Microsoft XDR Leader in Forrester Wave 2026

Introduction

Microsoft has been named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Extended Detection and Response Platforms, Q2 2026. For IT and security administrators, this matters because it signals continued investment in a unified XDR platform that connects identity, endpoint, email, SaaS, and cloud signals for faster investigation and response.

What’s new

According to Microsoft, Forrester gave Microsoft:

• The highest score in the Strategy category
• The only highest score in Vision
• The highest possible scores in areas including:
  • Identity detection
  • Cloud detection
  • SIEM replacement
  • Threat intelligence
  • Threat hunting
  • Administrative controls
  • Training

Microsoft says this recognition reflects its broader XDR strategy: combining people, AI, data, and workflows to move from isolated detections to coordinated defense.

Key platform highlights

Several Defender and security platform capabilities were emphasized:

Attack disruption

Microsoft highlighted automatic attack disruption, which uses cross-domain signals and AI to stop active attacks such as ransomware and adversary-in-the-middle campaigns. New protections now include controls like device isolation and defenses against attacker techniques involving GPOs, Safeboot, and identity compromise.

Integrated threat intelligence

Microsoft earned the highest possible score in the new threat intelligence criterion. The company says its intelligence platform analyzes 100 trillion signals per day, feeding context directly into incidents, detections, hunting, and response workflows.

Security Copilot in Defender

Microsoft also pointed to expanded Security Copilot alert triage capabilities for cloud and identity. This should help SOC teams investigate alerts faster, prioritize risk, and automate parts of the response process.

Broader security coverage

Microsoft continues to position Defender and Sentinel as an integrated platform spanning Azure, Microsoft 365, AWS, Okta, and Proofpoint, with SIEM and threat hunting tied more closely to active protection.

Why this matters for admins

For security operations teams, the announcement reinforces Microsoft’s direction toward a more consolidated SOC experience. Organizations already invested in Microsoft Defender, Sentinel, Entra, Azure, and Microsoft 365 may benefit from tighter cross-product integration, stronger AI-assisted triage, and more automated disruption of live attacks.

It also suggests Microsoft will keep pushing XDR beyond alert correlation toward native response and protection actions across multiple attack surfaces.

Next steps

• Review the full Forrester Wave XDR report for evaluation details
• Assess whether current Defender and Sentinel deployments are using attack disruption and threat hunting features
• Evaluate Security Copilot capabilities for cloud and identity workflows
• Revisit SOC processes to identify opportunities for more automation and AI-assisted triage

For organizations standardizing on Microsoft security tools, this update is a useful signal that the Defender platform remains central to Microsoft’s security roadmap.