As the world continues to digitise, so too does security and criminality. Cyber security is becoming more and more essential for businesses of all sizes, who otherwise risk having a vulnerable digital premises. In our four-part series, we focus on providing your business with accessible guidance for identifying and improving its cyber security posture, ensuring that your business’s reputation, operations and data are safeguarded.
For businesses using the Microsoft 365 platform, this piece focuses on Microsoft Secure Score, a useful tool for quickly gaining actionable insights for securing your business. Let’s dive in to find out how it works, and the benefits it can offer to your business.
Microsoft Secure Score is an accessible tool in Microsoft’s Defender platform, that measures the cyber security posture of your Microsoft 365 environment and offers actionable insights for improving it. For businesses using Microsoft 365 in combination with remote work, it’s an excellent starting point for implementing some cyber security best practices.
Microsoft Secure Score begins with an evaluation of your current security settings and practices within your business’s Microsoft 365 environment, leading to a quantified score based on the assessment. The higher the score, the more secure your organization’s Microsoft 365 platform is, which is essential given the amount of sensitive data and operational materials that your business is likely to be storing on there. So, what makes Microsoft Secure Score important and a useful tool?
Making the effort to improve your Microsoft Secure Score amounts to creating tangible cyber security improvements for your business. A high Microsoft Secure Score offers a range of benefits, including lower cyber risks, social proof for clients and partners, lower cyber insurance premiums, more awareness of your cyber security posture, and peace of mind. Here’s how Secure Score can help your business to realise these benefits:
The clear numerical benchmark that Microsoft Secure Score offers, gives a measurable way for visualising improvements and regressions in your business’s cyber security posture, while also linking this overall score to settings and events happening across your Microsoft 365 environment. This data can also be used for reporting purposes and demonstrating a commitment to cyber security to clients and partners alike; it is also considered by many cyber insurers when they are assessing premiums for businesses.
Secure Score offers tailored recommendations specific to your business that enable it to have something of a cyber security roadmap for securing its Microsoft 365 environment. These recommendations span areas such as data, users, access permissions, and default configurations across different Microsoft services and tools. In total, these recommendations help to lower the risks of cyber incidents occurring, and to mitigate their impacts if they do occur.
By implementing the recommended actions, you're effectively mitigating risks. Cyberattacks often exploit vulnerabilities in your digital infrastructure. Secure Score helps you to address these gaps, making it harder for cybercriminals to breach your defences.
Many organizations underutilize the security features included in their Microsoft 365 subscription. Secure Score helps you harness the full potential of these features by highlighting areas where you can make the most significant security improvements. This can be an empowering feature that enables your business to draw upon a greater set of tools that other businesses may not even know about!
Cyber security is a field that is shifting constantly, as new threats and vulnerabilities emerge, Microsoft Secure Score will continue to be updated for the foreseeable feature with new best practices and recommendations that your business can take onboard. By driving a process of continuous improvement using Secure Score, you can help your business to evolve its cyber security posture in alignment with the wider cyber security landscape.
Unsure of the integrity of your cyber security posture? Want to secure your business and achieve industry-grade security in your 365 environments? Our Cyber Gap Assessment service provides an in-depth audit of your IT environment, giving clear guidance on your vulnerabilities and actionable insights to address them. We will also provide an affordable, accessible, and actionable plan that is tailored to your business, enabling you to secure your digital premises, without breaking the bank. Ready to get truly cyber secure? Get in touch with us today for a free consultation.
Using the Microsoft Secure Score tool can be broken down into a four-step cyclical process.
The first step is to log into the Microsoft Defender platform and access the Secure Score tool to get a free assessment of your Microsoft 365 environment. This assessment will evaluate different aspects of it, including user accounts, device management, data protection, identity management and more. This comprehensive assessment will be used to create a quantified score and report that breaks down your organization’s Microsoft 365 cyber security posture.
Based on the assessment, Secure Score assigns a numerical score to your organization. This score reflects the overall security of your Microsoft 365 environment. The higher the score, the stronger your security posture. It's like receiving an (improvable!) grade for your cybersecurity efforts, but with real-world implications.
Once your score is determined, Microsoft Secure Score provides a list of recommended actions. These actions are specific to your business’s needs and vulnerabilities. They include step-by-step instructions on how to implement security improvements, making it accessible even for those who are not cybersecurity experts.
Secure Score doesn't leave you in the dark after offering recommendations. It allows you to track your progress as you implement the security recommendations. As you make progress, you can enjoy the satisfaction of seeing the direct impact of your efforts on your Secure Score, giving your business a sturdier cyber security foundation.
Microsoft Secure Score is a helpful and accessible way for businesses to get started with improving their cyber security posture. While it is no silver bullet, the benefits that it offers are
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