How confident are you in your business’s current security posture?
As cyber threats become more sophisticated, it’s essential to have a clear understanding of your cyber security score. One of the most effective tools for assessing and improving your Microsoft 365 security is Microsoft Secure Score.
But what exactly is it, and how can it help your business reduce risks and stay ahead of threats? In this blog we’ll explain what Secure Score is, why it matters, and how improving it can strengthen your overall security strategy.
What is Secure Score?
Microsoft Secure Score is a security analytics tool within Microsoft 365 that provides businesses with a measurable score based on their cyber security posture. Essentially, it’s a way to see how well your business is protecting itself from cyber threats.
The score is calculated based on actions you’ve taken to secure your Microsoft 365 environment, including enabling features like multi-factor authentication (MFA), email filtering, and encryption protocols.
With recent research revealing that 43% of businesses have experienced a security breach in the last year, making sure your business doesn’t become part of that statistic is critical. This makes Secure Score a vital tool for improving your company’s security practices and achieving a higher level of protection for sensitive data and systems.
Why is Microsoft Secure Score Important?
Improving your Secure Score by implementing key cyber security measures, such as turning on encryption or applying security policies, can dramatically reduce various risks your business might face. Let’s look at a few examples of the risks mitigated by raising your score:
- Reduced Risk of Data Breaches: A common threat businesses face is data breaches, which often occur when sensitive information is exposed due to poor security practices. By improving your Secure Score, you can implement encryption and conditional access policies that ensure only authorised users have access to your data, significantly lowering the chances of a breach.
- Phishing and Identity Theft: Phishing attacks are increasingly concerning, especially as they are often the entry point for cybercriminals to gain access to your systems. A higher Secure Score reflects the activation of features like MFA and email protection, both of which help prevent phishing attacks by verifying the identity of users and filtering out malicious emails.
- Ransomware Protection: Ransomware attacks can be devastating for businesses, often leading to data loss, downtime, and significant financial costs. With a higher Secure Score, your business is more likely to have cyber security measures in place, such as advanced threat protection, which helps to detect and block ransomware before it infiltrates your network.
The Business Benefits of Improving Your Secure Score
Beyond the obvious security advantages, improving your Microsoft Secure Score offers several business benefits that go hand-in-hand with compliance and risk management:
- Compliance Readiness: Microsoft Secure Score can help you meet industry compliance requirements, such as GDPR or ISO 27001. By taking the necessary steps to improve your score, you’ll be ensuring that your business meets legal and regulatory standards, reducing the risk of non-compliance penalties.
- Improved Trust with Clients and Partners: A high Secure Score signals to clients, partners, and stakeholders that your business takes security seriously. This is a powerful differentiator that separates your business from competitors who may not be as proactive in securing their data and systems.
- Lower Insurance Premiums: Cyber security insurance providers often factor your security posture into the premiums they offer. A strong Secure Score can help demonstrate that your business is less risky to insure, potentially leading to lower premiums.
Why Choose Intalex as Your Cyber Security Partner?
At Intalex, we offer a comprehensive suite of services to help businesses improve their cyber security score and leverage technology to its fullest potential.
Our expertise spans across multiple areas, ensuring that your business is supported by a holistic approach to IT and security. Here’s how we can help:
- Managed IT Services: We provide proactive IT management, ensuring your systems run smoothly, are secure, and are always up to date with the latest security patches.
- AI Consulting: Our team guides you in integrating artificial intelligence into your business processes, enhancing efficiency, decision-making, and security through automation and advanced analytics.
- Cyber Security: Our services include threat detection, prevention, incident response, and comprehensive security audits to keep your data safe.
- Cloud Expertise: We help businesses optimise and secure their cloud environments, ensuring they are both scalable and protected with the latest security protocols and best practices.
- Microsoft 365 Expertise: As specialists in Microsoft 365, we help businesses maximise the security and functionality of this powerful platform, including improving your Microsoft Secure Score and ensuring compliance.
