Introductory guide to Microsoft Security Copilot

Is Generative AI merely a tool for handling tedious, time-consuming daily tasks, or can it truly become a game changer in more critical areas like cybersecurity? According to Microsoft, the answer is a resounding yes.

Microsoft Copilot for Security is the new tool that, by integrating next-generation artificial intelligence capabilities into the world of cybersecurity, enables faster identification and response to cyber threats while providing a deeper understanding of the action landscape in which they occur. In this article, we’ll explore what it is, how it works, and the scenarios in which Microsoft’s AI-powered digital assistant can be leveraged to protect IT infrastructures.

Introduction to Microsoft Security Copilot

The topic of cybersecurity has never been as critical as it is in recent years. The continuous growth of the cyber threat landscape is driving software companies worldwide to leverage the latest technological advancements to effectively counteract dangers that can compromise the digital infrastructures of government organizations and businesses of all sizes and industries.

Microsoft Copilot for Security is an AI-powered tool designed to assist security professionals in identifying vulnerabilities, detecting and analyzing threats, and responding to incidents more quickly and effectively. It integrates with existing security infrastructures to aggregate and analyze data, automate security responses, and provide real-time insights to guide security teams.

It functions as an assistant or co-pilot for security professionals such as Security Operations Center (SOC) analysts, IT administrators, and compliance analysts. Built on OpenAI’s GPT-4 large language model (LLM), it is enhanced with security-specific knowledge derived from Microsoft’s extensive security data, including trillions of daily signals, threat intelligence, and real-world incident data. It integrates information from Microsoft security products like Microsoft Sentinel and Defender XDR, third-party solutions, and Microsoft’s vast threat intelligence feed.

But what are the features that set it apart, and how can it concretely help protect your digital infrastructure? Let’s explore this in the following sections.

What is Microsoft Copilot?

Microsoft Copilot is an AI-powered digital assistant designed to simplify users' daily tasks, enhance productivity, and boost creativity. Its primary focus includes code generation, writing assistance, and collaboration. Seamlessly integrated with popular Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams, Copilot offers contextual suggestions and helps users effectively comprehend information.

Powered by the state-of-the-art GPT-4 language model, Microsoft Copilot boasts remarkable capabilities like automatic code completion, documentation search, and collaborative writing. Microsoft continues to update Copilot with new features, highlighting the heavy investment by the Redmond giant in its generative AI solution to shape the future of business-centric products.

Microsoft's AI digital assistant caters to a wide range of users and professionals, including developers, content creators, and workers seeking AI-powered assistance for their tasks. Here are the main ways to leverage Microsoft Copilot:

• Adopting Copilot: Microsoft offers various Copilot assistants to boost productivity and creativity. Integrated into several Microsoft products and platforms, Copilot transforms the digital workspace into a more interactive and efficient environment.
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• Extending Copilot: Developers can integrate external data to simplify user operations and reduce the need to switch contexts. This not only enhances productivity but also fosters better collaboration. Through Copilot, it's easy to integrate such data into the everyday Microsoft products users rely on.
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• Building your own Copilot: Beyond adoption and extension, users can create a custom Copilot for a unique conversational experience using Azure OpenAI, Cognitive Search, Microsoft Copilot Studio, and other Microsoft Cloud technologies. A custom Copilot can incorporate business data, access real-time external data through APIs, and integrate with enterprise applications.

Microsoft Copilot pricing

Microsoft Copilot is available in various forms, with pricing packages tailored to different use cases:

• Copilot (Free): The free version provides access to generative AI features for PC management (in Windows), online search (in Edge), and general chatbot interactions on the web.
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• Copilot Pro: Designed for individual users who want to maximize the generative AI experience. For approximately $20 per month per user, it offers access to Copilot across tools like Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.
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• Copilot for Microsoft 365: Tailored for individuals and teams working with Microsoft apps, this version provides access to Copilot Studio, enterprise-grade security, privacy, and compliance, along with advanced capabilities.

Additionally, there are specialized versions of Copilot for specific Microsoft tools, such as solutions integrated into Microsoft Dynamics for sales and customer service teams, as well as security-focused Copilot versions integrated with Microsoft Purview.

Recently, Microsoft has also introduced and updated a range of "Agents" tailored to specific business sectors like finance, customer service, and marketing, with training and functionalities designed for these particular domains.

Although many Windows 11 users were initially skeptical when Microsoft first introduced Copilot, the service has grown significantly since its preview phase. Today, it is regarded as one of the best productivity tools in the AI era.

Microsoft Security Copilot: What features does it offer?

Copilot for Security combines the power of OpenAI’s advanced generative language model, GPT-4, with a security-specific model developed by Microsoft. This enables a Security Operations Center (SOC) analyst to use Security Copilot much like ChatGPT: by asking questions and receiving AI-generated answers tailored to security queries.

Microsoft states that Security Copilot enhances workflows by leveraging AI’s capabilities within a cybersecurity-specific context. The tool can be applied to a wide range of key SOC activities and responsibilities, from monitoring and detection to compliance and vulnerability management.

Microsoft highlights the following key features of Copilot for Security:

• Simplifying investigations with expert guidance: Copilot provides direct access to Microsoft’s security experts, who can guide and assist in managing security risks.
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• Identifying what analysts might miss: Security Copilot enhances triage processes to detect cybersecurity threats early, offering predictive insights on how to counter an attacker’s next move.
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• Improving detection quality through proactive monitoring and feedback: Security Copilot proactively monitors the cloud environment, updating itself with each new detection and improving its ability to recognize genuine threats.
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• Providing rapid support for incident response: The tool assesses the entire cloud environment and predicts which systems an attacker might target, enabling quick containment and removal of adversaries.
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• Strengthening security posture through continuous risk assessments: Copilot continuously evaluates the cloud environment and provides unique recommendations to address potential risks using best security practices.
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• Compliance assistance: Copilot for Security can conduct regular compliance audits of the cloud environment and provide recommendations to meet compliance standards.
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• Addressing the cybersecurity talent gap: With an estimated 3.4 million unfilled cybersecurity positions worldwide, Microsoft asserts that Security Copilot can help bridge some (if not all) of these gaps by supporting existing security teams and improving workflow efficiency.
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• Strong integration with Microsoft security solutions: Microsoft attributes Copilot for Security’s strength to its deep integration with Microsoft security products, including Azure Security Center, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Cloud App Security, Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Identity and Access Management (IAM), Microsoft Intune, and third-party solutions.
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• Responsible AI usage: Microsoft is committed to responsible AI practices to enhance security analysts’ capabilities and foster positive innovation. Copilot uses a closed-loop learning system, ensuring that organizational data remains under control and is not used to train Security Copilot or enrich the base AI models.

Microsoft Security Copilot: availability and integrations

When making its commercial debut, Microsoft Copilot for Security is capable of processing prompts and responding in 8 languages, with an interface supporting 25 languages. It is simultaneously available across North and South America, Europe, and Asia.

The development of this version of Microsoft's digital assistant was supported by an ecosystem of over 100 partners, selected from MSPs and ISVs worldwide, who closely followed the software’s evolution, providing critical feedback to enhance its capabilities.

Copilot for Security is available through two different experiences: a stand-alone portal or integrated within the interface of other Microsoft Security products. As announced, Copilot features integrations with Defender, Purview, Intune, and Entra.

The key benefits offered by Copilot for Security in integrated solutions include improved and simplified insights into the activities of Microsoft's security systems. Among the main integrations within the Microsoft ecosystem are:

Copilot in Microsoft Defender

Copilot for Security delivers an integrated Copilot experience within the Microsoft Defender portal for managing SIEM and XDR. It assists users during the analysis and response to identified threats by:

• Automatically presenting relevant details for summaries.
• Enhancing efficiency with guided responses.
• Providing natural language support for Kusto Query Language (KQL), script analysis, and file analysis.
• Enabling risk assessment with the latest Microsoft threat intelligence.

Copilot in Microsoft Entra

Currently in preview, Copilot is available for Microsoft Entra to help prevent identity compromise. It provides natural language summaries of user risk indicators, offering actionable suggestions to address identified issues. Additionally, Copilot suggests automating the prevention and resolution of future identity attacks, improving security and minimizing help desk calls.

Copilot in Microsoft Purview

Copilot in Purview assists security and data compliance administrators in prioritizing and managing critical alerts more effectively. It delivers concise summaries, integrates detailed insights, and offers natural language support within trusted investigation workflows with a simple click.

Copilot in Microsoft Intune

Currently in preview, the integration of Copilot in Microsoft Intune aims to help IT professionals and security analysts make better-informed decisions regarding endpoint management. This integration enables the detection and resolution of potential device issues before they escalate.

Use cases for Microsoft Security Copilot

The capabilities of Microsoft Security Copilot extend across a wide range of cybersecurity areas, from reporting to compliance monitoring.

The tool can support workflows in each of the following scenarios.

Incident response

Security Copilot can assist with incident response through various actions:

• Incident triage and assessment: Security Copilot can quickly evaluate an incident and guide the initial response steps.
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• Incident containment and mitigation: With its comprehensive view of the cloud environment, Security Copilot provides insights on containing security incidents and minimizing further damage. For example, it suggests which systems to isolate, temporary security measures to implement, and critical patches to apply immediately.
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• Forensic analysis and investigation: Security Copilot can rapidly analyze malicious files or commands and identify Indicators of Compromise (IOCs) to detect affected machines within the environment.
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• Remediation and recovery: The tool helps develop remediation plans to restore affected systems and apply necessary security controls and patches to prevent recurrence.

Without AI, these use cases would consume valuable work hours, reducing the effectiveness of responses. Empowering incident response with Security Copilot enables faster resolutions and minimizes the potential impact of ongoing attacks.

Threat intelligence

Copilot for Security leverages Microsoft’s global threat intelligence feed, which collects 65 trillion signals daily, including the latest cyber threats affecting organizations worldwide.

Using this feed, along with third-party intelligence sources, Copilot can automatically identify IOCs within your environment, providing context for security alerts or aiding incident investigations.

Beyond IOCs, Copilot offers analytical and reporting services to help visualize threat information your organization collects. It analyzes intelligence, identifies relevant patterns, and provides actionable insights to mitigate potential risks.

Threat hunting

Threat hunting begins with forming a hypothesis about what to investigate in the environment. According to Microsoft, Copilot for Security aids in crafting a hunting hypothesis by providing insights into tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used by threat actors and identifying potential threat scenarios.

This security information can then be used to create customized search queries with Copilot’s help and its integration with Microsoft’s Advanced Hunting in Defender for Endpoint and Sentinel. These queries enable threat hunting by examining attack data, such as known IOCs, suspicious activities, or patterns associated with emerging cyber threats.

Compliance monitoring

Many companies must adhere to industry standards to safeguard corporate data and meet regulatory requirements. Manually auditing compliance can be tedious. Microsoft states that Copilot for Security can assist in several ways:

• Compliance policy assessment: Copilot for Security can evaluate your organization’s compliance with industry standards, regulatory requirements, and internal policies by reviewing security controls in your environment.
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• Automated compliance reports and dashboards: Instead of manually creating reports or dashboards to monitor compliance, Copilot can generate these automatically. This helps you track progress towards compliance goals and demonstrate them to auditors.
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• Compliance audits and remediation guidance: Copilot performs machine-speed compliance audits. If improvements are needed in a particular area, it can generate remediation steps to align with regulatory standards, saving time compared to manual audits and guidance from auditors.
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• Continuous monitoring of regulatory updates: As standards evolve and regulatory bodies update their requirements, Copilot for Security keeps you informed and provides guidance on how changes may impact your compliance obligations.

Vulnerability management

Vulnerability management is an ongoing battle, with new vulnerabilities emerging daily. This can be overwhelming in large IT environments running diverse software. According to Microsoft, Copilot for Security helps manage this challenge with its visibility across the entire cloud environment.

Copilot collects real-time security data from all endpoints and servers, determines software versions, and compares them against known vulnerabilities from threat intelligence feeds. If a device is vulnerable, it generates remediation steps or automatically updates the software to mitigate risks.

While automated alerts for vulnerabilities are not new—Microsoft Defender for Endpoint already provides this—Copilot introduces AI-driven remediation steps, automatic execution of complex mitigation tasks, and user-free software patching, significantly accelerating vulnerability management and improving organizational security.

Detection engineering

Copilot for Security is designed to learn from past incidents to deliver more accurate responses in the future. This learning happens through user feedback and big data analysis. As a result, detections become less "noisy" (fewer false positives), allowing security teams to focus on real incidents that require immediate attention. The longer Copilot is used, the smarter it becomes.

Additionally, Copilot can generate detection rules. For instance, you can ask it to create a rule triggered when a specific new vulnerability is exploited. This saves time and effort in manually researching the vulnerability and writing the rule, ensuring your digital environment is protected much faster.

Conclusions

Microsoft Copilot for Security currently embodies Redmond's vision for the future of cybersecurity. It promises to simplify and streamline the daily work of professionals and experts who tirelessly engage in the ongoing battle against the numerous threats of the digital world.

Microsoft's AI-powered digital assistant has started to demonstrate how its potential goes far beyond the familiar tasks that artificial intelligence is known for. Considering its relatively recent release, Copilot for Security could expand even further in the coming years, becoming an even more robust tool to assist in managing the security of IT infrastructures.

We therefore encourage you to try it out to test its capabilities and to follow its future developments to understand how Microsoft plans to enhance and improve its features, transforming this digital assistant into a reliable ally for safeguarding your digital security.

FAQ on Microsoft Security Copilot

What is Microsoft Security Copilot?

‍Microsoft Security Copilot is a digital assistant powered by artificial intelligence that helps cybersecurity professionals identify vulnerabilities, detect and analyze threats, and manage incidents. It integrates with existing security infrastructures to analyze data, automate responses, and provide real-time insights.

What are the main features of Microsoft Security Copilot?

‍Microsoft Security Copilot offers several key features. It aggregates and analyzes data from Microsoft security products like Sentinel and Defender XDR, as well as third-party solutions. It automates incident management for more efficient responses. It provides real-time insights and leverages the GPT-4 model by OpenAI, enhanced with Microsoft-specific security data. It is designed to assist security professionals such as SOC analysts, IT administrators, and compliance analysts.

How does Microsoft Security Copilot integrate with existing security solutions?

‍Microsoft Security Copilot connects with Microsoft products like Sentinel and Defender XDR while also integrating with third-party tools. This integration allows it to collect and analyze data from multiple sources, providing a unified view of threats and improving incident response.

What are the benefits of using Microsoft Security Copilot?

‍The main benefits include faster threat detection through advanced analytics, more efficient incident responses via automation, deeper insights into the threat landscape, and enhanced support for security teams. Microsoft Security Copilot acts as a co-pilot, improving the productivity and effectiveness of professionals across all security-related activities.

What are the pricing options for Microsoft Copilot?

‍Microsoft Copilot is available in several versions. The free version offers basic functionalities for PC management, online search, and chatbot interactions. The Pro version is intended for individual users requiring advanced tools, while the enterprise version is tailored to organizational needs with specific integrations and support