15 Microsoft 365 Security Best Practices Every Business Should Implement

Microsoft 365 is the most targeted cloud platform for cyberattacks because it holds your email, files, and identity infrastructure. These 15 security configurations should be implemented in every business tenant.

Microsoft 365 is incredibly powerful but insecure by default. Out of the box, many security features are disabled or set to permissive defaults. As a Microsoft Partner, CloudTechForce has secured hundreds of M365 tenants. Here are the 15 non-negotiable security configurations.

Identity security: enable MFA for all users with no exceptions, configure Conditional Access policies requiring compliant devices for access, block legacy authentication protocols that bypass MFA, enable sign-in risk policies using Microsoft Entra Identity Protection, and implement Privileged Identity Management for admin accounts.

Email security: enable Defender for Office 365 Safe Links and Safe Attachments, configure anti-phishing policies with mailbox intelligence, block auto-forwarding rules to external domains, enable DKIM and DMARC for your domain, and configure quarantine policies for suspicious emails.

Data protection: implement Data Loss Prevention policies for sensitive information types, configure sensitivity labels for document classification, enable Microsoft Purview audit logging with 180-day or greater retention, restrict external sharing in SharePoint and OneDrive, and deploy Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps for shadow IT visibility.

CloudTechForce implements all 15 configurations as part of every Microsoft 365 managed services engagement. We also offer standalone M365 security assessments for organizations managing their own tenant.