Securing Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 with Defender XDR for Freedom Holding

Freedom Holding, a Kazakhstan-based financial services and brokerage group, needed a consolidated, automated security posture across Microsoft cloud workloads and business applications, including Dynamics 365. Awara IT partnered with the client to design and implement a Microsoft XDR architecture built on M365 Security E5, Defender components, Microsoft Sentinel and a Copilot for Security proof-of-concept.

The result is an integrated detection and response capability that links endpoint, identity, cloud app and Office 365 telemetry into Sentinel, automates containment and workflow, and surfaces relevant incidents to the SOC. The implementation reduced detection and response times, reduced manual triage, and validated Copilot-led investigative assistance for security analysts while preserving Dynamics 365 data protection requirements.

Müşteri / Sektör / Ülke

Freedom Holding is a financial services group focused on brokerage, investment banking and asset management, headquartered in Kazakhstan and operating across the Middle East region. The project scope covered corporate IT and security controls protecting client trading and financial data.

İş zorluğu

Freedom Holding’s threat surface had expanded as business services and customer data moved to Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365. The existing controls produced high alert volumes, limited cross-platform correlation, and slow manual investigation. The client needed consistent telemetry across endpoints, identity, cloud apps and Office 365, and a way to automate containment for high-confidence incidents.

Regulatory and compliance constraints in the financial sector required demonstrable logging, retention and forensic capability. In addition, the internal SOC team was lean — the bank required tooling and automation to improve mean time to detect and mean time to respond without materially increasing headcount. Finally, the organization wanted to evaluate Copilot for Security to see if it could accelerate investigations and playbook execution.

Neden Dynamics 365 seçildi

Freedom Holding runs Dynamics 365 for customer-facing and financial workflows; protecting those workloads was essential because they contain regulated customer financial data and transactional records. Selecting Microsoft’s security stack — Defender, Sentinel and Copilot — enabled native telemetry and connectors to Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 services, reducing integration complexity and preserving end-to-end audit trails.

Awara IT recommended a Microsoft-first XDR approach because the client already had Microsoft Defender and Office 365 in their estate and held M365 E5 licenses. This choice minimized new vendor management, leveraged existing commercial commitments, and allowed the team to deploy Sentinel playbooks and Defender automated investigations that directly reference Dynamics 365 activity and Azure AD identity signals.

Uygulanan modüller

• M365 Security E5 configuration and licensing alignment
• Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (detection, EDR)
• Microsoft Defender for Identity (AD/Azure AD monitoring)
• Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps (Cloud App Security)
• Microsoft Defender for Office 365 (Plan P2)
• Microsoft Sentinel (SIEM, workbooks, analytics rules)
• Copilot for Security — Proof of Concept and playbook integration
• Automated response playbooks and SOAR runbooks

Entegrasyonlar

• Azure Active Directory (identity telemetry and sign-in risk)
• Dynamics 365 (activity logs and data access monitoring)
• Office 365 (Exchange, SharePoint, Teams logs via Defender and connectors)
• Microsoft Sentinel (Log Analytics workspace, analytics rules)
• ITSM ticketing (integrated playbooks to create incidents in ServiceNow/Jira)
• Third-party network and firewall logs via Syslog/API connectors

Yerelleştirme ve uyumluluk

The implementation was scoped to meet Kazakhstan financial sector requirements and Freedom Holding’s internal data protection policies. Data retention, encryption at rest and in transit, and role-based access controls were configured to support auditability. Where necessary, log routing and storage used the client’s approved Azure regions to maintain data residency expectations. Reports and playbooks were delivered with audit trails and timestamps suitable for local regulatory reviews.

İş değeri

The XDR deployment delivered measurable reduction in risk exposure and operational load for Freedom Holding’s SOC. Consolidated telemetry from Defender components and Sentinel analytics reduced alert noise and enabled automated actions for repetitive containment tasks, freeing analysts to focus on complex investigations. Endpoint and identity coverage eliminated visibility gaps across Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 services, improving forensic readiness for compliance audits.

The Copilot for Security proof-of-concept showed potential to shorten investigative steps and standardize responses; combined with tuned Sentinel analytics, the bank now has an operational blueprint to scale SOC efficiency without proportionally increasing headcount. The result is faster protection for customer and trading data and stronger demonstrable controls for regulators.