Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

1. Limited Scope of Security Metrics Microsoft Secure Score assesses security configurations and behaviors within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem but does not account for external threats. MSPs need a holistic security approach that includes network security, endpoint protection, and third-party integrations, which Secure Score does not cover (S:1).

It seems like every other day there is a public announcement of a compromise involving unauthorised access to Microsoft 365. Privately, my security consultancy team are called in more often than we would like to deconstruct a compromise and determine if a notifiable data breach has occurred.

Octiga Software, Microsoft 365 Security Management & Monitoring for MSPs, is delighted to announce it has embarked on a benefit partnership with The ASCII Group for 2024. The ASCII Group is a membership-based community of independent North American MSPs, MSSPs and Solution Providers. By partnering with The ASCII Group, Octiga is enhancing its channel program and creating lasting relationships with IT service providers.

Microsoft's security team has recently made a significant discovery regarding an increase in cyber-attacks orchestrated by the Russian state-backed group known as the Midnight Blizzard crew. This group, which also operates under the aliases Nobelium, APT29, Cozy Bear, Iron Hemlock, and The Dukes, has been actively targeting personal credentials, according to Microsoft's findings. The Midnight Blizzard hackers employ residential proxy services to conceal the source IP addresses of their attacks.

Microsoft 365 Secure Score is a comprehensive security analytics tool for a single tenant. It uses a score-based approach to provide actionable recommendations to enhance security. However, MSPs should be aware that the scoring process fails to fit the needs of scaling MSPs in terms of business exceptions, managing multiple clients, remediation and alerting, not to mention making an assessment which is independent of MS upselling.

For someone who interacts with managed service providers daily, I am often asked to highlight the differences between our Office 365 security app Octiga and a SIEM that provides similar functionality OR a Microsoft native tool such as Secure Score. I thought, why not create an informative piece for our users who wish to understand Octiga services better?

Over the last two decades, the M365 service capabilities have developed rapidly and have evolved into a more complex version. In addition, the Security & Compliance Centre has rapidly expanded in response to the rising sophisticated attacks. Office 365 user numbers have reached approximately a whopping 345 million," broadly aligning with the 17% y-o-y increase in commercial revenue.

Despite the tight security services provided by Microsoft, we know how frequently SMEs' Office 365 is breached, either intentionally by hackers or inadvertently by carelessness. In such a scenario, it makes us wonder, can we fully trust Microsoft to protect us from mal actors in 2022?? The simple answer is yes. The complicated answer is: Microsoft is as secure as WE configure it. Does that make you uneasy?

In 2005, a new market emerged when Gartner coined the term "SIEM" OR Security and Information Event Management. Back then, it was a legacy system aggregating event data produced by security devices, systems, network infrastructures and applications. However, it lacked monitoring functionality and was limited to vertical scalability.

The standard shipping container is the unsung hero of the modern world! More on that later…