Office 365 is a cloud-based productivity suite that offers a range of tools and features to help organisations improve their productivity and collaboration. In addition to its many benefits, Office 365 also offers several features that can assist organisations in achieving Cyber Essentials Accreditation.
Cyber attacks have been on the rise, causing businesses over £100,000 an hour. Therefore, gaining your Cyber Essentials Accreditation is very important when running a business as the safety of your data should be number one priority.
Cyber Essentials is a UK government-backed scheme that aims to help organisations protect themselves against common cyber-attacks. To achieve accreditation, organisations must demonstrate that they have implemented certain security controls and practices, including:
Everything that Cyber Essentials covers with the aid of office 365:
Firewall Security
A firewall is a network security system that monitors and controls the incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules. Office 365 includes a built-in firewall that helps to protect against external threats, such as malware and ransomware.
Secure configuration
Ensuring that systems are configured securely is an important part of protecting against cyber-attacks. Office 365 includes tools that allow organisations to set security policies and configurations for their devices, such as setting password policies and enabling multi-factor authentication.
Access control
Limiting access to systems and data to authorised users is crucial for protecting against cyber-attacks. Office 365 allows organisations to set up and manage user accounts, including setting up groups and permissions.
Malware protection
Malware, such as viruses and Trojans, can cause serious damage to an organisation’s systems and data. Office 365 includes antivirus and anti-malware protection to help prevent these types of threats.
Patch Management
Regularly installing updates and patches is important for keeping systems and applications up-to-date and secure. Office 365 includes automatic updates to ensure that the latest patches and updates are applied to all devices.
Office 365 helps with each one of these areas that the Cyber Essentials Accreditation covers. Here are a few tools Office 365 offer to help with your Cyber Essentials Accreditation:
One Drive
OneDrive offers some protection for personal use and for businesses with many employees. The features offered by One drive can greatly reduce the risk of cyber threats, minimise chances of data loss and give you complete control over all your files anywhere, anytime.
Over 60% of corporate data is stored in the cloud in 2022. This makes One Drive one of the most popular cloud storage apps in the world for businesses. This, combined with the fact that it is constantly synchronised with your outlook files, makes it a highly desirable and safe storage tool.
Built-in Data Encryption and Data Loss Prevention
With the help of Office 365, you will be provided with built-in data encryption. This will not only fortify your Cybersecurity which will then lead to streamlining the process to gaining your Cyber Essentials Accreditation. This will not only help you gain your accreditation but allow you to follow GDPR guidelines which the government require you to follow if you handle sensitive client data.
Office 365 also offers data loss prevention which also helps with GDPR and Cyber Essentials Accreditation. Data Loss Prevention detects any sensitive information that you may have. Once it targets the data it makes sure it doesn’t get sent out by your company. This is a tool which is integrated within many Office 365 apps such as SharePoint, OneDrive, and Word.
Data Loss Prevention is up to date with GDPR keeping you updated on what information is sensitive within your business.
Strong Password Generation
Account safety Is of great importance when it comes to storing data. Even though it is one of the most basic steps when securing your account, just the simplest additions to the complexity of your password can greatly increase your security.
When using Office 365, all your passwords must follow specific criteria to increase safety. This involves having a unique name, a minimum of 8 characters, upper case characters, numbers, and symbols. By increasing the safety of your account, this will help in gaining your Cyber Essentials Accreditation.
MFA (Multi-factor Authentication)
Similar to strong passwords, increasing the difficulty to gain access to your account can greatly increase the security of everything stored within it.
MFA helps prevent unauthorised access; when a hacker obtains a password, they can potentially gain access to a business’s systems and data. MFA requires a second form of authentication, such as a code sent to a phone or a biometric scan, which makes it much more difficult for anyone who isn’t you to access your account.
This will increase the security of your account and help you gain your Cyber Essentials Accreditation.
Microsoft 365 defender
Microsoft defender is a signature-based anti-malware system integrated into Office 365. With the help of Microsoft Defender, you will be able to target malware within your Windows devices.
Microsoft will not only scan your devices, but as it is integrated within other office apps, it will also scan your email, browser, cloud, and other apps such as SharePoint for any current cyber threats.
This will not only help you gain your accreditation but help mitigate any damages to your business.
Conclusion
By using Office 365, organisations can easily implement many of the security controls and practices required to achieve Cyber Essentials accreditation. In addition, Office 365 is regularly updated with new security features and enhancements, which helps to keep organisations protected against emerging threats.
Overall, Office 365 can be a valuable tool for organisations looking to achieve Cyber Essentials accreditation, as it provides a range of security features and controls to help protect against common cyber-attacks.
As it can be seen, Office 365 and Cyber Essentials go hand in hand when going through the process of gaining your accreditation, as it will not only help you gain it but keep your business safe in the long run.
At Texaport, we understand the importance of these advancements, and we work with our clients to put a reliable system in place to improve their business efficiency. Our team has a wide range of IT knowledge and remains acquainted with the movements in the IT industry. Find out more here.
