We're a 10-person business that suffered a serious ransomware attack about three years ago. Fortunately, immutable cloud backups let us recover with very little data loss. At the time, we were relying on inexpensive or free antivirus software, so afterward we invested in a more comprehensive security setup and haven't had any incidents since. The current stack costs about $3,500 per year: Cisco Umbrella for DNS security, Cisco Duo for RDP access alongside a Fortinet VPN, Bitdefender GravityZone antivirus, a FortiGate firewall with IPS and antivirus, FortiGate EMS for VPN management, and Proofpoint Essentials Advanced for email filtering. I'm considering moving to Microsoft's Defender suite to reduce costs, but I don't want to sacrifice protection or make recovery from another incident more difficult. Would you keep the current setup, or is Defender a reasonable replacement?
4 Answers
I’d be cautious about removing the FortiGate or Proofpoint just because you adopt Defender. They cover different parts of the attack surface: the firewall handles network controls, while email filtering addresses phishing and malicious messages before they reach users. Defender is a better fit if your endpoints, identities, and policies are already managed through Microsoft’s ecosystem. For a hybrid or mostly on-premises setup, Bitdefender may be easier to understand and operate.
First clarify which Defender product you mean. The basic antivirus built into Windows is not the same as Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, which includes EDR and broader detection and response capabilities. I wouldn’t replace a mature security setup with only the built-in antivirus. Defender for Endpoint can be a reasonable option, especially if you already have Microsoft 365 Business Premium or are heavily invested in Entra ID and Intune.
There may be savings available, but evaluate each component separately instead of replacing everything at once. Depending on your Microsoft licensing and network design, Defender could replace endpoint antivirus, Umbrella, or some identity functions. Moving VPN authentication to Entra-based single sign-on might also reduce the need for Duo. Keep in mind that removing layers such as the FortiGate or Proofpoint changes what protections you have, so validate the coverage and run a pilot first.
Defender can work well, but the management experience is a major consideration. Policies, exclusions, reporting, device health, and investigation tools are spread across several Microsoft portals, and managing devices generally works best when they’re enrolled in Intune. That can be awkward for hybrid or on-premises environments, and server protection may require separate handling. Test it thoroughly before moving production systems, rather than assuming the licensing automatically makes it a drop-in replacement.
That has been my experience too. The security capabilities are solid, but finding settings and getting a clear overall view of the environment can be frustrating. We ultimately kept another EDR for primary protection and used Defender in passive mode as an additional layer.