Elevating your Zero Trust security: How Microsoft solutions work together

In today’s evolving threat landscape, traditional perimeter-based security is no longer sufficient. As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated:

“We've spent years building our zero trust approach internally at Microsoft… We are committed to sharing what we have learned to help every organisation accelerate their progress”.

Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Defender for Cloud and more recently Microsoft Copilot for Security are tools the technology company has released to help companies “accelerate their progress” towards world-class security.

All three are part of a powerful ecosystem of security tools that includes Entra Suite, Intune Purview and more. All to help organisations implement a Zero Trust model. But how do these tools complement each other? And where should you begin?

What is Zero Trust?

Before comparing Microsoft solutions, it’s first helpful to understand their purpose. Essentially, these technologies can be used to support a Zero Trust security model.

A quick recap to understand the differences between Zero Trust and the traditional security model:

Zero Trust is not a single product—it’s a strategic framework. Microsoft’s security solutions are designed to support this model across identity, endpoints, data, apps, infrastructure, and networks.

Microsoft solutions that empower Zero Trust

If your organisation primarily uses Microsoft technology, then there are a set of solutions that help support a Zero Trust model across your environment. They have several things in common but also have a slightly different purpose from one another.

Imagine an employee working remotely who attempts to access a sensitive internal application hosted in a hybrid environment. The Zero Trust model kicks in immediately. Microsoft Entra ID verifies the user’s identity using multi-factor authentication (MFA) and evaluates risk signals like location, device compliance, and sign-in behaviour. If the device is managed and compliant, as confirmed by Microsoft Intune, access proceeds. The request is routed securely through Microsoft Entra Private Access or Application Proxy, ensuring the user connects without exposing the app to the public internet. Meanwhile, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint continuously monitors the device for threats, and Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps inspects the session for risky behaviour or data exfiltration attempts. If the user accesses sensitive files, Microsoft Purview applies data loss prevention (DLP) policies and encryption. All activities are logged and analysed in Microsoft Sentinel, where Copilot for Security assists analysts by summarising events and suggesting automated responses. This seamless orchestration ensures that access is granted only after rigorous, real-time Zero Trust checks—without compromising user productivity.

This is the empowerment an integrated solution, like Microsoft’s Security Portfolio, can provide companies around the world with, no matter the size or market/sector.

So, which solution should you start with?

When embarking on your Zero Trust journey, it’s natural to ask: where do I begin? First suggestion is to review the previous articles from this blog series where we show in detail how to approach Zero-Trust. Also, building a strong foundation that gives you visibility, context, and control across your digital estate is always the best bet. In general, we see the adoption of Zero-Trust covering Identity & Access, using Microsoft Entra ID as the initial layer of defence. While it’s crucial to have Entra, this layer without monitoring and having visibility is not a recommended approach. A comprehensive plan would include Microsoft Entra, but also Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Copilot for Security as your bedrock.

Microsoft Sentinel acts as your central nervous system. It collects and correlates signals from all your Microsoft and third-party security tools—identity, endpoints, cloud apps, infrastructure, and more. With built-in AI and automation, it helps you detect threats early, respond quickly, and reduce alert fatigue. Complementary, Microsoft Copilot for Security enhances this foundation by empowering your security team with generative AI. It summarizes incidents, suggests remediations, and even writes KQL queries—dramatically accelerating investigations and reducing time to resolution. Runs integrated to all Microsoft Security Solutions and speed up the troubleshooting, Incident Response and Reporting.

Considering that Security Monitoring and Governance are in place, using Sentinel and Copilot, you can confidently layer in other Zero Trust components:

1. Identity & Access: Deploy Microsoft Entra ID with Conditional Access and MFA.
2. Endpoint Security: Onboard devices with Microsoft Intune and Defender for Endpoint.
3. Data Protection: Classify and protect sensitive data using Microsoft Purview.
4. Cloud Security: Secure workloads with Defender for Cloud and Defender for Cloud Apps.
5. ZTNA: Secure network access and implement micro segmentation for network and infrastructure assets.

Organisations can begin their Zero Trust journey from moment zero by activating foundational capabilities within Microsoft Entra ID—such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), Conditional Access, and identity protection policies. These features immediately reduce risk by verifying user identities and enforcing access controls based on real-time context. From there, the implementation evolves in layers, integrating endpoint protection, data governance, and threat detection tools like Microsoft Defender and Microsoft Purview. A Zero-Trust adoption program varies depending on the complexity of your IT environment, existing infrastructure, and organisational priorities. The key is to start with visibility and control, then build maturity progressively, ensuring each layer of security reinforces the next.

Microsoft Security Copilot. AI Central Intelligence Platform.

What if we had the ability to protect at the speed and scale of AI? This is the concept behind Microsoft Copilot for Security. Fully Integrated with Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Defender, Copilot for Security enables organisations to:

1. Resolve incidents at speeds never seen before.
2. Quickly apply policies and configure devices with best practices.
3. Using natural language to summarise policies and reports.
4. Find risky users through GenAI.

Copilot natively levels up the capacity of cybersecurity teams to react to threats and accelerate Security Analysts’ tasks. In a recent study, security professionals with Copilot for Security presented 7% more accurate answers and 22% faster responses, which is a significant improvement.