Augmenting Microsoft Defender AV: How MSPs can respond to modern threats without high costs

For many managed service providers (MSPs) and IT service providers, Microsoft Defender Antivirus (Defender AV) is the default endpoint protection solution. It comes preinstalled, integrates well into the Microsoft ecosystem and satisfies the baseline requirements of many clients. But here’s the truth: Defender AV, on its own, isn’t designed to handle today’s advanced threats, nor does it provide the centralized visibility and automation MSPs need to operate efficiently.

With threats evolving faster than ever — from AI-driven attacks and advanced persistent threats (APTs) to fileless malware and zero-day exploits, and with Microsoft’s own MDR offerings often out of reach for SMB budgets — many MSPs are stuck. They must choose between under delivering or overspending. That’s where Acronis EDR steps in to help augment Defender AV.

This blog will explore how Acronis EDR enhances Microsoft Defender AV, making it a powerful, efficient and accessible solution for service providers.

Let’s start with the challenges most MSPs face when offering services based only on Defender AV:

• Limited threat detection: Defender AV is an antivirus, not a full EDR. It lacks context-aware detection, event correlation with behavioral analytics, and the tools needed to stop stealthy attacks.
• No multitenant visibility: Managing security across dozens or hundreds of customer tenants becomes time consuming and error prone.
• Lack of centralized management: Technicians waste time jumping between clients, devices and policies.
• Minimal response capabilities: Defender AV can alert you to a threat, but can it isolate the device, roll back malicious changes or trigger recovery workflows? Not really.
• MDR-level licensing costs are too high: Microsoft’s own advanced threat detection and response offerings are often priced out of reach of SMB customers.

For MSPs delivering Defender AV services, these limitations translate into high operational costs, lower margins, and increased security risks for clients.

Acronis EDR is purpose-built to augment Microsoft Defender AV without requiring rip-and-replace migrations. You retain Defender AV as your AV engine, but overlay it with AI-powered endpoint detection and response capabilities.

Here’s what makes Acronis EDR a game changer for Defender AV services:

• AI-guided threat detection: Leverages behavioral analytics and machine learning to detect sophisticated attacks that slip past traditional AV.
• Multitenant centralized visibility: One dashboard for managing all clients. View, prioritize and respond to threats across tenants.
• Automated response: Take immediate action with automated rollback, patching, isolation or remediation without manual intervention.
• Integrated recovery: Built-in backup and recovery means response includes true rollback and business continuity.
• Affordable, accessible licensing: Tailored for MSPs serving SMBs, Acronis EDR delivers advanced protection at a fraction of traditional MDR costs.

Acronis EDR doesn’t replace Defender AV — it makes it smarter, stronger and service provider ready.

MSPs and MSSPs can no longer afford to rely solely on antivirus. Attackers use fileless techniques, exploit zero-day vulnerabilities and launch stealthy campaigns that AV tools like Defender struggle to identify.

Let’s look at common threat types that Acronis EDR helps detect and neutralize:

1. Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs): These long-term, stealthy intrusions often avoid AV detection by mimicking normal user behavior. Acronis EDR spots lateral movement, privilege escalation and anomalies.
2. Fileless attacks: These attacks never drop a malicious file. Instead, they exploit tools like PowerShell or WMI to execute malicious logic directly in memory. Acronis monitors system behavior and flags suspicious patterns.
3. Zero-day attacks: Microsoft Defender AV relies on signatures, but what about unknown threats? Acronis EDR uses AI to detect unusual behavior that signals zero-day exploits.
4. Ransomware: New ransomware variants encrypt files before Defender can react. Acronis not only detects these attempts earlier but also rolls back files to a clean state and isolates infected systems.
5. Business downtime: Unlike traditional AV, Acronis EDR includes built-in recovery tools to restore operations faster and keep business going.

Let’s say your client gets hit by a ransomware variant exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in a web browser. Defender AV might miss it entirely or alert after the fact.

With Acronis EDR, here’s what happens:

1. Suspicious behavior triggers an alert via AI-powered detection.
2. Acronis EDR creates an incident event chain and provides AI-guided analysis of the attack, mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK® framework.
3. The system can automatically isolate the endpoint to prevent spread if a workbook is created, or the analyst can do this themselves.
4. A rollback is initiated to revert affected files.
5. The event is recorded and visible in your centralized console.
6. You receive actionable context for root cause analysis and compliance reporting.

All without replacing Microsoft Defender AV.

Defender AV alone leaves too many gaps. MSPs need solutions that can scale, automate and handle today’s real-world threats without breaking client budgets. Acronis EDR enables you to:

• Augment Defender AV with AI-powered detection.
• Deliver centralized, multitenant management.
• Automate response and enable fast recovery.
• Offer true EDR services without complex migrations.

Whether you’re already offering Defender AV services or looking to expand your security portfolio, Acronis EDR helps you stand out, scale up, and secure more.

Ready to take your Defender AV and endpoint protection services to the next level?

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