Optimise Security with Our Guide to Microsoft 365 Policy Management

What is Microsoft 365 Policy Management – and why might modern businesses want to explore it? In this guest blog from Microsoft tenant management experts inforcer, Graham Morrison, M365 Solutions Architect, explores how a little policy knowledge goes a long way – and how your Microsoft partner can help take your Microsoft 365 Business Premium further.

What is Microsoft 365 Policy Management?

Microsoft 365 Policy Management is the process of creating and managing multiple, granular rules and practices that influence the way you interact with your 365 software. In fact, the entirety of your Microsoft 365 environment is governed by policies.

While you or your users may not know the details of your active policies, you have almost certainly experienced them in action: when logging into Cloud services, for example, or any time you’ve had to request access permissions for certain files.

Policies are crucial to flexible working, Cloud security, and for managing users and their devices. But what are policies, exactly – and how do they work?

Microsoft policies explained

For the modern, Cloud-connected business, there’s an expectation of security. No matter where users log in from, what devices they log in via, and whatever network they connect to, they want to know they’re doing so with the best possible protection.

Similarly, organisations want the confidence that any business they conduct online is done so in accordance with industry best practices, legal responsibilities, and the best possible user security.

Policies are the rules and procedures that makes this possible. When a Microsoft Policy is in effect, it outlines specific conditions that must be met before an online interaction can occur. For example, there are policies that dictate whether connections from certain regions can be trusted; policies that block access from non-Microsoft devices; policies that force Multi-Factor Authentication, and so on.

Why Microsoft 365 Policy Management matters

Combined, these policies can help businesses stick to recognised or required security standards. Your policies might, for example, work to the standards set by Cyber Essential or Cyber Essentials plus; they might also align your team to government data regulations, such as GDPR or HIPAA.

Essentially, policies lay down the law of your every security requirement when working within Microsoft.

How do I manage my policies?

That’s the tricky part. Policies are so numerous, so technical, and so prone to change (thanks to the ever-evolving nature of technology) that most businesses don’t. That’s why IT service providers such as CloudTech24 exist; to take the struggle out of Microsoft 365 Policy Management.

Nonetheless, basic knowledge of these policies, what they govern, and how they align you to industry best practices is still incredibly valuable; you’ll have a much easier time discussing business needs with your MSP when you know just what your policy and security options are.

M365 Business Premium and your Microsoft 365 Policy Management options

Policies come into their own when you explore the added security benefits of your Microsoft 365 Business Premium package. The average business may never touch the additional security tools such as Intune, Entra ID, and Defender, but a surface-level knowledge of each is the first step towards realising their true value and achieving your Zero-Trust Security aspirations.

Here’s a quick rundown of Business Premium security tools, and what kind of policies you can find and manage in each.

Microsoft Entra ID

Manages user access, Multi-Factor Authentication, passwords and logins.

Entra ID is Microsoft’s cloud-based identity and access management service. It’s how Microsoft approves login attempts made by your users to your Microsoft applications. It’s not just limited to Microsoft either; Entra ID can also be used with other software services you connect to regularly, covering your entire IT estate.

Entra ID policies give you control over access to your data; who has access, how they can access it, and the minimum security credentials needed to allow access. This is especially useful if you need to limit data to certain security clearances, or are running a hybrid work scheme and need stronger Multi-Factor Authentication for when people access your business data from outside the network.

Entra ID’s policies can help you control:

• Which corporate data can be accessed by your Cloud or on-premise devices
• Which users can access which Cloud applications
• Guest logins, and how much of your company data they can access
• …and several other controls around user access to data, software, devices and accounts.

Microsoft Intune

Manages internal and external devices and endpoints

For some companies, it may be critical that only certain, approved devices are able to access company endpoints. On the other hand, some hybrid workforces might need to support access from a wide array of devices, meaning each must be strictly scrutinised before being granted access. Intune helps you set minimum device standards and security checks when people log into your Microsoft environment

Microsoft Intune’s policies can help you control, among other things:

• Which devices are registered and approved to access your corporate Cloud data
• Firewall settings (including those for supported non-Microsoft products, such as MacOS)
• The approval and deployment of important hardware security updates for enrolled devices.
• Standardisation of work devices, which can be automated using Windows Autopilot

Microsoft Defender for Business

Overall Cyber Security

Perhaps the simplest security tool to understand – though no less crucial – Microsoft Defender helps protect against Malware, Identity Theft, and other internet-based attacks. It is specifically designed for business protection, as opposed to more generic cyber security packages.

Your Microsoft Defender for Business Policies offer:

• Automatic enrolment of approved devices into Defender’s Endpoint Detection and Response
• Regular scheduling of Anti-Virus scanning
• Anti-Spam across user Outlook accounts
• Malware protection
• Phishing protection
• Various options for firewall configurations
• …and several other protective options.

There are policies around several of your more familiar Microsoft applications too; there are policies for Microsoft SharePoint, for example, which help you limit guests’ access to your internal files or restrict the sharing of files over OneDrive.

Whether you’re familiar with the software or not, however, you begin to see how much power you have over your security controls when with just a basic understanding of Microsoft 365 Policy Management.

So, what makes policies so important?

Policies have always existed and always been active behind the scenes of your Microsoft account. However, few companies or MSPs leverage them to their full extent – instead relying on other, separate security solutions to cover their protective needs.

But workplace technologies are constantly evolving. Businesses no longer have the time, nor the knowledge, to invest in multiple security solutions, nor to keep track of how every technical change affects their productivity and security.

When you know what’s achievable with Microsoft 365 Policy Management, however, you begin to see how your MSP is delivering on those possibilities – and just how much value they’re bringing to your business security.

Don’t tackle your Microsoft 365 Policy Management alone

As an award-winning M365 provider, CloudTech24 is the perfect partner for any business dependent on Microsoft 365. As one of the top 1% of Global Microsoft Partners in the UK, CloudTech24’s service delivery matches Microsoft’s own high service standards and helps Microsoft Partners make the most of their M365 environment.

To find out more, why not book a discovery call today?

About the author

From Service Desk Analyst to Solutions Engineer, Graham has undertaken multiple technical roles and worked with several IT innovators over the last decade. Now, as a Microsoft 365 Solutions Architect, Graham brings his Microsoft knowledge to inforcer, a groundbreaking Tenant Management software, to ensure MSPs like Cloudtech24 can deliver a comprehensive and secure Microsoft management solution to their customers.