In the fast-paced world of technology, looking out for your organization's data and making sure you stick to industry rules is crucial. Whether you're an IT administrator or CEO navigating the complexities of Microsoft Cloud, your company's security posture is a critical concern. Enter Microsoft Secure Score – the game-changer in fortifying your defenses against cyber threats.
Unlocking the Potential of Microsoft Secure Score
Microsoft Secure Score is more than just a numerical representation of your security posture; it's your roadmap to a resilient and compliant Microsoft Cloud environment. This comprehensive measurement, accessible through the Microsoft 365 Defender portal, evaluates your organization's security across identities, apps, and devices.
Why Microsoft Secure Score Matters for Your Organization
Here's why your company should pay attention to this invaluable security metric:
Visibility and Discoverability: Secure Score provides a centralized dashboard for organizations to gain insights into their current security state, helping them discover potential vulnerabilities.
Guidance for Improvement: By following Secure Score recommendations, organizations can enhance their security posture through discoverability, visibility, guidance, and control. It's your guidebook to a more secure cloud infrastructure.
Benchmarking and KPIs: Compare your security measures with industry benchmarks and establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to continuously improve your defense mechanisms.
How Microsoft Secure Score Works
This powerful tool awards points for implementing recommended security features, performing security-related tasks, and addressing actions with third-party applications or alternative mitigations. The score is updated in real-time, providing a dynamic reflection of your security efforts.
Understand that while Secure Score is a numerical summary of your security posture, it's not an absolute guarantee against breaches. Security should be a balanced effort, considering usability and environmental nuances.
Check Your Current Secure Score
To help you find the information you need more quickly, Microsoft recommended actions are organized into groups:
Identity (Microsoft Entra accounts & roles)
Device (Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, known as Microsoft Secure Score for Devices)
Apps (email and cloud apps, including Office 365 and Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps)
Data (through Microsoft Information Protection)
In the Microsoft Secure Score overview page, view how points are split between these groups and what points are available. To check on your current score, go to the Microsoft Secure Score overview page and look for the tile that says Your secure score. Your score will be shown as a percentage, along with the number of points you've achieved out of the total possible points.
Additionally, if you select the Include button next to your score, you can choose different views of your score. These different score views will display in the graph on the score tile and the point breakdown chart.
The following are scores you can add to your view of your overall score to give you a fuller picture of your overall score:
Planned score: Show projected score when planned actions are completed
Current license score: Show score that can be achieved with your current Microsoft license
Achievable score: Show score that can be achieved with your Microsoft licenses and current risk acceptance
Taking Action to Improve Your Score
The recommended actions tab lists the security recommendations that address possible attack surfaces. It also includes their status (to address, planned, risk accepted, resolved through third party, resolved through alternate mitigation, and completed). You can search, filter, and group all the recommended actions.
Once you have completed an action it can take between 24-48 hours for the changes to be reflected in your secure score.
Ranking is based on the number of points left to achieve, implementation difficulty, user impact, and complexity. The highest ranked recommended actions have a large number of points remaining with low difficulty, user impact, and complexity.
Checking Activity that has Affected Your Score
View a graph of your organization's score over time in the History tab. There, you can find a list of all actions taken within the selected time range, along with their attributes, such as resulting points and category.
Comparing Your Score and Setting Goals
Leverage the Metrics & Trends tab to compare your organization's Secure Score with others, set achievable goals, and track progress over time.
You can set the date range for the whole page of visualizations. The visualizations include:
Your Secure Score zone - Customized based on your organization's goals and definitions of good, okay, and bad score ranges.
Regression trend - A timeline of points that have regressed because of configuration, user, or device changes.
Comparison trend - How your organization's Secure Score compares to others' over time. This view can include lines representing the score average of organizations with similar seat count and a custom comparison view that you can set.
Risk acceptance trend - Timeline of recommended actions marked as "risk accepted."
Score changes - The number of points achieved, points regressed, and changes to your score in the specified date range.
In a world where cyber threats are ever-present, Microsoft Secure Score empowers your organization to navigate the digital landscape with confidence. By embracing this tool, you not only enhance your security posture but also demonstrate a commitment to compliance and data protection. Secure your cloud environment today, and let your Secure Score speak volumes about your dedication to a secure and compliant Microsoft Cloud experience.
Ready to take the leap into enhanced security and compliance for Microsoft Cloud?
To help you to have peace of mind knowing your business is secure, click here to schedule a Microsoft 365 Secure Score review with our experts today. We'll evaluate your current cybersecurity measures, identify potential vulnerabilities, and help you implement a strategic security plan to keep your company safe.
Comments