One of the key advantages of using Microsoft cloud solutions for cybersecurity is the integration and compatibility of its products. Microsoft security solutions are designed to work seamlessly together, making it easy to deploy and manage multiple layers of protection. This includes Azure Active Directory (AD) and Azure Information Protection (AIP) for identity and access management, Azure Security Centre for threat detection and response, and Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) for endpoint security.
Understanding Azure Security Solutions:
Azure AD (Active Directory, now known as Microsoft Entra ID) and AIP (Azure Information Protection) provide a secure foundation for identity and access management by allowing organisations to control who has access to their resources and data. Azure Security Centre provides a central location for managing security across an organisation’s entire infrastructure, including on-premises, multi-cloud, and containerised environments. It uses advanced analytics and machine learning to detect and respond to threats in real time, making it easier to identify and address vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Cloud environments are often decentralised, and this can make it difficult for businesses to maintain complete visibility of their infrastructure, especially when new resources are deployed without being properly classified or tagged. Thus, vulnerabilities can go unnoticed, leaving critical systems exposed. It is a cloud-native application protection platform (CNAPP) that uses advanced machine learning and AI-driven algorithms to analyse patterns in user behaviour and activity across the cloud. If anything suspicious is detected, immediate action is initiated by quarantining affected resources and alerting IT teams to investigate further.
- Secure Score is a feature that continuously scans your entire cloud environment for vulnerabilities and assigns a numerical score based on how well it aligns with Microsoft’s recommended security best practices.
- It offers tailored recommendations to implement, with the serious and impactful ones first. Once these changes are implemented, Score updates in real time to show progress.
Understanding Microsoft Security Solutions:
Microsoft’s security solutions, which encompass Azure AD, Azure Information Protection, Azure Security Centre, Windows Defender ATP, and Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection, help organisations secure their identity and access management, detect and respond to threats in real-time, and safeguard all their endpoints. Let us go through the major ones now:
Microsoft Entra ID or Azure AD:
Microsoft Entra ID is a cloud-based identity and access management service that connects users to both internal resources, like apps on the corporate intranet and external services such as Microsoft 365, the Azure portal and multiple other SaaS applications.
Conditional Access is Microsoft’s Zero Trust policy engine managed through the Microsoft Entra admin centre, which evaluates multiple signals to determine whether a sign-in attempt should be allowed, restricted or blocked. Signals include the user’s identity, device, location and the application trying to be accessed. Now businesses can define policies based on policy preferences.
Microsoft Defender and Intune:
Microsoft Defender, renowned for its advanced threat protection capabilities, and Microsoft Intune, a robust tool for unified endpoint management, together present a comprehensive security strategy that addresses the complexities of modern IT environments.
Windows Defender ATP provides advanced endpoint protection by leveraging machine learning and behavioural analysis to detect and respond to security threats. The application also provides detailed visibility into the security situation of individual devices, easily identifying and addressing vulnerabilities. Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection further uses advanced techniques to identify and mitigate threats in real-time, protecting Office 365 services from security risks.
Features of Microsoft Defender:
Microsoft Defender is a cornerstone of Microsoft’s security portfolio, protecting the environment against a broad spectrum of threats, including malware, ransomware, phishing attempts, and zero-day exploits. Defender focuses solely on endpoint security, unlike Microsoft Defender for the cloud, which utilises machine learning, behavioural analytics, and threat intelligence to provide superior security insights.
- Advanced Threat Protection using AI-driven threat detection to identify malicious activities and respond proactively.
- Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) provides granular visibility into endpoint activities, enabling quick isolation and resolution of threats.
- Integrates real-time threat intelligence from Microsoft’s global network.
- Cross-Platform Security across Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android devices, providing comprehensive coverage.
Key Features of Microsoft Intune:
Microsoft Intune is designed to manage endpoints and ensure compliance with organisational security policies. IT administrators can control access to corporate resources, configure security settings, and monitor device health remotely. Intune helps businesses achieve seamless device enrolment, application management, and policy enforcement irrespective of the location.
- Intune consolidates management of all devices: mobile, desktops, and applications as a unified platform.
- It ensures that only compliant devices can access corporate resources, thus reducing vulnerabilities.
- It safeguards data within applications, enforcing encryption and restricting data sharing.
- Organisations track and enforce compliance with regulatory standards using Intune.
The integration of Microsoft Defender and Intune combines endpoint protection with unified management; thus, threats can be tracked proactively while ensuring devices remain compliant with security policies.
Microsoft Purview (Information Protection and Compliance Manager)
Keeping sensitive information secure has become more challenging as corporate data is stored across cloud platforms, shared using Microsoft Teams, etc. Back-and-forth sharing of data increases the risk of data being exposed to unauthorised users.
Microsoft Purview Information Protection within Microsoft Purview helps businesses discover, classify, protect and govern sensitive information across the cloud environment. It identifies data wherever it resides and applies various security checks to keep it protected. Sensitivity labels are a feature that helps classify and protect business data without hampering user productivity. These labels support Microsoft 365 applications and can be applied automatically using machine learning models or manually by users, lending businesses complete control over how content is handled.
Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager helps users automatically assess, manage and improve compliance across the cloud environment. It works by mapping cloud security settings against key regulations, standards and data protection laws such as GDPR and ISO 27001.
It provides over 300 pre-built assessments that outline specific actions businesses need to initiate to meet these standards. Compliance Manager awards points for completing improvement actions and combines those points into an overall compliance score. It is a unified platform that makes it easier to track progress by allowing businesses to assign tasks, set deadlines and store documentation for audits.
Talk to team Kloudify:
For businesses transitioning from on-site servers to the cloud, the security provided by Microsoft is vital. Microsoft’s cloud solutions offer layers of protection that go far beyond what most businesses can achieve alone. Would you like to learn more? We, as trusted Microsoft partners in Australia, can help.
