In today’s business world, taking cybersecurity seriously is more critical than ever. Each week, we see sophisticated cyber-attacks, many automated and highly targeted against local Sussex businesses.
According to a report by the UK government, 46% of small businesses experienced a cyber-attack or breach in 2020. The average cost of a breach was £3,230. Choosing the right tools and services to protect your business data and devices from hackers, malware, and phishing is essential.
One of the most popular and comprehensive IT solutions for small businesses is Microsoft 365. This cloud-based subscription service includes Office apps, email, cloud storage, collaboration tools, and security features.
Microsoft 365 offers different plans for different business needs. Here, we focus on Microsoft 365 Business Premium, rapidly becoming the most relevant and popular offering for small and medium-sized businesses.
We will explain how correctly configuring Microsoft 365 Business Premium can enhance cybersecurity. We highlight the security features not available in Microsoft 365 Business Standard, the next lower plan.
What is Microsoft 365 Business Premium?
Business Premium is a plan designed for businesses with up to 300 users, especially those needing advanced security and device management capabilities. It includes everything in Microsoft 365 Business Standard, such as Office apps, Outlook, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams, and the Power Platform.
Most important, however, are the additional security and management features, which include:
- Advanced Threat Protection protects your email, files, and online storage from malware, ransomware, phishing, and spoofing.
- Microsoft Defender for Office 365; scans and blocks malicious links and attachments in email and Teams.
- Microsoft Defender for Endpoint protects your devices from viruses, spyware, and other threats and provides alerts and remediation actions.
- Microsoft Cloud App Security monitors and controls user access to cloud apps and services.
- Microsoft Intune allows you to manage and secure your mobile devices, apps, and data.
- Azure Information Protection allows you to classify, label, and encrypt sensitive data.
- Windows 10 Business provides enhanced security and productivity features for Windows 10 devices.
These features will help you prevent, detect, and respond to cyber-attacks and keep your business data and devices safe and compliant. You must configure them correctly according to your business needs and best practices to get the most out of them, so here are some tips on how to do that.
The Microsoft Defender Security Centre
The first step to correctly configure Microsoft 365 Business Premium for cybersecurity is to use the Microsoft 365 security centre. This web-based portal gives you the dashboard and tools to manage your security settings and policies. You can access the security centre by signing into the Microsoft Defender admin portal. From there, you can:
- Review your security score. This measures how well you are following security best practices. You can see how your score compares to other organisations and get recommendations on improving it.
- Enable and customise the security features relevant to your business, such as Entra Identity Management, Advanced Threat Protection, Microsoft Defender for Office 365, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, Microsoft Cloud App Security, Azure Information Protection, and Intune Device Management. With these tools, you can create and assign security policies and rules to your users and devices and monitor their compliance and activity.
- You can view and respond to security alerts, which notify you of any suspicious or malicious activity or incidents in your environment. You can also investigate and remediate threats and generate reports and insights.
Educating and Empowering Users
The second step to correctly configuring Microsoft 365 Business Premium is to educate and empower your users, often the weakest link in your security chain. The following suggestions will get you started.
- Provide users with training and guidance on how to use Microsoft 365 securely. This includes creating strong passwords, spotting and avoiding phishing emails, protecting and sharing data, and using multi-factor authentication.
- Encourage users to report suspicious or unusual activity or messages to your IT or security team. From there, you can use Microsoft 365’s built-in tools to flag and block potential threats.
- Use Intune and Azure Information Protection’s device management and data protection features to securely allow users to access Microsoft 365 from any device and location.
By following these steps, you can correctly configure Microsoft 365 Business Premium for cyber security and take advantage of security features not available in Microsoft 365 Business Standard.
To increase their market share, Microsoft has bundled all the security features you previously would consume from other vendors. As Microsoft security services are designed to work harmoniously with the Microsoft operating system and other applications, people’s computers will tend to work more efficiently.
While it is impossible to provide 100% defence against a cyber incident, deploying and configuring the Business Premium subscription should reduce the chance of a successful attack against your company.
Contact us if you’re unsure how to implement these suggestions or want more advice on securing your business.