An expanded alliance between EY and Microsoft has been established to boost cyber threat protection for corporate clients, using a managed service delivery model that promises improved functionality and greater flexibility.
EY has announced that it is expanding its strategic alliance with Microsoft in an effort to develop and bring to market enhanced cybersecurity solutions that enable companies to better manage and respond to cyber threats.
The move means EY’s Cybersecurity-as-a-service (CaaS) offering will include tools supported by Microsoft’s Threat Protection solutions, including Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection, Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection and Azure Security Center. They will all be provided through EY cybersecurity centers.
The alliance harnesses EY’s industry insights and experience in disruptive industry trends, new business models and evolving processes with Microsoft’s enterprise cloud platform and digital technologies.
Christina Richmond, program vice president, Worldwide Security Services, IDC, said of the initiative: “Enterprises are seeking improved ways to protect their organizations with end-to-end threat detection and response management across hybrid architectures.
“The alliance between EY and Microsoft combines the capability and experience to help meet this demand, which is on the rise as companies continue to expand their digital footprints.”
Enterprises need to continue to be vigilant because cyber threats are dynamic and ongoing, especially as organizations transition to the digital age
According to Terry Jost, EY Americas Cybersecurity Alliances Leader, “Enterprises need to continue to be vigilant because cyber threats are dynamic and ongoing, especially as organizations transition to the digital age.
“What’s more, the pace of technology change is only accelerating, typically at a faster rate than companies or people can reasonably absorb.”
EY and Microsoft have collaborated with corporate clients on their cybersecurity solutions in an effort to help them predict, monitor and manage risk across their investments in Microsoft technologies — such as tracking and responding to attacks arriving in email attachments — with reduced start-up and operating costs and increased flexibility to detect and respond to new threats.
Ann Johnson, Microsoft corporate vice president, Cybersecurity Solutions Group, commented: “This broad suite of cloud products and services are all built from the ground up to address the most rigorous security and privacy demands of customers, using Microsoft’s advanced security technology and leveraging global EY experience in cybersecurity.
“We are seeing a major transformation of almost all aspects of IT and information security, and together EY and Microsoft will be able to offer integrated solutions that help our clients to be well-positioned and competitive in the ever-evolving global markets.”