Understanding the Value of Office Protect

Let's face it; any business that leverages technology solutions like workflow tools and productivity suites are vulnerable to cyberattacks. Cyber threat actors are constantly working around the clock to target unsuspecting businesses and compromise their confidential data by launching such attacks as ransomware, phishing, denial-of-service, business email compromise, and more.

So it's up to individual businesses and organizations to take proactive steps and seal all the loopholes that threat actors may bank on to wreak havoc on your sensitive data. One of such proven security solutions is Office Protect. As the name suggests, Office Protect is designed to protect or defend your critical data and employees against cyberattacks targeting Microsoft 365.

Curious to discover how it works and why you need to protect your Microsoft 365 productivity cloud? In this section, we take a deeper dive into:

• Office Protect features and security settings
• How to apply Office Protect security settings
• Key Office Protect benefits and capabilities

So let's dive right in, shall we?

Office Protect Features and Security Settings

Office Protect comes with tons of security settings and features to ensure data, employees, and overall business safety. Here's a detailed review of each of these features and settings:

• Security Policy Monitoring. Here, Office Protect ensures that both information and technology security practices and controls are in place and untampered with. If any change occurs to your security policy, this feature triggers an instant notification button, keeping you updated with what's going on.
• Logs. Office Protect keeps mailbox and audit logs on throughout so that anybody accessing your most confidential emails is visible to you.
• Unusual Sign-In Monitoring. This feature flags any unusual activity like sign-in from an unknown location or device.
• Anti Spam. Blocking spam from entering your system has never been easier with this spam filtering feature. After detecting a spam message, Office Protect sends warning notifications, which goes a long way in helping users protect emails against ransomware and phishing attacks.
• Administrator Abuse. Cases of admins abusing privileges or masterminding insider attacks aren't news. Luckily, Office Protect reduces that risk by tracking administrator activities and alerting you when it notices an abuse of privilege.
• Multi-Factor Authentication. MFA is an advanced security setting that you can enable to compel users to provide two or more pieces of evidence, proving their identity before getting the go-ahead into the system or their accounts. It's effective in blocking out ill-intended hackers and data thieves trying to access the system illegitimately.

How to Apply Office Protect Security Settings

As security software for defending your Microsoft 365 infrastructure, Office Protect doesn't work on its own. Instead, you must configure and apply the provided setting to gain the most out of the security solution.

But the big question is, how do you realize that feat? For starters, you want to proceed to the Office Protect menu and select 'Set,' then choose from the following security options in the drop-down menu:

Max Security
If you want to elevate your security level to the maximum, this is the security button to push. But be warned; it may have a high impact on other end-users because every security feature available in Office Protect will be triggered without considering how it may affect other users. For instance, the software may disable certain popups or capabilities.

Low User Impact

If you don't want your end-users to be affected too much by the security level, you can configure the settings for low user impact. When you turn this setting on, users may barely notice any changes, despite some security best practices getting compromised on this setting. So ideally, you should only turn on this setting when you're trying to know the ins and outs of Office Protect without impacting other users.

Recommended Best Practices
This security setting balances the end-user productivity needs with a rock-solid security impact. In other words, it offers unbeatable security best practices without compromising or affecting essential business activities.

That's just the tip of the iceberg; for the entire list of Office Protect security settings, you can scroll down the page to apply others like:

• Audit Logs Always-On and Mailbox Audit Logs Always-On
• Account Passwords Never Expire
• Do Not Allow Calendar Details Sharing
• Block "Bad" File Extension Attachments
• Enable Client Rule Forwarding Block
• Do Not Allow Third-Party Integrated Applications
• Set Outbound Spam Notifications
• Enable Multi-Factor Authentication

Key Office Protect Benefits and Capabilities

There's no denying it; applying these features and settings to optimize your security can result in many benefits for your business. So if you're still skeptical about leveraging this security solution to protect your Microsoft 365 environment, you might change your mind after discovering the benefits.

No Room for Human Error
Office Protect eliminates human error that may culminate from end-users accidentally publicizing their info through the calendar. What's more, the solution further protects users by recommending healthy password practices and preventing them from sending out spam messages via their business accounts, thanks to the outbound spam notification setting.

Valuable Insights through Informed Reporting
Making informed decisions concerning your Microsoft 365 environment has never been easier with Office Protect's user-friendly dashboard and automated reports. And the best part? You can export these reports to CSV or PDF for next-level data collection and analysis.

Proactive Monitoring
Office Protect ensures that you don't wait until a cybersecurity incident occurs before reacting to salvage what's left from the attack. Instead, the solution proactively monitors, detects, and thwarts potential security risks before they come to light. This guarantees that you're always a step ahead of the threat actors for enhanced security posture.

Ready to Secure Your Sensitive Data with Office Protect?

Office Protect is, without a doubt, an invaluable tool for safeguarding your business against potential cyberattacks and human errors. And it comes with tons of features and security settings that you can configure to match your business-specific needs. However, striking a balance between these security settings and end-user productivity needs may prove challenging, especially if your business lacks a security solutions expert.

Luckily, we can help! Coleman Technologies is a reliable managed security services provider with immense experience and expertise in IT infrastructure monitoring and management. We can conduct a comprehensive security assessment of your business to determine which Office Protect settings can protect your data while keeping other aspects of your business up and running.

So don't get left behind. Contact us to learn how partnering with us can help with all your information technology needs, not just servers, routers and firewalls. We can help with all your business IT needs!