Microsoft Enterprise Security: A Complete Overview of Cloud Security Service

Data has become a hot commodity, and every organization must implement proper cyber security for data loss prevention.

You can implement some of Microsoft’s cloud security practices and features to enhance your organization’s security posture.

Microsoft Enterprise Security refers to a security and compliance platform where you can implement the best practices to secure your cloud environment.

This guide will explain the best security features of Microsoft Enterprise Security and why every organization needs to pay more attention to cloud security.

What is Microsoft Enterprise Security?

Microsoft Enterprise Security is a collection of advanced security features available for the Microsoft 365 E5 license.

Microsoft Enterprise Security brings forth a host of security features that focus on securing your environment, helping govern and protect data, and analyzing threats.

With Microsoft Enterprise Security, you will meet your security and compliance requirements and enhance security across Microsoft and non-Microsoft apps.

For clarity purposes, here are the top security features of Microsoft Enterprise Security.

Azure Active Directory

Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is an identity and access management feature. This feature gives organizations access control over who can and cannot access certain apps and services in Microsoft 365.

With Microsoft Enterprise Security, organizations get access to Azure AD Premium 1 and 2. The Premium 2 plan also includes the Identity Protection feature, which aims to detect identity vulnerabilities in M365 and respond appropriately.

Azure AD is everything an organization needs when looking to protect user accounts.

The multi-factor authenticator feature is a large part of why Azure AD is so effective.

Microsoft Defender

Microsoft Defender is an antivirus software. But did you know that Microsoft Defender can also protect your Office 365 environment? The feature has several security capabilities that aim to stop cyber threats and enhance security mechanisms.

The most important capabilities of Microsoft Defender for Office 365 include email filtering and investigation.

Email filtering is a one-stop solution for stopping email spam, phishing threats, malware, and BEC (business email compromise). The investigation capabilities of Microsoft Defender help identify and investigate threats.

It can also prioritize threats based on threat intelligence level. The E5 license also includes Microsoft Defender for Endpoints and Identity.

Microsoft Defender for Endpoints can detect, prevent, and issue a response to advanced threats, while Microsoft Defender for Identity provides identity security capabilities.

Microsoft Data Protection Services

Microsoft Enterprise Security offers two data protection services — Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) and Microsoft Information Governance (MIG).

MIP and MIG are fully equipped with security controls to protect data in cloud environments. These cloud services solutions help discover data breaches and protect business content.

Given the organization’s security responsibilities to manage users and data access, MIP and MIG remain the most important security features of Microsoft Enterprise Security.

eDiscovery

Microsoft Enterprise Security has an advanced eDiscovery feature that collects, preserves, reviews, analyzes, and exports sensitive data. eDiscovery remains one of Microsoft 365’s most crucial security features.

eDiscovery assists legal teams when managing content in case of litigation. In addition, eDiscovery can be used as a disaster recovery plan.

With the advanced eDiscovery feature, users can keep audit logs for longer, access important events, and have quicker access to Office 365 Management Activity API.

These are some of the advanced security features of Microsoft Enterprise Security. Now, let’s look at the reasons why your organization needs to pay more attention to cloud security.

3 Reasons to Secure Your Organization

Despite the immense security features of Microsoft 365, data security and compliance remain your responsibility. Therefore, Microsoft 365 might not be the best solution.

On the other hand, you can use the security products of cloud security solutions to remain vigilant against cyber threats and protect your environment.

Here are a few reasons why every organization should use a third-party cloud provider in addition to Microsoft Enterprise Security.

1. The Growing Cyber Threat

Ransomware and phishing are some of the most devastating malware your organization can potentially come across. The growing rate of ransomware and phishing attacks alarms even the smallest of organizations.

Microsoft 365 isn’t fully equipped to stop these threats. On the other hand, third-party providers specialize in advanced threat protection capabilities that aim to secure your emails and endpoints against the backdrop of malware.

2. Don’t Risk Losing Critical Data

Data is becoming more valuable as time goes on. Nowadays, hackers are more interested in your data than anything else.

Therefore, protecting your data becomes your top priority. As mentioned previously, Microsoft isn’t responsible for that.

While it offers you some tools to protect sensitive information, you are still responsible for preventing data from getting into the wrong hands.

Therefore, use third-party data protection and governance tools to get the job done.

3. Ensure Customer Confidence

Customers are rightly concerned about their data getting into the hands of the wrong people. There is even some level of distrust in the companies that handle customers’ data.

One wrong move could mean the end of your business. Namely, if word gets out that you’ve been hacked, you can be sure that customers will have a say about it.

After all, no one wants to see their data used for malicious intent. And getting hacked gives customers all the excuses they need to join your competitors.

So, don’t risk customer data getting into the wrong hands and ensure customer confidence by using third-party security tools.

Conclusion

That concludes this article on Microsoft Enterprise Security and how it can protect your organization. We’ve also kept the book open and mentioned that Microsoft isn’t responsible for your data — the responsibility is solely yours.

Therefore, you should consider upgrading your cloud security by implementing security solutions from third-party vendors.