Office 365 Security Concerns: Adopt Best Practices to Secure Cloud Data

Nowadays the majority of enterprises are adopting Microsoft Office 365 cloud service for their business. But a question strikes in mind that is the data really secure on Microsoft cloud? Is it accessible only by the authentic user or not by anyone else? Do not ignore this thought, face it! Not only for large enterprises but, these questions are also applicable for medium and low business level people around the world. Studies say that the cloud data security concerns are the biggest barrier to hold back the cloud adoption. Well, with a good perspective in mind 17.1% of data is stored in OneDrive and SharePoint online, which includes sensitive data like payment card numbers, business growth plans, social security numbers, and even the user account passwords. Read out the best explanation on Office 365 security concerns.

It is true that the Microsoft team have put there 100% in providing the cloud security. But, it is not only the duty of Microsoft to always save the information on the cloud. It is also the responsibility of business leaders to be aware of Office 365 security concerns and implement them accordingly. This purpose of delivering this post is to make enterprises aware of inbuilt security capabilities of MS Office 365 and the ideas to enhance the existing security.

Note: Microsoft works with the security partners ecosystem for delivering high-security level to its customers who require extra protection level.

What Security is Offered by Microsoft?

The inbuilt Office 365 security is categorized into three security levels i.e., physical, logical, and data layers. These are available by default i.e., without customizing the tenant security or appending third-party vendors, and they are extended far beyond what is offered by the cloud providers. The enterprise-grade cloud programs like MS Office 365 utilize the benefit of resources for the pooled security. They are delivered by an enterprise whose essential competency is to maintain high availability and security to the applications.

Explanation of Office 365 Security Concerns Levels

Physical Layer: The Microsoft security team of Office 365 provides protection against physical intrusion by securing the equipped facilities and network. It is present for inside as well as outside threats searching for directly getting connected with Microsoft cloud data. The center accessing of physical data is deeply monitored and is accessed by authorized users only. The front end protection is multi-layered. Several machines are used to deal with security of data center that includes motion sensors, biometric readers, 24-hour security access via multi-factor identification, security breach alarms and human security guards.

Not only the physical level but, network level security is also guarded. Network connections are prohibited from unauthorized accessing and also blocked, if necessary. The employees of Microsoft are restricted from viewing the email content or anything else of their customers. Plenty of redundancy is available for ensuring the data rolls over sudden down server event.

Logical Layer: It acts as a protection layer in between the Microsoft humans and machines. Most of the things are automated to decrease the human interaction and intervention. Well, the user access is limited via privileges set for minimizing the security risk factors. The Office 365 security concerns work on the principle i.e., less the number of human involvement, less will be the chances of error occurrence or any mishaps.

Anti-malware applications are used to determine and thwart the threats that are newly encountered on the system. A quick warning notification occurs whenever such thing is encountered. All the patches and updates are applied for ensuring that the entire operation is carried away in a secure manner with zero threat.

Data Layer: This is the last categorized layer in Office 365 security concerns list. With modern cryptography standards like SSL/TLS and AES, data is encrypted in both states i.e., at rest and transit. Microsoft O365 environment make use of BitLocker, which is integrated with the operating system itself. It is the real fact that data goes through different servers that are totally unknown to end users. Therefore, here comes the need of cloud computing with reason of its high efficiency in model of the cloud storage. Microsoft imagines that data is already breached and then, applies all the exercises related to it. The mental assumption of data leakage the four security pillars:

• Data breach prevention
• Detection of data leakage
• Sudden response to breach
• Recovery from the data breach

Office 365 Security Measures To be Taken by Customers

Microsoft itself offers measures to its customers for enhancing the cloud data security involving:

Right Management Service in Office 365: Administrators should enable this RMS in Office 365 tenant before using the O365 programs and services IRM features. When this security feature gets activated, the organization will be able to safeguard sensitive files and messages via Azure RMS. The service protects all types of files and allows their integration with the client programs like MS Word, Excel, etc.

Three Type of Office 365 Data Encryption: Microsoft Office 365 avails three encryption types for administrators of Office 365 tenant – Office Message Encryption (OME), transport layer security, and Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME).

• The S/MIME encryption addresses the authentication of the sender via digital signatures and transmits the messages in a secretive manner with encryption.
• The Office 365 message encryption technique encrypts the emails that are either sent to the internal recipients or external. Being an administrator, you can customize the message viewing portal for reflecting the enterprise’s brand.
• Now comes the transport layer security where companies will be capable of setting up a secure SMTP connection with their business partners.

Conclusion

Not only these but, there are a lot of Office 365 security concerns available. But, the important thing is that enterprises do not implement them and as a result of which, they face a huge disaster. One of the main reason behind this problem is lack of the awareness. Therefore, here are we will the things can one can read and implement for Microsoft Office 365 cloud security purpose. Enterprises can also enhance Office 365 email security by leverage of third-party security solutions. One such is CloudCodes Office 365 Security Solutions, which is in the market for providing protection to business users. The solution gives its 100% in keeping your data safe on cloud without affecting the already available cloud functionality and security.