Strengthening SAP Security with Microsoft: A Holistic Approach

SAP security has long been treated as an isolated concern, often managed solely by SAP teams rather than as part of an organization’s broader security strategy. Many businesses still debate whether dedicated SAP security solutions are even necessary, relying instead on application monitoring tools like SAP Solution Manager or Cloud Application Lifecycle Management (ALM). Unfortunately, this can leave organizations vulnerable—until a breach forces a reassessment. Exposed SAP systems can be exploited within hours once vulnerabilities are made public. Yet, some businesses remain hesitant to invest in dedicated SAP security solutions, seeing them as an unnecessary expense. Microsoft is shifting the conversation by integrating SAP security into a company-wide cybersecurity framework, offering a more proactive and comprehensive approach. 

Microsoft’s Perspective on SAP Security 

Managing SAP security has traditionally been a complex and resource-intensive process, requiring manual configuration, firewall adjustments, and extensive integration efforts across multiple SAP systems. As Martin Pankraz, Product Manager, SAP Security explains: 

“Microsoft takes a holistic approach to SAP security, moving beyond isolated conversations. We lead with attack graphs that reveal and correlate signals across the entire company, helping customers see the bigger picture. By integrating threat intelligence, and security copilots into a unified platform, we demonstrate that security isn’t just about SAP—it is about the whole ecosystem.” 

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Below sample shows an SAP incident on SAP ERP with SID PM1 (right most bubble on the graph) detected by Microsoft Sentinel Solution for SAP presented in Microsoft Unified SecOps platform portal. The SAP signal is correlated with the SAP user named cameronp, its Microsoft Entra identity, involved M365 mailbox, devices and their IP addresses. The correlation is done through the email address of the compromised user. 

Furthermore, Martin shares: 

“Our first party app Microsoft Sentinel Solution for SAP is leading the charge, and our platform-based approach ensures seamless integration with 3rd party SAP Security solutions like SAP LogServ (additional offer of SAP Enterprise Cloud Services – SAP RISE),  SAP Enterprise Threat Detection – cloud edition, and SecurityBridge, allowing customers to achieve true security coverage across all domains pre- and post-breach. Only by looking beyond SAP silos can businesses build resilient and comprehensive defenses.” 

The new agentless data connector of the first party Microsoft Sentinel for SAP solution combines threat intelligence with ease of deployment by leveraging SAP Integration Suite and SAP Cloud Connector, drastically reducing setup time from weeks to hours. This streamlined approach eliminates administrative overhead, allowing security teams to focus on proactive threat management rather than manual system maintenance.  

A key advantage of Microsoft Sentinel Solution for SAP is its ability to offer holistic threat detection across diverse SAP environments, including SAP S/4HANA, SAP ECC, and SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP and AS JAVA stacks. By aggregating security logs from these systems into a unified security monitoring framework, Microsoft Sentinel provides comprehensive visibility into potential threats, ensuring that security teams can correlate, analyze, and respond to anomalies more effectively. This eliminates the challenge of siloed security monitoring and enhances cross-platform threat intelligence by integrating SAP-specific security data into Microsoft Sentinel’s SIEM and SOAR capabilities. See the semi-automatic user blocking from Microsoft Teams messages in action below: 

Find more details about the built-in automations here. 

Simplifying Security with Microsoft Sentinel Solution for SAP 

Microsoft Sentinel Solution for SAP is designed to eliminate the complexity and administrative overhead traditionally associated with securing SAP environments. Martin highlights:

“The primary goal of the Microsoft Sentinel Solution for SAP is to provide a first party turnkey solution that ensures true SAP ecosystem coverage while integrating with the broader ecosystem of each customer. A key aspect is proven SAP security content and linking of the SAP user’s email address, enabling correlation of security events such as phishing attempts and compromised accounts. By integrating identity handling through Microsoft Entra ID and registering it on the SAP backend, Sentinel can track user touchpoints, detect compromises, and map attack paths. Additionally, the new agentless solution leverages SAP Business Technology Platform, offering a seamless, turn-on experience that aligns with existing SAP customer workflows.” 

Key Benefits include: 

Rapid Deployment & Easy Integration: Organizations running SAP on Business Technology Platform (BTP) can integrate with the Microsoft Sentinel Solution for SAP within hours—without the hassle of complex firewall configurations, operating Docker containers, Kubernetes environment, or tedious manual log collection. This accelerated setup ensures that security teams can focus on protection rather than prolonged implementation efforts. 

Comprehensive Threat Visibility Across SAP Landscapes: Microsoft Sentinel Solution for SAP provides a unified security monitoring framework by aggregating logs from SAP S/4HANA, SAP ECC, and both SAP NetWeaver AS ABAP and AS JAVA stacks. This holistic visibility allows security teams to detect anomalies, prevent breaches, and respond swiftly to threats affecting critical business processes. 

Intelligent & Proactive Security Response: With Microsoft Security Copilot, Sentinel automates the analysis and contextualization of SAP security incidents. Instead of manually investigating alerts, security analysts receive AI-driven insights, reducing time-to-resolution and minimizing operational burdens. This proactive approach enhances SAP security posture while ensuring business continuity. 

Profit from Microsoft’s own SAP team’s experience: Being one of the largest SAP customers globally Microsoft has an extensive SAP landscape and considerable need for best-in-class SAP security and defense. These learnings are directly fed back into product suite for the whole Microsoft Unified Security Operations Platform community to profit from. That includes Microsoft Entra ID, Purview, Priva, Intune, Defender XDR, and Sentinel. 

Strategic partnership with SAP SE: A unified defense mechanism against evolving threats 

The collaboration with SAP Enterprise Threat Detection and SAP LogServ is a testament to SAP and Microsoft’s commitment to delivering advanced security solutions tailored for today’s dynamic threat landscape including SAP RISE landscapes. With unified threat management, security teams across SAP and general IT environments can operate more efficiently, reducing complexity and response time. As cyber threats continue to evolve, the cloud-native capabilities of this integration provide scalable, adaptive security measures that grow with business needs. This joint effort not only enhances threat intelligence and security automation but also ensures enterprises are well-equipped to safeguard their most valuable digital assets. 

Martin concludes: 

“All SAP and Microsoft partners are welcome to join forces with Microsoft Sentinel in tackling SAP Security across the whole company estate! Dear customers: What Microsoft and its partners know about SAP security make attacks more difficult, reduces time to response, and saves you millions!” 

Source: Forrester