Best Microsoft 365 breach detection tools for MSPs

Buyer’s guide for MSPs

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.

A useful M365 breach-detection tool does three things: it pulls the rich M365 / Entra / Azure / Defender data, it correlates it with the MSP's endpoint telemetry to drop the false positives, and it surfaces a small number of actionable incidents per tenant per day.

What to look for

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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/speed analysis, newly-installed risky Entra / Azure apps, unusual file download/deletion/sharing, and admin-abuse patterns (privileged role changes, secret writes, etc.).
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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

Lavawall®Multi-tenant M365 / Azure / Entra ID + 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/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 IdentityNative 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 ITDRManaged 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 CyberManaged 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 toolsSpecialty 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.