How can Microsoft 365 Business Premium align with MSPs and MSSPs that support small to medium size businesses (SMBs)? Let’s take a look at some of the security features and the potential implications for SMB security partners.
While some people might think that damaging cyberattacks tend to focus on larger targets and vested interests (hospitals, pipelines, government entities, major enterprises, etc.), the truth is about 1 in 5 victims of cybercrime are SMBs. Microsoft understands the importance of making enterprise security accessible to smaller organizations, which is why Microsoft 365 Business Premium includes robust security features.
As an integrated cloud-based solution that brings together productivity and collaboration tools from the Microsoft ecosystem , Business Premium is so much more than just a collection of Office apps. The device management capabilities and built-in security make this plan an elite offering for SMBs.
The price may be a little steep for smaller organizations, but there’s no real price tag on the peace of mind that the accessible security Business Premium brings to the table. With enhanced, cloud-based visibility of a company’s digital footprint across devices, employee and business data are kept as secure as possible.
Structured around three different key areas of security, Business Premium comes equipped with threat protection, data protection and device management.
Threat Protection
- Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) – Advanced Threat Protection is a cloud-based email filtering feature that uses AI to protect businesses from a range of cyber threats. ATP Safe Links protects employees from malicious embedded URLs in emails or documents while ATP Safe Attachments protects employees from malware and viruses attached to messages or documents.
- Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) – With the influx of millions of fraudulent sign-in attempts every day on Microsoft’s cloud services, implementing MFA has quickly become a requirement for doing business online. Microsoft 365 Business Premium comes equipped with built-in MFA that requires employees to present a second form of authentication, such as a verification code or physical token, to confirm their identity before accessing resources within their cloud.
Data Protection
Business Premium’s data protection features help organizations safeguard their business-critical data and ensure only authorized personnel has continued access to it. Even though cyber defense is the priority, there are a multitude of added benefits of data protection and control.
- Data Loss Prevention (DLP) – DLP policies help organizations identify and protect business-sensitive information including Social Security numbers and credit card numbers as well as medical records. You can create and implement a data loss prevention policy tailored to your organization’s security needs. These policies need to be put in place manually by administrators.
- Message Encryption – Microsoft 365 Business Premium’s built-in message encryption combines encryption and access rights capabilities to ensure only intended recipients can view the contents of the message. Message encryption is compatible with email services including Outlook, Yahoo, Gmail and more.
- Exchange Online Archiving – Microsoft 365 Business Premium comes equipped with Exchange Online Archiving, a cloud-based archiving and data recovery solution that is compatible with Microsoft Exchange or Exchange Online. This feature supports organizations in archiving, compliance, regulatory and eDiscovery challenges by providing advanced archiving capabilities including holds and data redundancy. Businesses can leverage archiving to provide secure, long-term cloud storage that meets regulatory compliance requirements.
Device Management
Business Premium offers device management features that allow administrators to have the visibility and control needed to limit or grant access to employees with enrolled devices. In the same way, cyberthreats are a nightmare scenario, even something as mildly troublesome as a disgruntled employee, although a much lower-level threat, it’s important to be mindful that data leaks can come from anywhere and business need to protect themselves from everyone.
- Conditional Access Policies – Businesses can utilize conditional access policies to specify access restrictions based on several factors. These factors include the time of day, device type, location, and more.
- Mobile Device Management (MDM) – Organizations can create and manage personal device policies to help prevent data loss and manage employee mobile devices. Admins can reset a device to its factory settings for distribution to a new employee. Administrators can also remotely wipe devices that have been lost or stolen to remove all sensitive company data. Compliance profiles allow businesses to enforce security settings such as a PIN code requirement on a device that has access to company data.
- BitLocker Encryption – An additional layer of security utilizing a Trusted Platform Module (TPM Chip), to encrypt data on a device. Without the BitLocker key present, the data is unreadable to a 3rd party.
- Automatic Updates – Keep employee devices up to date on security features and updates. Configure automatic updates on a defined schedule.
Learn More About Leveraging Microsoft 365 Business Premium for SMB Clients
These core areas of Microsoft 365 Business Premium come together to form an organized and inclusive cyber threat defense that strengthens businesses’ security stance and keeps sensitive data secure from online threats and unauthorized access. Interested in learning more about Business Premium and Business Premium security features? Join Sherweb’s partner program for tailored guidance through the Microsoft partner ecosystem and access to expert cloud specialists ready to help your business grow.
Guest blog courtesy of Sherweb. Regularly contributed guest blogs are part of MSSP Alert’s sponsorship program.
