Office 365 Security Checklist

4 Ways to Mitigate Office 365 Data Loss Risks

Office 365 security is a vital component for any organization, and there are many ways to properly protect it. The article below outlines the top four things you should be doing to ensure that your data is secure with Office 365.

1) Screen all employees

Background checks are a must before hiring an employee. Check references and verify work history. A criminal record or other shady background is usually grounds for immediate dismissal, so you should carefully investigate any candidates before making an offer of employment.

2) Set up two-factor authentication

Two-factor is a very good way to secure accounts. It uses two separate, but necessary methods of authentication to gain access to a user's account. The first screen will prompt the user for their username and password as normal. However, when logging in after that point, they must also provide another code generated by an authentication app. This will ensure that, even if a hacker obtains the username and password of a particular account, they still won't be able to log in without that extra piece of information least.

3) Require strong passwords

A strong password isn't just one with numbers or capital letters: it's one that is hard to guess. The minimum is eight characters, but using words or phrases (even something from a book) will make it much harder to crack. Users should also be aware of the danger of reusing passwords: if one account has had its password compromised, others may have been as well.

4) Monitor usage and protect sensitive information

Conduct training for your employees to familiarize them with the proper use of Office 365. It's also beneficial to detect any potential threats, such as malware or suspicious activity. You can do this by using threat monitoring software, such as Cloud Protection Manager from Bitdefender. This will listen for and block unauthorized access attempts, reducing the chances of a data breach.

Moreover, you should also protect any sensitive information in your Office 365 account by setting up an Information Rights Management policy (you'll need the E3 plan or higher for this service). This will prevent documents from being modified and shared without permission, reducing the possibility of a leak.

The above tips are just four of the many steps that you should take to stay protected. For more details, call us today or set up a call: www.palmiq.com/call

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