When Hackers Stop Hacking and Simply Log In
Why Ariel IT Services Is Adding Advanced Microsoft 365 Identity Protection for Our Clients
If a cybercriminal gains access to an employee’s Microsoft 365 account, they often don’t need to infect a computer at all. They can read email, access files, create forwarding rules, send convincing messages to coworkers, and potentially gain access to other business systems.
That’s why Ariel IT Services is now bundling Huntress Identity Threat Detection & Response (ITDR) and Huntress Identity Security Posture Management (ISPM) for our Microsoft 365 customers. Together, these services help protect both your users and your Microsoft 365 environment from modern identity-based attacks.
The New Target: User Accounts
Today’s attackers are increasingly focused on stealing usernames, passwords, authentication sessions, and access tokens. Instead of trying to break into a server, they simply sign in as a legitimate user.
When that happens, traditional antivirus software may never see the attack because nothing malicious is running on the computer. To your systems, it appears that a legitimate employee has logged in.
This is why protecting identities has become one of the most important components of modern cybersecurity.
What Does Huntress ITDR Do?
Identity Threat Detection & Response (ITDR) focuses on detecting suspicious activity involving user accounts.
Think of it as a security team watching over your Microsoft 365 environment around the clock. If someone signs in from an unusual location, creates suspicious email rules, manipulates authentication settings, gains elevated permissions, or performs actions commonly associated with account compromise, Huntress can identify the activity and help stop the attack.
Rather than waiting for a breach to occur, ITDR looks for the warning signs that an attacker may already be inside an account.
ITDR is available for both Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace environments, providing protection regardless of which cloud productivity platform your organization uses.
What Is Huntress ISPM?
While ITDR focuses on finding attackers, Identity Security Posture Management (ISPM) focuses on reducing opportunities for attackers in the first place.
Microsoft 365 contains hundreds of security settings, administrative controls, permissions, and policies. Over time, these settings can drift away from recommended security practices due to staff changes, software integrations, business requirements, or simple oversights.
ISPM continuously evaluates your Microsoft 365 environment and identifies security weaknesses before they become problems.
In many cases, it can automatically correct security settings and continuously enforce best practices so your environment remains secure over time.
Why We’re Excited About ISPM
Traditional security assessments provide a snapshot of your environment at a specific moment in time. Unfortunately, Microsoft 365 environments are constantly changing.
New users are created. Permissions are modified. Applications are installed. Security settings are adjusted. What was secure last month may no longer be secure today.
ISPM introduces continuous monitoring and validation of Microsoft 365 identity security settings. Instead of finding issues during an annual review, organizations can identify and address problems much sooner.
This proactive approach helps reduce risk while also helping organizations maintain stronger security hygiene without requiring constant manual reviews.
Why We Are Bundling These Services
We view ITDR and ISPM as complementary services.
ITDR helps identify active threats and suspicious behavior. ISPM helps ensure the environment is configured securely to reduce the likelihood of those threats succeeding.
Together, they provide a much more complete approach to identity security than either product alone.
As Microsoft 365 becomes increasingly central to daily business operations, protecting identities has become just as important as protecting computers and servers.
What About Google Workspace?
Organizations using Google Workspace can also benefit from Huntress identity protection. Huntress ITDR supports both Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace environments, helping detect suspicious account activity, unauthorized access attempts, privilege changes, and other indicators of identity-based attacks.
As more organizations adopt cloud-based productivity platforms, attackers are increasingly targeting user accounts regardless of whether the organization uses Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. Huntress helps provide visibility into these threats and supports faster detection and response when suspicious activity occurs.
Today, Huntress ISPM is available for Microsoft 365, where it continuously evaluates security configurations and identifies potential risks within the environment. Huntress has announced plans to expand ISPM capabilities to Google Workspace in the future, which will provide Google Workspace organizations with similar visibility into identity-related security posture and configuration risks.
Our Recommendation
Most organizations already have some basic protections in place, such as multi-factor authentication and endpoint security. Those are important first steps, but today’s threats increasingly target cloud identities rather than devices.
By combining Huntress ITDR and ISPM, organizations gain both active threat monitoring and ongoing security posture management for one of their most critical business systems: Microsoft 365.
If you’re already an Ariel IT Services client, we’d be happy to explain how these services fit into your overall security strategy and whether any changes are needed for your environment.
If you’re not currently working with Ariel IT Services, contact us to schedule a Microsoft 365 security review. We’ll help you understand your current security posture, identify risks, and develop a practical plan to better protect your organization from modern identity-based attacks.
Ariel IT helps businesses simplify technology, strengthen cybersecurity, and stay compliant with evolving standards. As Business Professionals - Technical Experts, we partner with organizations to deliver reliable IT solutions that support growth and peace of mind. Contact us to learn more