For many businesses, Microsoft 365 offers a significant step up in operations, from elevated teamwork, to streamlined workflow management, to a user-friendly experience that banishes the dreaded learning curve. Despite this, concerns about cybersecurity for San Francisco businesses are rife, especially for those without a technical background. How can you be sure you’re following the standards you need to to keep your clients’ data safe? Are cloud-based services like 365 secure enough on their own?
In this blog, we break down Microsoft 365 compliance in plain language, providing actionable insights and practical tips for businesses in the Bay Area and beyond. Walking you through what regulatory requirements are and the compliance-focused features 365 provides, this guide equips non-technical business owners with the knowledge you need to ensure compliance within your Microsoft 365 environment.
Tech Terms Simplified
Before we dive in, here’s a quick glossary of some of the more IT-specific terms used throughout this article. Come back and refer to it as needed.
Compliance: The process of ensuring that an organization adheres to laws, regulations, standards, and ethical practices relevant to its operations.
Conditional Access: Policies that restrict or grant access to files, applications, and accounts based on conditions set by an administrator. IT services for small businesses are usually experienced at implementing these effectively.
Data (in the context of businesses): The pieces of information collected, stored, and used during daily operations. This includes customer details, transaction records, employee information, and any other relevant facts or statistics that help the business function, make decisions, and provide services.
Data Encryption: The process of converting information or data into a code, especially to prevent unauthorized access.
Data Loss Prevention: Strategies and tools to ensure that sensitive data isn’t lost, misused, or accessed by unpermitted users.
Endpoint Protection: Security measures to protect end-user devices—the things your team use, like desktops, laptops, tablets, and cell phones—from being exploited by hackers.
MFA: Multi-Factor Authentication, a security system that requires more than one method of authentication to verify the user’s identity. You might already be familiar with this; if you’ve ever had to enter a code received via SMS to log in to an account, that’s MFA.
Understanding Compliance Requirements
Depending on the nature of your operations, your business may be obligated to follow several compliance standards. The most common include:
- PCI-DSS: If your business processes card payments, you need to adhere to PCI-DSS standards to protect cardholder data.
- HIPAA: Healthcare businesses must comply with HIPAA to safeguard medical information.
- GDPR: If you do business with clients in the UK or EU, you need to follow GDPR regulations regarding data protection and privacy.
These compliance standards essentially dictate how you gather, store, use, and dispose of customer data. Understanding and implementing these regulations is crucial for keeping data safe, maintaining client trust and avoiding legal repercussions. Although the specifics of compliance criteria can be confusing, compliance itself can usually be achieved by making some considered adjustments to your cybersecurity. For San Francisco businesses, a more strategic approach to data handling could save you from a pricey fallout—so it’s well worth prioritizing.
Consequences of Non-Compliance
Non-compliance with the appropriate standards can result in severe consequences, including:
- Penalties and Fines: Regulatory bodies can impose hefty fines on businesses that fail to meet compliance standards. Target ended up paying an $18.5 million settlement after a PCI-DSS breach in 2013.
- Reputational Damage: News of a data breach or compliance failure can damage your reputation irrevocably. Facebook caused global outrage back in 2018 following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and still faces the repercussions today.
- Loss of Customer Trust: One 2022 meta-analysis found that customers are, understandably, more likely to do business with companies they trust. Showing your dedication to data protection is a key way to earn this trust. Why should a consumer choose your services over another that can prove they’re compliance-focused?
Compliance When Using Microsoft 365: What’s Built-In and What You Need to Enable
Microsoft 365 comes equipped with several built-in features designed to help businesses adhere to compliance protocols. However, not all of them are enabled by default, and some might need adjusting to suit your specific requirements. Here’s a breakdown:
- Email Security
Anti-phishing, antispam, and antimalware: These features protect your email communications from malicious attacks by detecting potential threats and siphoning them away from your inbox. Therefore, the risk of employees clicking on a link that spreads damage throughout your system is significantly reduced.
Set or Forget? These are typically enabled by default, meaning no further action is needed on your part. That being said, cyber awareness training is still encouraged—your team need to be able to spot sophisticated threats that make it to them through other means, like social media.
- Secure Collaboration
Microsoft Teams: This platform allows for better-protected collaboration and file sharing between your internal team, and with your clients and stakeholders. By using Teams instead of multiple different platforms, you can ensure that sensitive information is only shared within a single, secure environment, making it easier to keep track of which data you have, who’s using it, and how.
Set or Forget? Microsoft Teams is set up for secure collaboration by default. To maximize its security: use private channels for sensitive conversations, regularly review and update team member permissions, and enable features like data loss prevention (DLP) to monitor and protect sensitive information shared within Teams.
- SharePoint and OneDrive Settings
Share settings, safe links, and safe attachments: These features in SharePoint and OneDrive help control how files are shared and accessed, protecting sensitive data from unauthorized access.
Set or Forget? While some of these features are default settings, it’s essential to review and adjust them to fit your business needs. You may want to limit external sharing, or enforce additional verification for sharing or accessing files.
- Account Management
MFA and Conditional Access: For premium accounts, enabling MFA and setting up conditional access policies adds an extra layer of security.
Set or Forget? These features need to be manually enabled to enhance account security.
Find them in the Azure Active Directory admin center—under ‘Security’, select ‘Multi-Factor Authentication’ and follow the steps to enable MFA for your users.
For conditional access, navigate to Security > Conditional Access and create policies based on user location, device state, and application sensitivity.
Account management should be ongoing. Regularly review permissions and delete old accounts if team members join, leave, or switch roles to maintain security.
- Device Protection
Endpoint Protection, Data Encryption, and Data Loss Prevention: These features, built into business premium accounts, ensure that your devices and data are protected. Endpoint protection guards against device vulnerabilities, while data encryption and DLP strategies secure your data against unauthorized access and accidental loss.
Set or Forget? You can access endpoint protection without a premium account—IT services for small businesses often provide this as part of their security packages.
What’s Missing from Microsoft 365?
- Vulnerability Assessments: You’ll still need to conduct regular vulnerability assessments in order to ensure your protocols and defenses remain aligned with compliance regulations.
- Backup and Disaster Recovery Solutions: A comprehensive backup and recovery plan also needs to be devised with the help of your tech team.
- Employee Education: Tools are only as effective as the people using them. Regular cyber awareness training is a must for many compliance frameworks.
Wait—Are Microsoft’s Services Also Compliant?
Like most IT services for small businesses, Microsoft 365’s applications undergo rigorous internal compliance programs focusing on security, privacy, and compliance. This process ensures that the platform meets various regulatory requirements. Rest assured that yes, all of the 365 services you use follow the appropriate criteria:
- Security and Privacy: Microsoft 365’s compliance framework ensures that the suite adheres to stringent security and privacy standards.
- Compliance Certifications: Microsoft provides detailed documentation and certifications, ensuring that their services meet global compliance requirements.
Microsoft Purview: Advanced Compliance Management
Finally, it’s worth noting an additional option for businesses in heavily regulated industries. Microsoft Purview replaces Microsoft 365’s dedicated compliance center, and provides enhanced capabilities for managing compliance across various standards.
Purview’s solutions cover data security and governance tools, as well as risk management features and dedicated compliance management software. If you’re in healthcare, finance, or manufacturing, speak to your IT support provider about whether Purview might be a smart move for you.
Final Thoughts on Maintaining a Compliant Microsoft 365 Environment
Navigating the complexities of compliance when using Microsoft 365 doesn’t have to be daunting. By leveraging the platform’s built-in security features and staying informed about relevant regulations, you can protect your data and steer clear of noncompliance penalties.
For small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area, integrating these practices into your daily operations will help ensure that you meet any necessary compliance requirements and safeguard your reputation. If you think you’d benefit from more bespoke support, consider reaching out to providers of cybersecurity for San Francisco businesses to ensure your Microsoft 365 environment is tailored to suit your specific needs.
Centaurus: Professional, Proactive IT Services & Cybersecurity for Businesses in San Francisco
Based in the Bay Area? So are we! At Centarus, we provide tailored IT services for small and medium businesses throughout San Francisco. We prioritize building customized solutions, and curating genuine relationships with our clients is at the very core of what we do. Whatever your needs, we can provide managed IT support that works for your business instead of having your business beholden to its tech.
Want to learn more about maintaining compliance when using Microsoft 365? Reach out for a chat with our knowledgeable team.
