Accenture and Microsoft Expand Collaboration on Gen-AI Powered Cyber Solutions

Accenture and Microsoft Corporation are co-investing in the development of advanced generative AI-driven cyber solutions to help organizations mitigate threats and consolidate technology tools while optimizing operational costs.

According to Accenture’s State of Cyber Resilience 2025 report, the majority (90%) of organizations are not ready to protect against AI-augmented cyber threats. By combining Accenture’s cybersecurity services, AI transformation expertise and industry experience with Microsoft’s advanced security technologies, the companies are helping organizations protect against advanced threats through innovative cybersecurity offerings across four key areas. These include security operation center (SOC) modernization, automated data and AI security, security-centric cyber migration and consolidation, and enhanced identity and access management (IAM).

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“Global cyber threats, now leveraging AI, are intensifying in speed, sophistication and scale. By adopting automation and gen AI solutions, organizations can reimagine their SecOps and outpace rising adversarial cyber threats,” said Paolo Dal Cin, global lead, Accenture Security. “The combined power of Accenture and Microsoft will help clients future-proof against potential cyber threats, keep critical data secure and enhance business resilience. This expanded relationship signals to the industry that we can be stronger together.”

Accenture and Microsoft successfully completed a project with Nationwide Building Society (Nationwide), the world’s largest building society with over 17 million customers in the UK, to build on its cybersecurity operations. Through a large-scale migration to Microsoft Sentinel, Nationwide achieved a streamlined, unified security infrastructure that accelerates cyber threat detection. Nationwide benefited from a gen AI security information and event management capability, co-developed by Accenture and Microsoft, that accelerated the migration of hundreds of terabytes of data.

David Boda, chief security & resilience officer at Nationwide, said, “In a dynamic and complex threat environment, it’s important that we continue to build on our existing cybersecurity operations to stay ahead of the game. Accenture’s support in our migration to Microsoft Sentinel has been invaluable to set us up for success. The use of generative AI to enable the migration allowed us to deliver the change more efficiently, in turn freeing up capacity for wider improvement activities.”

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The solutions Accenture and Microsoft are investing in co-developing include:

• SOC Modernization – Leveraging Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Defender and Accenture’s Adaptive MxDR for Microsoft, this solution enhances threat visibility and strengthens response capabilities across hybrid environments. By integrating AI-driven tools like Microsoft Security Copilot, analysts can investigate threats faster, cut through alert noise and focus on what matters—reducing risk and improving SOC efficiency among security teams’ limited staff and other resources. With the right combination of automation and intelligent tooling, organizations can boost SOC efficiency by up to 30%^[1], according to recent assessments.
• Automated Data Protection and AI Security – Using Microsoft Purview and Accenture’s data security framework, this solution automatically classifies and protects sensitive data across Microsoft 365—including SharePoint, Teams and Exchange. It supports regulatory compliance, reduces the risk of data exposure in generative AI use cases and enables secure collaboration at scale—critical in today’s hybrid, AI-powered workplace.
• Security-Centric Migration and Consolidation – Leveraging Microsoft’s security suite, M365 E5 Security and integrated with Accenture’s E5 Acceleration Playbook, this solution accelerates migration to modern platforms while streamlining operations and simplifying toolsets. By consolidating legacy security solutions and optimizing licensing, organizations can achieve between 35% to 50% cost savings, reduce vendor complexity and unlock the full value of Microsoft E5^[2].
• Enhanced IAM – Powered by Microsoft Entra Suite, Accenture’s enhanced IAM solutions accelerate the transformation of outdated Active Directory environments while augmenting workforce access management, enterprise identity governance and administration, and passwordless authentication. The result is better user experience, stronger security protection and simplified identity governance at scale, helping organizations achieve between 30% to 50% cost efficiencies through reduced infrastructure, licensing consolidation and helpdesk overhead^[2].

“We’re proud to be shaping the future of cybersecurity alongside Accenture, combining their deep industry insights with the breadth and strength of Microsoft’s security platform,” said Vasu Jakkal, corporate vice president of Microsoft Security. “In today’s fast-moving cyber threat landscape, organizations need solutions that simplify complexity and deliver end-to-end protection across on-premises and cloud environments. Security is a team sport–and together–Microsoft and Accenture are empowering customers with AI-driven, comprehensive solutions that help them stay ahead of evolving threats and unlock new levels of resilience.”