Microsoft 365 Gains Security, Compliance Bundles -

Microsoft 365 is set to gain security bundles spanning Identity & Theft Protection, as well as Information Protection & Compliance. The new offerings reinforce the need for MSSPs to continually fine-tune the security services they wrap around Office 365, Windows 10 and other Microsoft services.

As a reminder, Microsoft 365 is a SaaS platform and subscription service that spans Office 365, Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility + Security.

Microsoft's Identity & Theft Protection effort includes a variety of advanced threat prevention services, including:

Azure Active Directory: Identity and access management-as-a-service (IDaaS) solution with single sign-on (SSO) capabilities for cloud and on-premises applications.
Microsoft Cloud App Security: Cloud access security broker (CASB) solution that offers visibility into cloud apps and services.
Azure Advanced Threat Protection (ATP): Cloud-based security solution that helps end users investigate cyber threats, compromised identities and malicious insider activities.
Office 365 ATP: Solution that secures an organization's emails, files and Office 365 applications against cyberattacks.
Windows Defender ATP: Platform that helps organizations prevent, detect, investigate and respond to network threats.

By contrast, Information Protection & Compliance combines Office 365 Advanced Compliance and Azure Information Protection capabilities, according to Microsoft. It enables end users to perform risk assessments across Microsoft Cloud services, automatically classify and safeguard sensitive data and use artificial intelligence (AI) to respond to regulatory requests.

Identity & Theft Protection and Information Protection & Compliance will be generally available February 1. In addition, Identity & Theft Protection will be available for $12 per user per month, and Information Protection & Compliance will be available for $10 per user per month.

What Do the Security and Compliance Bundles Mean for Microsoft 365 Users?

Identity & Theft Protection and Information Protection & Compliance can help Microsoft 365 users achieve their security and compliance goals, Microsoft indicated. They empower organizations to keep pace with cyber threats and comply with the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other data security mandates.

Furthermore, Identity & Theft Protection and Information Protection & Compliance could help Microsoft extend its security and compliance market reach and accelerate its Microsoft 365 growth.

Microsoft's cloud services are increasingly popular targets for hackers, brute force attacks, distributed denial of service attacks and more. The potential attack surface certainly is massive. There were more than 135 million Office 365 commercial monthly active users, 200 million Windows 10 commercial devices in use and more than 65 million seats of Enterprise Mobility + Security as of July 2018, Microsoft indicated. Also, the number of Microsoft 365 seats grew more than 100 percent year over year following the solution's launch in August 2017.