Preventing Ransomware and Advanced Endpoint Threats with Morphisec + Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

When it comes to endpoint security, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is a popular choice, and is the fastest growing endpoint protection platform, boasting over 19% market share. Additionally, the solution is consistently named a “leader” in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection.  

While Microsoft Defender for Endpoint offers comprehensive coverage against a wide range of cyber threats, like many solutions it struggles when faced with the evolving complexity of ransomware attacks.    

According to the 2023 Verizon Data Breach Report, ransomware ranked as one of the top action types present in breaches, which isn't surprising given that ever evolving and evasive ransomware techniques consistently bypass traditional solutions. 

For those companies who rely primarily on Microsoft Defender for Endpoint security, the absence of a critical ransomware defense layer means that the organization is not fully equipped to stop advanced ransomware attacks. 

This blog outlines why, and how security leaders can leverage Morphisec’s integration with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint to enhance defense and assurance.   

Download the white paper for a complete breakdown and integration details.

Ransomware and evasive threats are evolving

Ransomware attacks are on the rise, becoming more frequent and sophisticated, leading to unprecedented post-breach damages. In 2023, ransomware-related costs surpassed USD 30 billion, marking a historic high. Threat actors are employing increasingly evasive tactics to deploy ransomware and other malicious software, circumventing traditional endpoint protection measures. 

The IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report for 2023 reveals alarming statistics: only one-third of reported breaches were initially detected by the organization's internal security teams and tools. Attackers disclosed 27% of breaches, often involving ransomware, with an average cost of USD 5.23 million. Noteworthy is the significant delay in identifying and containing breaches disclosed by attackers, which averaged 233 days to identify (MTTI) and 87 days to contain (MTTC). This is substantially longer—80 days more (or 28.2%)—than breaches discovered by the organization's security teams. 

The emergence of ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) has lowered barriers for threat actors, while fileless, in-memory attacks evade conventional endpoint protection solutions. These tactics enable threat actors to establish a presence within company systems, waiting for the opportune moment to execute their attacks. Once activated, the extortion process begins, often leading to irreversible consequences.

Endpoint defense evasion is well documented

According to the 2024 Picus Security Red report, over 30% of analyzed malware were observed to contain defense these TTPs (Techniques, Tactics and Procedures). This create; this ultimately creates a critical security gap.    

With Microsoft Defender’s rising market share, threat actors will ensure payloads delivered to targets will include evasive techniques capable of and tested to bypass this solution. 

The rise of these targeted and evasive threats means that no single security solution can be relied upon to stop attacks. Instead, security teams must establish a multi-layered security obstacle course between critical assets and potential threats.   

Enhance your organization's defense and assurance with Morphisec and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint 

Morphisec brings Defense-in-Depth to Microsoft Defender by diminishing the blast radius of attacks. This pre-emptively reduces your organization’s exposure to cyber risk, proactively prevents advanced threats, and ensures optimal anti-ransomware defense.    

Morphisec integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, providing full visibility into the attack chain, delivering high priority alerts directly into the Microsoft Defender for Endpoint console to assist security analysts with event prioritization.  

Learn about the integration between Morphisec and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint  

Morphisec delivers high-priority alerts directly into the Microsoft Defender console, including attack details and analytics. 

Morphisec’s Anti-Ransomware Assurance 

Powered by Automated Moving Target Defense (AMTD), Morphisec takes the capabilities of Microsoft Defender for Endpoint to the next level by adding an essential security layer for comprehensive ransomware defense. Morphisec’s seamless integration with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint fills security gaps while fortifying the last mile of defense with the highest level of anti-ransomware assurance available.  

Key benefits: 

• Advanced Anti-Ransomware Defense — Surpassing conventional protection to prevent even the most sophisticated ransomware from bypassing endpoint protections.  Provides a multilayered defensive approach to stop ransomware across multiple attack phases.  

• Enhanced operational efficiency — The seamless integration with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, early threat prevention and accurate classification reduces tech resource time and costs, as well as overall financial impact. 

• Improved Cybersecurity Posture —Boosting audit scores and helping to achieve compliance, which can contribute to reduced cyber insurance premiums, and an optimized overall cybersecurity posture. 
• Continuous Monitoring and Ransomware Exposure Management —Ensuring Microsoft Defender for Endpoint is operational and functioning as intended and provides a clear prioritization to remediate software vulnerabilities. 

Morphisec is a member of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association; Morphisec is also listed in Azure Marketplace and available in the Microsoft App Store. 

Together, Morphisec and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint deliver a powerful and integrated defense system that diminishes the blast radius of ransomware attacks.   

The partnership empowers organizations, helps to maintain a strong security posture in the face of increasingly sophisticated attacks, and provides peace of mind with a fortified last line of defense.  

to learn about the Morphisec and Microsoft Defender for Endpoint integration.