Microsoft Copilot for Security Goes General Availability on April 1

Microsoft's Copilot has already made a name for itself as a valuable AI chatbot, thanks to its sophisticated natural language processing and handy features like footnotes. Now, Microsoft is bringing that same prowess into the realm of cybersecurity with Microsoft Copilot for Security, which is on the brink of hitting the big time.

On Wednesday, Microsoft shared some exciting news: Copilot for Security is transitioning from early access to general availability on April 1. This means that starting then, every security team out there will have the chance to harness the power of this tool on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Imagine having an AI sidekick that helps you navigate the daily grind of security work. That's what Copilot for Security does. It can whip up incident summaries that aren't just informative but also actionable, gauge the impact of security incidents, reverse engineer scripts, and even walk you through incident response with detailed, step-by-step guidance.

"I am thrilled to announce the general availability of Microsoft Copilot for Security. We believe it will be a game-changer in security, giving defenders the upper hand," said Vasu Jakkal, Microsoft's VP of Security.

Microsoft's Office of the Chief Economist did some digging and found that a whopping 97% of seasoned security analysts who tried Copilot for Security were eager to use it again. Not only that, but they were also 22% quicker at tackling common security tasks and 7% more precise while using the tool.

You can dive into Copilot for Security either through a standalone portal or by integrating it seamlessly into one of Microsoft's existing security products, like Microsoft Entra.

Alongside expanding access to Copilot for Security, Microsoft is rolling out some fresh features. These include custom promptbooks, knowledgebase integrations, a multilingual interface supporting 25 languages, the ability to handle prompts in eight languages, usage reporting, Microsoft Entra audit and diagnostic logs, and the option to link your curated external attack surface from Defender EASM.

I had the chance to see a demo of the custom promptbooks in action. They let users craft and save a series of natural language prompts for routine security tasks. It's a nifty feature because it allows security teams to streamline repetitive work by applying a set of prompts with just one click.

Given that Copilot for Security operates on a pay-as-you-go model, organizations can start small and ramp up their usage as they see fit. Microsoft plans to charge for the tool via a new Security Compute Unit, which will cost $4 per hour, billed monthly.