Microsoft 365 Security Services In Calgary

Microsoft 365 Security Services

There is no doubt Microsoft 365 is a popular productivity suite in the cloud today. Currently, Microsoft has over a million user companies, with Teams alone having 250 million daily users. Implementing Office 365 can bring many benefits to any organization, including the ability to work from anywhere, lower monthly fees for every user, exceptional collaboration features for teams, and more.

While the cloud offers clear advantages over on-premise servers, many organizations are still hesitant to implement Office 365 due to several security concerns. Although the Microsoft Office 365 platform has rolled out many new tools to help subscribers protect IT environments from cyber threats, you still play a central role in ensuring strengthened security and protection over your IT infrastructure.

If you are worried your move to the cloud could jeopardize sensitive data and expose you to security risks, contact CTECH Consulting Group today. At CTECH Consulting Group, our goal is to ensure organizations get the most out of their cloud infrastructure and realize the full benefits of Microsoft 365. We provide robust IT security services designed to protect, detect and respond against would-be office 365 attackers and stop them from ever returning. Our IT security experts have a remarkable track record, experience, and expertise to defend against cyber-attacks that exploit security gaps in Microsoft 365.

What Are the Security Gaps in Microsoft 365?

Microsoft has done a remarkable job securing its cloud services. Unfortunately, more and more organizations using office 365 continue to face an unprecedented level of cyber security threats. A recent report reveals up to 85% of organizations using Microsoft 365 have faced sustained email data breaches in the past 12 months alone due to remote working.

So what are the security weaknesses with Microsoft 365?

• Unauthorized/external file sharing: Microsoft 365’s collaborative applications such as Teams and SharePoint enable more users to collaborate outside your protected environments. When people share files and folders directly outside of your organization, they increase vulnerabilities.
• Privilege abuse: Microsoft makes it challenging to restrict permissions based on business unit, country, or remote or satellite offices. It is also quite hard to granular grant admin rights for some specific function. When you give out permission too easily, serious security problems are bound to arise. Excessive rights increase the risk of a data breach should a user accidentally or intentionally steal or expose more data than they should.
• Breaches in global administrator accounts: Actors typically target global administrator accounts to gain elevated privileges to enable extensive attacks. Microsoft 365 comes with a centralized administration model that enables all admins to have global credentials. This grants them access to each user’s account and content. If hackers penetrate the global admin account, they will steal valuable data, change critical settings and create subtle backdoors to enter again in the future.
• Short log retention periods: Microsoft only stores audit logs for a short period spanning 90 days to a maximum of one year. However, most compliance standards require long storage of audit logs lasting over one year. For example, HIPPA requires logs to be stored for more than six decades. GDPR, on the other hand, requires organizations that suffer breaches to investigate them and file reports. These breaches usually take over one year to the surface, meaning you won’t have any logs to help with your investigations.

CTECH Consulting Group Can Help Mitigate the Security Threats in Your Microsoft 365 Office

At CTECH Consulting Group, our goal is to help you meet your security challenges in your 365 office environment proactively so that you reduce your cybersecurity risks, accelerate compliance and reduce costs. We offer a wide range of detection technologies, such as the Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), Intrusion Detection Software (IDS), Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), vulnerability scanning, and behavioural monitoring to help you gain extensive network and endpoint visibility so that you identify and respond to threats in their infancy.

Our experts can also leverage the following security solutions to protect your Office 365 infrastructure:

• Set up multifactor authentication: Multifactor authentication is a security system that requires two or more authentication methods to verify a user’s identity to log in and access your office 365 infrastructure. We understand third parties could be accessing your systems for various business reasons, and you may not be able to keep track of all of them. Our IT team will add an extra form of authentication to create a layered defence. Instead of using just passwords that could be duplicated or stolen, the multifactor authentication we provide combines passwords, SMS codes, and biometric solutions to better control who accesses your files.
• Create awareness: Your staff forms the first line of defence against threats targeting your office 365 infrastructure. A thriving culture of security awareness within your organization can help reduce the risks of cyberattacks substantially. Our IT security experts offer ongoing training that equips your staff on the best methods to protect themselves and the organization from cyber-attacks. We will also train employees to detect security threats and follow procedures when they identify a threat.
• Setting up dedicated admin accounts: As mentioned earlier, the global admin accounts that you use to administer your Microsoft 365 environment comes with elevated privileges that are time and again targeted by cybercriminals. Our experts can mitigate these risks by setting up a dedicated admin account that you can only use for administration work. We will also set up a separate account for your regular, non-administrative use. Additionally, our experts will also make sure your admin accounts are properly set up for multifactor authentication.
• Protect against malware and ransomware: Although Office 365 has a default function that protects against malware and ransomware, it is not all-encompassing to provide adequate security. Our experts can enhance protection against ransomware by integrating a range of solutions that block any attachments containing file types typically found with malware attacks. They can also leverage mail flow rules to block common file extensions associated with ransomware attacks. We will also train your employees to only open emails from an individual they recognize.
• Activate unified audit logging. A unified audit logging ensures only appropriate people have access to your system. Although Microsoft 365 comes with this feature, it is not activated by default. As an administrator, you must activate it for all users, which allows you to audit the logs and track every activity within your 365 office environment.

Get Professional Help to Protect Your Microsoft 365 Office Today

The truth is no system is one hundred percent safe from attempted attacks. However, taking proactive actions can effectively protect your Office 365 infrastructure from unauthorized individuals. If you are wondering how to secure your data in the cloud, CTECH Consulting Group has reliable solutions. We leverage a range of security strategies and tools to ensure you stay ahead of threats and protect your Microsoft 365 environment, users, devices, applications, and data. Contact us today to learn more.

Written by Carl Fransen

posted on September 22, 2021

Carl Fransen

My passion is to make my mark on the world in a positive and lasting way. I want to set an example for my son that his father can compete with integrity in today’s world, be very successful, and leave the world a better place for him.

Combining my technical/business-based education with a long career steadily progressing up the corporate ladder, I decided to build a company that held true to my values. So, I founded and designed the next generation of IT support firm: CTECH Consulting Group Inc. We are a completely automated, cloud-based IT company designed to compete against any other IT firm without the overhead. We promote a lifestyle to all our staff where they can work anywhere, at any time, access any information on any device that is relevant to their job, and collaborate with anyone they want to.