Every successful business today is online. Unfortunately, this means that every successful business must deal with online criminals wanting to steal valuable business data stored in the cloud. From viruses to ransomware and phishing scams, the threats to your business are legion and it’s vital to protect your internet-connected devices and data from being compromised. What many entrepreneurs don’t realize is that when your company invests in the Microsoft Office 365 productivity suite, you gain inherently robust security protections for your cloud-based data and files.
Most businesses already know Office 365 enables their employees to create, share, and communicate anywhere, on any device. But any good IT professional gets concerned about exactly how secure their company’s data and files are on those devices. Here are three of the key built-in data protection capabilities that Office 365 delivers for your IT department and your entire organization’s peace of mind:
1. Recover your ransomed files
Ransomware is a popular attack used by cybercriminals. In 2017, the WannaCry ransomware attacks affected organizations in 150 countries and the city of Atlanta’s bill payment services were crippled by a similar ransomware attack in early 2018. In both attacks, cybercriminals were able to prevent authorized users access to their own files then offered to unlock those files if a ransom was paid to them in bitcoin or other cryptocurrency. Damages from ransomware attacks just in the past couple of years have ranged from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars. However, if you have Office 365, you can quickly recover your cloud-based files if they are affected by ransomware.
Using the powerful Files Restore feature from OneDrive for Business, you can roll back the clock your entire set of cloud-based files and folders to a previous point in time within the last 30 days. You can use this feature to recover from an accidental mass delete, file corruption, ransomware, or another catastrophic event. Office 365 detects possible ransomware attacks against your OneDrive for Business storage and automatically alerts you on Windows PCs and mobile devices such as an iPhone.
Office 365 guides you through a recovery process and even selects a preselected date and time prior to the ransomware attack to restore your OneDrive for Business files. Files Restore is simple and self-serve enough for anyone to use without needing to call your company’s help desk.
2. File sharing restrictions
Sending an email with sensitive data or sharing a link to proprietary documents from your cloud-based storage can be dangerous. To ensure your information reaches only the intended recipients, Office 365 can protect the integrity of your Outlook emails and add password protection to your OneDrive for Business links.
For example, you can set and require a password to access a shared file or folder on your OneDrive for Business then send the shared resource from your Outlook email client. So even if the intended recipient accidentally forwards or shares the link with your company’s financials for the entire fiscal year, you don’t have to worry. Office 365’s inherent security features prevent others from accessing your valuable files.
3. Advanced protection from viruses and cybercrime
Cybercriminals often develop new viruses and scams so quickly that it can take hours or days for the information security community to discover them. These so-called “zero day” attacks can trick employees into giving away their sign-in credentials or downloading viruses via an official-looking but malicious email, Word, or Excel file. Users of the Office 365 Enterprise E5 plan are protected from zero day attacks thanks to the Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) Safe Links feature.
When you receive an email with a suspicious hyperlink or an attached Word, Excel, and PowerPoint file, the ATP Safe Links feature will check them out in real-time to determine if the destination website is likely to download malware or is related to a phishing scam. If any of the links seem suspicious, then you will see a warning screen to avoid clicking the link.
Peace of mind is surprisingly affordable
Apart from the ATP Safe Links feature, all the aforementioned security features are built into the most common Office 365 plans for small to midsized businesses. If you’d like to get these and other value-added features with Office 365, then connect with Amaxra. We offers Office 365 add-ons that enable you to send encrypted Outlook emails with certifiable proof of receipt that complies with all data-privacy regulations, cybersecurity solutions to cover any device on your corporate network, and comprehensive live support for Office 365 and other business-critical Microsoft cloud services available 24×7.
Best of all, the support services and Office 365 add-ons can be provided by Amaxra even if you aren’t currently purchasing your Office 365 licenses through Amaxra.