Microsoft Copilot for Security: Your Teammate in Cybersecurity

Feeling stressed about all the changes in cybersecurity? Meet your new helper: Microsoft Copilot for Security!

Security professionals face a relentless onslaught of cyber threats. From sophisticated attacks to the sheer volume of alerts, staying ahead of the curve is an impossible task.

Copilot for Security leverages the cutting-edge power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to empower security professionals. Imagine having a tireless assistant who can understand your questions in plain English, analyze mountains of data, and provide actionable insights to help you combat threats faster and more effectively. That's the power of Copilot for Security.

Cybersecurity Challenges

Cybersecurity professionals face a multitude of challenges in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape:

1. Staff and Skill Shortages: A significant shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals, makes it difficult for organizations to safeguard their digital assets.

2. Emerging Technologies: The advent of new technologies like 5G networks and Artificial Intelligence (AI) introduces new vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can exploit.

3. Mobile Malware: The increasing rate of mobile malware poses a significant threat, especially with the insecure usage of URLs over Wi-Fi or other internet networks.

4. Insider Threats: The risk posed by insider threats is a major concern, as these individuals have authorized access to sensitive information.

5. Economic Uncertainty: Economic uncertainties can lead to cutbacks, including budget cuts and layoffs, which can negatively impact cybersecurity measures.

Microsoft has introduced Copilot for Security, an AI-powered solution to address these challenges.

What is Microsoft Copilot for Security?

Microsoft Copilot for Security is a generative AI security product that helps organizations defend against threats at machine speed and scale. It became generally available on April 1, 2024.

Generative AI in Security Tasks Copilot for Security utilizes generative AI to provide tailored insights and guide the next steps. It’s the industry’s first generative AI solution that helps security and IT professionals catch what others miss, move faster, and strengthen team expertise. It’s informed by large-scale data and threat intelligence, including more than 78 trillion security signals processed each day by Microsoft. This allows it to deliver insights and actions at the speed and scale of AI, transforming security operations.

Access Methods

There are two primary ways to access Microsoft Copilot for Security:

1. Standalone Experience: Copilot for Security provides a natural language, assistive copilot experience. It supports security professionals in end-to-end scenarios such as incident response, threat hunting, intelligence gathering, and posture management.

2. Integration with Microsoft Security Products: Copilot for Security integrates with products like Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Defender XDR, Microsoft Intune, Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence, Microsoft Entra, Microsoft Purview, and Microsoft Defender External Attack Surface Management. This allows users to leverage the power of Copilot for Security within the context of these other Microsoft security products.
   

Here is the difference between the access methods:

Factors	Standalone Experience	Integration with Microsoft Security Products
Definition	It provides a dedicated web interface for interacting with Copilot for Security. Users access this interface directly through a web browser at a designated URL.	This method uses plugins within existing Microsoft security products. Users interact with Copilot functionalities directly within the familiar interface of these products.
Data Access	Primarily relies on pre-built datasets and general security knowledge within the underlying Large Language Model (LLM). It has limited access to real-time data from specific security products or user environments.	Provides direct access to rich security data streams and historical information stored within the integrated Microsoft security products.
Benefits	Ease of Use:  Standalone access is ideal for quick deployment and basic security tasks due to its user-friendly interface and minimal configuration requirements. G eneral Security Analysis:  Well-suited for general threat-hunting exercises or exploring broader security topics without the need for integration with other tools.	Context-Aware Insights:  Tight integration with security products allows Copilot to leverage user environment data, leading to more contextually relevant and actionable insights. Streamlined Workflows:  Security professionals can work within their existing security tools, minimizing the need to switch between interfaces for analysis and action. Comprehensive Analysis:  Access to real-time and historical data from integrated products enables Copilot to perform more comprehensive and in-depth security analysis.
Limitations	Limited Context:  Standalone access may lack context specific to a user's environment, potentially requiring additional information for effective analysis. Restricted Data Access:  The lack of real-time data integration with Microsoft security products can limit the depth and granularity of insights generated by Copilot.	Microsoft Product Dependency: Requires existing deployment and licensing of Microsoft security products for full functionality. Learning Curve:  While leveraging familiar interfaces, users might need additional training to utilize Copilot features within each product.

In both cases, Copilot for Security helps to enhance productivity, with studies showing that experienced security analysts were 22% faster and 7% more accurate across all tasks when using Copilot.

Choosing the Right Access Method:

The optimal access method depends on your specific needs and security infrastructure.

• Standalone access is ideal for initial exploration, basic security tasks, or environments with limited Microsoft security product adoption.

• Integration with Microsoft Security Products is best suited for organizations with existing Microsoft security deployments seeking to leverage Copilot's AI capabilities for deeper context-aware analysis and streamlined workflows.

How Does Copilot for Security Work?

Consider the below image showcasing the workflow of Microsoft Copilot for Security, an AI-powered assistant that empowers security professionals.

1. User Prompt and Pre-Processing (Grounding):

Security Professionals Take the Lead: The journey begins with security specialists crafting questions in plain English. These questions can be specific to ongoing security incidents ("What caused the unusual network traffic?") or broader security tasks ("Identify high-risk vulnerabilities in our cloud environment").

Clarifying the Intent (Grounding):  Before reaching the AI core, Copilot for Security performs a pre-processing step called "grounding." Here's what grounding might involve:

• Filtering and Refining: Removing irrelevant information from the user's question can improve the accuracy of the AI response.

• Context Enrichment: Copilot for Security might inject additional details based on your organization's security posture or historical threat data for better comprehension.

2. Modified Prompt Interacts with Plugins:

Plugins for Enhanced Understanding: Once grounded, the user prompt interacts with plugins designed for Microsoft Security products (Defender XDR, Sentinel, etc.) and potentially third-party security tools. These plugins act as translators, transforming the natural language question into a format compatible with the AI model.

Leveraging Specific Security Knowledge: Each plugin might inject domain-specific knowledge into the prompt. For instance, a Defender XDR plugin could add details about recent security alerts, while a vulnerability management plugin might add context about specific vulnerable assets.

3. Large Language Model (LLM) Takes Center Stage:

The Power of AI: The prepped prompt then reaches the core of Copilot for Security - a powerful Large Language Model (LLM) co-developed by Microsoft Azure and OpenAI. This LLM is a complex AI model trained on massive datasets of security information, enabling it to understand security concepts and relationships.

Privacy First: It's crucial to understand that the LLM operates entirely separate from customer data. This separation ensures strict data privacy as the LLM doesn't have access to your organization's specific security details.

4. Refining the LLM's Response (Post-Processing):

Shaping the Answer: After the LLM generates a response based on the refined prompt, Copilot for Security applies post-processing techniques. This stage could involve:

• Formatting the Response: Presenting the answer in a clear and actionable for security professionals.

• Integrating Security Insights:  Enriching the LLM's response with additional security context or threat intelligence relevant to your organization.

5. Security Professional Review and Action:

Human Expertise Remains Core: The final stage presents the processed response along with relevant security product commands to the security professional. They can then review the information, make informed decisions, and take appropriate actions.

Collaboration is Key:  Microsoft emphasizes that Copilot for Security is designed as a collaborative tool. The security professional retains full control over the process, leveraging Copilot's insights to enhance their expertise and decision-making capabilities.

Additional Security Measures:

• End-to-End Encryption:  The entire data flow, from user prompts to LLM responses, is encrypted to safeguard user privacy and sensitive security information.

• Responsible AI Checks:  Microsoft employs robust "Responsible AI" checks throughout the process. These checks ensure the quality and security of both the user prompts and the LLM's outputs, minimizing the risk of bias or errors.

Benefits of Microsoft Copilot for Security

Microsoft Copilot for Security offers several benefits that help organizations enhance their security posture:

1. Catch What Others Miss: It summarizes vast data signals into key insights to detect cyber threats before they cause harm and reinforce your security posture.

2. Outpace Adversaries: It puts critical guidance and context at security teams’ fingertips so they can respond to incidents in minutes instead of hours or days.

3. Strengthen Team Expertise: It empowers and advances the work of junior staff through step-by-step guidance and alleviates tedious tasks for senior staff so they can focus on strategic priorities.

4. Turn Questions into Action: You can ask Copilot for Security questions in natural language and receive actionable responses to common security and IT tasks in seconds.

5. Integration with Microsoft Security Products: It offers a standalone experience and seamlessly integrates with products in the Microsoft Security portfolio.

6. Productivity Gains: Studies have shown that experienced security analysts were 22% faster and 7% more accurate across all tasks when using Copilot. Most notably, 97% said they want to use Copilot the next time they do the same task.

7. Boost Defenders’ Skills: Security Copilot boosts your defenders’ skills with its ability to answer security-related questions – from the basic to the complex.

8. Adaptive Learning: Security Copilot continually learns from user interactions, adapts to enterprise preferences, and advises defenders on the best action to achieve more secure outcomes.

Pricing

The pricing for Microsoft Copilot for Security is based on Security Compute Units (SCU).

A Security Compute Unit (SCU) is a unit measure of the computing power to run Microsoft Copilot for Security workloads. Here’s what comes under an SCU:

1. Insights Generation: SCUs are used to generate insights that help to identify and mitigate security threats.

2. Prompt Evaluation: They evaluate prompts that guide the next steps in security operations.

3. Running Promptbooks: SCUs are used to run promptbooks, a predefined set of instructions or tasks.

4. Automation: They are used to automate tasks in both the standalone product and embedded experiences across Microsoft Security.

Here are the details:

1. Price per SCU: The price is approximately $4 per SCU per hour.

2. Billing: SCUs are provisioned per hour and billed monthly.

3. Estimate of Monthly Bill: The monthly bill for 1 SCU provisioned for 24 hours daily for the entire month is $2,920.

4. Usage: One SCU equates to roughly 10 workflows per day.

5. Recommendation: Microsoft recommends provisioning 3 SCUs per hour to start your Copilot for Security exploration.

Please note that these prices are estimates only and are not intended as actual price quotes. Actual pricing may vary depending on the type of agreement entered with Microsoft, the date of purchase, and the currency exchange rate.

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Question 1: How can Microsoft Copilot for Security help my security team?

Microsoft Copilot for Security assists security professionals in various ways:

• Improved Efficiency:  Automates routine tasks and analyzes vast amounts of data, freeing up valuable time for security professionals to focus on critical issues.

• Enhanced Threat Detection:  It analyzes security data from multiple sources to identify hidden threats and potential vulnerabilities that traditional methods might miss.

• Faster Incident Response:  Provides faster insights and recommendations during security incidents, enabling quicker containment and remediation.

• Deeper Security Insights:  Leverages AI to uncover complex relationships and patterns within security data, leading to a more comprehensive understanding of your security posture.

Question 2: Benefits of using AI for security tasks.

AI offers several advantages for security tasks:

• Scalability:  AI can analyze massive datasets of security information much faster than humans, enabling comprehensive threat detection across your entire network.

• Automation:  AI can automate repetitive tasks such as log analysis and incident triage, freeing security professionals to focus on more strategic initiatives.

• Improved Accuracy:  AI can continuously learn and improve its threat detection capabilities over time, leading to fewer false positives and a more efficient security posture.

• Threat Anticipation:  AI can identify patterns and predict potential security threats before they occur, allowing for proactive defense measures.

Question 3: Is Microsoft Copilot for Security free?

Microsoft has not yet publicly announced the official pricing model for Copilot for Security. It might be offered as a standalone product or bundled with existing Microsoft security product subscriptions. It's recommended to check the official Microsoft documentation or contact a Microsoft sales representative for the latest information on pricing and licensing.

Question 4: Security automation tools for developers.

While Copilot for Security focuses on assisting security professionals, various security automation tools are available specifically for developers. These tools can help developers integrate security best practices into the software development lifecycle, such as:

• Static Application Security Testing (SAST) tools: Identify security vulnerabilities within source code.

• Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) tools: Scan running applications to detect vulnerabilities.

• Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Security Scanners: Analyze infrastructure configuration files for potential security risks.
  

Conclusion

Microsoft Copilot for Security, your AI teammate in the fight against cybercrime, utilizes natural language processing to assist security professionals in incident response and threat hunting. It offers standalone and integrated access with Microsoft security products, and empowers you to leverage its AI capabilities for faster threat detection, improved response times, and a deeper understanding of your security posture.