Proofpoint, a leading cybersecurity and compliance company, has announced an expanded global partnership with Microsoft to strengthen cybersecurity for businesses worldwide. By integrating its security solutions with Microsoft Azure, Proofpoint aims to leverage AI-driven threat protection and data security on a scalable and trusted cloud infrastructure.
This partnership will enable organisations to enhance their defences against cyber threats by improving detection capabilities, reducing complexity, and increasing operational efficiency. With Azure as the foundation, Proofpoint plans to develop new features that provide a more proactive approach to tackling cyber risks, particularly those targeting human vulnerabilities.
Darren Lee, executive vice president and general manager of Proofpoint’s Threat Protection Group, highlighted the significance of this collaboration. “Human-centric security is about enabling the digital workspace. And for most of our enterprise customers, that digital workspace is Microsoft,” he said. “Built on top of Microsoft Azure, we’re delivering advanced, preventive protection for the most important layer in the cybersecurity ecosystem — the human layer. We’re equipping organisations with the capabilities they need to reduce human risk at scale and thrive in their digital workspace.”
Kathleen Brown, corporate vice president, Americas Enterprise at Microsoft, also underscored Azure’s role in the industry. “Microsoft Azure is the cloud platform of choice for security vendors across the industry,” she said. “Today’s announcement is a great example of how Azure provides powerful cloud infrastructure to help Microsoft and our partners meet our mutual customers’ evolving security requirements.”
Advanced protection with seamless integration
With this partnership, Proofpoint will integrate its human-centric security platform with Microsoft 365, offering businesses improved security against cyber threats without disrupting their existing operations. This includes:
- Enhanced email security – Protection against phishing, business email compromise, ransomware, and other targeted attacks.
- Stronger data protection – Expanded security measures for Microsoft 365 to safeguard sensitive information.
- Lower operational costs – More efficient threat detection and risk mitigation through AI-powered automation.
- Defence against emerging threats – Addressing security risks posed by new technologies like generative AI tools.
Proofpoint’s Nexus intelligence, which combines AI models, behavioural analysis, and threat intelligence, will be hosted on Azure by the end of Q2 2025. This will allow organisations to identify and neutralise cyber threats faster and with greater accuracy.
Advancing threat defence with Microsoft Sentinel
As part of this partnership, Proofpoint will integrate its Nexus threat intelligence with Microsoft Sentinel through Proofpoint Targeted Attack Protection (TAP) SIEM APIs. This will give security teams deeper insights and faster responses to cyber incidents by feeding Proofpoint’s intelligence into Microsoft’s extended detection and response (XDR) workflows.
Additionally, Proofpoint’s on-demand email security for Microsoft Sentinel will allow organisations to monitor email activity, detect suspicious patterns, and enhance overall security posture. This effort builds on existing collaborations, such as Proofpoint Adaptive Email DLP with Microsoft Purview, which strengthens email data loss prevention, and Proofpoint TAP with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, which extends security coverage across emails and devices.
Available by Q2 2025
The first wave of integrations from this partnership is expected to be available by Q2 2025. In the meantime, Proofpoint API, Proofpoint Adaptive Email DLP with Microsoft Purview, and Proofpoint TAP with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint are already accessible to customers.
This partnership highlights the growing need for businesses to adopt human-centric cybersecurity approaches. By combining Proofpoint’s security solutions with Microsoft Azure’s cloud infrastructure, organisations can better defend against sophisticated cyber threats while maintaining efficiency in their digital operations.
