Best M365 breach detection for MSPs
Best Microsoft 365 breach detection tools for MSPs
Microsoft 365, Azure, Entra ID, and Defender provide rich logs, but most MSPs cannot make sense of them at speed. The right breach-detection tool reduces false positives, correlates cloud signals with endpoint signals, and surfaces actionable incidents, not raw alerts. Here is what to look for.
A useful M365 breach-detection tool does three things: it pulls the rich Microsoft 365, Entra, Azure, and Defender data; it correlates that data with the MSP's endpoint telemetry to drop the false positives; and it surfaces a small number of actionable incidents per tenant per day. For MSP work it must also be multi-tenant, so one console triages every client without logging into each tenant's portal.
Microsoft has been steadily improving the security signals exposed by Microsoft 365, Defender for Office 365, Entra ID, and Azure. The problem for most MSPs is not the lack of data. It is that the data is buried in eleven admin centres, generates more false positives than real incidents, and is not correlated with the endpoint telemetry the MSP already has on the same users.
For multi-tenant work, the problem multiplies. An MSP supporting 30 client tenants with Microsoft Entra "Risky Users" alerts will spend most of its time chasing IPv6 privacy noise and impossible-travel false positives that resolve themselves the moment a real workstation is correlated with the login.
What to look for
- Multi-tenant by design. You need one console that lets you triage incidents across all your client tenants without logging into each tenant's portal. Single-tenant tools do not scale to MSP work.
- Endpoint correlation. A login from an unusual location is not a breach if the user's registered Lavawall® workstation is at that location. Without endpoint correlation, you will drown in false positives.
- Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) coverage. Look for coverage of mailbox forwarding rules, suspicious mailbox rules, suspicious login patterns, impossible travel with real distance and speed analysis, newly-installed risky Entra / Azure apps, unusual file download / deletion / sharing, and admin-abuse patterns (privileged role changes, secret writes, and so on).
- Configuration assessment alongside detection. Detection without configuration hardening is a treadmill. Look for tools that assess the configuration posture (MFA enforcement, conditional access, legacy auth, mailbox audit logging, retention) so you can close the holes that produce alerts.
- Actionable output, not raw alerts. You need incidents that say "user X logged in from country Y at speed Z and downloaded N files," not 200 raw signals to triage.
- No-laptop technician workflow. You are going to get an alert on the weekend. The platform should let a technician triage from a phone browser without a heavy native client.
- Bundled with the rest of your stack. Standalone M365 ITDR adds another tool, another invoice, another integration. Bundled platforms (Lavawall®, Huntress) keep the workflow in one console.
Options to evaluate
Five approaches to M365 breach detection, with the buyers each one fits best.
Lavawall®
Multi-tenant M365 / Azure / Entra ID plus Google Workspace ITDR with endpoint correlation
One-click M365 / Entra / Azure connection per tenant. Correlates Entra logs with the MSP's known endpoints to reduce false positives; for example, computers running the Lavawall® agent are automatically excluded from login-sequence false positives. Covers mailbox forwarding rules, suspicious mailbox rules, suspicious login patterns, impossible travel with real distance and speed display, newly-installed risky Entra / Azure apps, unusual file activity, admin abuse patterns, and Intune coverage gaps. Bundled with the full Lavawall® platform.
Best when: MSPs and MSSPs that want M365 / Azure / Entra ID and Google Workspace breach detection bundled with the rest of their security and compliance stack.
Microsoft Defender XDR + Defender for Identity
Native Microsoft platform
Native Microsoft tooling. Powerful when the customer is on E5 and has Defender for Identity, Defender for Endpoint, and Defender for Cloud Apps deployed and tuned. Multi-tenant management requires Defender XDR with Microsoft Lighthouse and is heavier than most MSPs need.
Best when: Large enterprises on Microsoft E5 with dedicated security teams; MSPs serving such enterprises directly.
Huntress Managed ITDR
Managed M365 ITDR with SOC
Managed M365 ITDR with a 24/7 SOC. Strong when the MSP wants to outsource the response side. Less broad than Lavawall® on configuration assessment and not bundled with patching, GRC, helpdesk, or remote support.
Best when: MSPs that want an outsourced SOC for M365 alerts; complementary to Lavawall®, which integrates with Huntress.
Blackpoint Cyber
Managed detection and response with M365 monitoring
Managed MDR with M365 coverage. Heavier focus on response services rather than configuration posture and compliance evidence.
Best when: MSPs that want a managed-response provider as the primary security layer.
Standalone M365 ITDR point tools
Specialty SaaS
Point tools that focus narrowly on M365 / Entra ITDR. Strong feature depth in their niche; high false-positive rate without endpoint correlation; another invoice and another integration to maintain.
Best when: Enterprises with a dedicated identity-security team and the budget for a specialised tool.
How Lavawall® fits
Lavawall® is one of the few platforms designed from day one as multi-tenant M365 / Azure / Entra ID / Google Workspace breach detection with endpoint correlation. The connection is one click per tenant: log into the Microsoft account, grant the read-only scopes Lavawall® needs, and the platform begins ingesting Entra logs, Azure activity, and Defender for Office 365 signals immediately.
False-positive reduction is where Lavawall® stands out. Computers running the Lavawall® agent for Windows, macOS, or Linux are automatically excluded from login sequences that include a failed login and an unknown successful login location. The platform also accounts for IPv6 privacy and other noise sources that plague Microsoft's built-in "Risky Users" feed.
Coverage runs from mailbox forwarding rules and suspicious mailbox rules; through impossible-travel detection with actual distance and speed displayed (so you can see whether 800 km in 12 minutes is a real problem or a VPN handoff); through newly-installed Entra / Azure apps and risky OAuth grants; through unusual file download, deletion, and sharing activities; to admin-abuse detection and gaps between Intune-managed and Lavawall-managed devices.
Frequently asked
- Do I need this if my client is on Microsoft 365 Business Premium?
- Business Premium includes Defender for Office 365 P1 and basic Entra ID Protection, which produce raw alerts. They do not correlate with endpoint telemetry and are not multi-tenant for MSP work. A breach-detection layer like Lavawall® adds the correlation, multi-tenant console, and actionable triage on top.
- How long does it take to add a tenant?
- Roughly one click. The MSP technician logs into the client's Microsoft tenant, grants the read-only scopes Lavawall® requires, and ingestion begins within minutes.
- Does Lavawall® cover Google Workspace as well?
- Yes. Google Workspace breach detection is built in alongside M365 / Azure / Entra. Three clicks to connect the tenant; same correlation and false-positive reduction.
- What about Defender for Endpoint?
- Lavawall® monitors Defender (and 70+ other AV / EDR / MDR / XDR products) at the endpoint level. Defender exclusions, real-time protection state, tamper protection, cloud-delivered protection, and Defender for Office 365 link-scan results are all visible in the Lavawall® console.
What third-party AI models see — and what they never see
Analysis that uses a language model runs on redacted data. Before anything leaves our systems, a redaction system removes IP addresses, company names, usernames, email addresses, and sensitive personally-identifiable information (SPII) that may appear in a ticket, including free text a person typed. Email our internal scans indicate may contain medical information is never sent to a third-party model at all. Every model is contractually configured so your information is not used to train it.
Redacted ticket and breach information is processed in Canada. If you would prefer another country, contact support and we will arrange it. Redacted context around suspected breach indicators and threat intelligence may be processed in the United States — that processing contains no IP address, company name, user, email address, or ticket information.
Subprocessors: AWS (hosted in Canada) · AWS AI services (hosted in Canada) · Anthropic (models hosted in Canada through AWS for anything relating to your tickets and breaches; US-hosted for some other tasks that do not involve them) · OpenAI (verification only, no access to your tickets or breach information). Full detail on the privacy policy.