10 Ways to Keep Office 365 Secure

Unfortunately, hackers are getting more sophisticated than ever. With recent breaches of high-profile data, such as the NHS hacking, strengthening cyber-security is high on the list of priorities for many businesses and a good way to start is by ensuring your Office 365 is secure. While transferring to the cloud has many great advantages, it also brings a few security issues too. For many companies, Office 365 serves as an opportunity for entry to the cloud.

With that in mind, ACS York have put together a list of 10 ways that help to keep Office 365 secure:

1. Have a password policy

You can’t always rely on employees to choose strong and secure passwords. By putting a policy in place that ensures only strong passwords are used and automatically expire after a period of time, helps to protect your office 365. That means no more passwords such as ‘1234’ etc.

2. Secure Score

Secure Score is a tool that’s used to survey your complete Office 365 setup and assigns a score that’s based on your usual activities and present security settings. It also suggests any further actions that are needed in order to improve your security and lower any risks.

3. Message encryption

Another great feature of Office 365 is that it offers message encryption. This means you can deliver confidential business details with higher security. It’s easy to use and navigate and can be done without the use of complex hardware or software to lessen messaging risks.

4. Mobile device management

This allows you to set up controls over any mobile device that is used to access Office 365. It includes functions which enable you to set user level policies and it even has the ability to wipe the device. This management feature is particularly vital if you have a ‘bring your own device’ policy in your office.

5. Advanced threat protection

Most cyber-attacks begin in the user’s mailbox. Advanced Threat Protection from Office 365 is designed to deliver an extra layer of real-time support. In this way, it helps to protect against any unsafe attachments or malicious links within an email.

6. Securing apps

Using Azure AD Application Proxy you can secure single sign-on and on-premises applications by providing secure remote access. End users are able to access these apps just the same way they access Office 365. Learn more here.

7. Multi-factor authentication

This means that users must log in by using more than just their usual user name and password. It can include entering an access code that’s received either via a text message or phone call. You can set up multi-factor authentication on a user-by-user or ISP and location basis.

8. Data back-up

Office 365 offers users a particular amount of backup. But retention and recovery options are limited so it’s important to back up your important data with a third-party application like Azure or Acronis.

9. Rights management

With rights management, you can set up content expiration settings, online access settings and other restrictions. By doing this you help ensure that your documents and files are only ever used by the recipient they were originally intended for.

10. Data Loss Prevention

This is a feature that’s available in both Exchange and Office 365. It enables you to create policies that restrict particular content. This means you can target certain areas that you associate with risk such as emails or credit card details and create custom polices for those particular situations.

Hopefully these 10 points will help you to keep your office 365 secure and safe. If you’re unsure how to implement any of the above suggestions or would like more information on Office 365, don’t hesitate to call us here at Advance Computer Systems on 01904 691 311 or click here.