When anyone thinks of Microsoft, its usually to do with their dominance in the computing and business productivity space. The company’s Windows OS has more than a billion users, and Microsoft 365 is used by over a million businesses worldwide. It is unlikely that you would come across a businessperson who hasn’t heard of applications like Word, PowerPoint or Teams; but Microsoft’s cybersecurity protocols for its products and solutions are often overlooked and not given enough credit.
Microsoft’s security offering can provide businesses with a range of unrivalled advantages, including:
• Commitment to security
Over £750 billion every year is spent by Microsoft on cybersecurity research and infrastructure; ensuring that security is integrated into its core solutions while maintaining a 24/7 security expert and defence centre.
• Dedicated security strategy
After many years of operating in the security space, Microsoft has built a strategy that ties in nicely with Azure, AI, and productivity. Tight integrations across its product stack ensure that security advances aren’t just good for protection, they increase the overall value of its offerings.
Across its platforms, Microsoft offers identity, threat, and information protection. The intelligence gathered from these integrations allows the corporation to scan billions of emails, authentications, and webpages to advance its understanding of threats and the ability to respond to them.
• A leader in security best practice
Microsoft has long put heavy emphasis on the latest best practices and industry standards, but security is one area where it’s consistently ahead of competitors. It has a reputation for swiftly replying to Requests for Information (RFIs) when it comes to the creation of standards. Microsoft has also publicly committed to spreading US and EU security standards to worldwide customers.
As a holder of various government contracts across the world, Microsoft is bound to keeping up to date with the latest industry standards as well as helping its partners and customers adhere to them.
• Customer education focused
Microsoft works with its reseller partners to provide education on its cybersecurity solutions. End-users learn how to protect themselves online, follow policies and understand the benefits of the products that they are using. Most resellers offer regular webinars and training courses that provide certifications at the end.
• A constantly developing security portfolio
Microsoft’s market position allows them to innovate and develop start-ups that push he boundaries of protection. In the past couple of years, they have obtained CyberX, Semmle, BlueTalon, Dependabot, and more. The advantages of these acquisitions trickle down into tehir current solutions.
More recently, Microsoft has evolved its portfolio to help organisations use the zero-trust security concept. Its zero-trust security concept is a tool to aid migration, provide education and assess what stage of the process a company is in.
These constant developments ensure organisations who utilise the company’s products properly remain protected despite ever-evolving threats.
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