerful — and most commonly passive — capability. We move your rules from Audit mode to Enforce mode, with rigorous baselining to eliminate business disruption.
- •Audit → Enforce rule migration
- •Business impact analysis per rule
- •Exclusion management & documentation
EDR Tuning & Detection Optimisation
We review your detection coverage end-to-end — reducing alert noise, engineering suppression rules for known benign activity, and closing the gaps where genuine threats go undetected.
- •Alert triage & noise reduction
- •Custom suppression rule engineering
- •Detection gap analysis
Custom KQL Detection Rules
Default Microsoft detection rules are designed for broad coverage. We write custom KQL analytics rules tuned to your environment, your threat model, and the attack patterns most relevant to your industry.
- •Environment-specific KQL queries
- •Industry threat model alignment
- •Continuous rule review & refinement
Device Health & Compliance Reporting
Regular health checks across your endpoint estate. Signature currency, sensor coverage, AV mode distribution, and compliance posture — delivered as board-ready executive summaries.
- •Monthly endpoint health reports
- •Signature & sensor coverage tracking
- •Board-ready executive briefings
MDE + Microsoft Sentinel Integration
MDE is most powerful when it feeds a SIEM. We architect the full integration with Microsoft Sentinel — streaming alerts, automated response playbooks, and cross-workload correlation rules that create a complete attack picture.
- •MDE → Sentinel data connector
- •Automated incident response playbooks
- •Cross-workload incident correlation
Beyond FastTrack. Into Real Security Outcomes.
Microsoft FastTrack gets MDE switched on. We get MDE fully hardened, tuned, and producing security intelligence your team can act on. The difference between a licence and a defence posture is expert configuration — and that is precisely what we deliver.
Frequently Asked Questions
MDE Plan 1 provides core endpoint protection: next-gen antivirus, attack surface reduction, and basic device controls. MDE Plan 2 (included with M365 E5) adds full EDR capability, threat hunting, automated investigation and response, 6-month data retention, and advanced threat analytics. Most organisations with E5 licencing are paying for Plan 2 capabilities but running at Plan 1 capability due to incomplete configuration — a situation we resolve directly.
For most organisations running Windows environments with M365 E3/E5, yes — MDE Plan 2 can fully replace traditional AV and EDR solutions. We perform a side-by-side capability assessment before recommending migration, and we manage the migration process to ensure zero coverage gaps during the transition. Where legacy solutions cover macOS or Linux endpoints extensively, a phased approach is typically more appropriate.
ASR rules are behavioural controls that block specific attack techniques at the process level — credential theft from LSASS, Office macro abuse, script obfuscation, process injection, and more. Microsoft ships these rules in Audit mode by default to avoid disrupting existing workflows. Moving them to Enforce mode is one of the highest-impact configuration changes an organisation can make, but it requires careful testing. This is the work we specialise in.
MDE natively streams alerts and device telemetry to Microsoft Sentinel via the Defender XDR data connector. Once connected, Sentinel correlates endpoint signals with identity, email, and cloud activity to build a complete attack picture across your Microsoft 365 estate. We architect this integration alongside MDE deployment — designing the analytics rules, alert correlation logic, and automated response playbooks that make the combined platform operationally effective.
A net-new MDE deployment for a 200–500 device organisation typically takes 4–6 weeks from kickoff to full enforcement. An MDE Health Assessment of an existing deployment takes 2–3 weeks and produces a prioritised remediation roadmap. We scope fixed-price engagements during an initial strategy call — no open-ended retainers.
The MDE Configuration Guide CISOs Are Forwarding
Default MDE settings leave most enterprise networks underprotected. Our tiered policy architecture — Workstations, Servers, Mission-Critical — with the three configuration settings that account for most deployment failures.
Read the ArticleYour Licence Paid for the Shield.
Whether you are deploying MDE for the first time, migrating from a legacy AV solution, or inheriting a misconfigured environment — our senior MDE consultants give you a clear picture of where you stand and what it takes to get fully protected.
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