10.8.4. Security Benefits

Compare Microsoft 365 to your current security solutions
:

• Privileged Identity Management
• Risk-Based Conditional Access
• Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)
• Threat Intelligence
• End Point Protection and Response (EDR)
  

What is Microsoft 365?
Microsoft 365 combines Office 365, Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility + Security (EMS) providing selected offerings of each suite into three different packages; Business, E3 and E5. These combinations, give organisations access to a range of powerful productivity and security solutions and at a more cost effective price than purchasing these products separately.

The Enterprise versions correlate nicely to their relevant suite versions:

Microsoft 365 E3 = The E3 version of Office 365, EMS and Windows 10
Microsoft 365 E5 = The E5 version of Office 365, EMS and Windows 10
Microsoft 365 Business however, it a little more confusing. It contains Office 365 Business Premium and then a selection of features from Windows 10 and EMS with less functionality and fewer applications.

Microsoft 365 pricing
Microsoft 365 Business. Microsoft E3 and Microsoft 365 E5. Microsoft 365 Business has a maximum of 300 users – but you can mix and match Business and Enterprise licences like you can with Office 365 – and there is no limit for Enterprise.

Microsoft 365 Business vs Enterprise
Microsoft 365 Editions Compared

Security Add-ons
As well as being able to purchase the three different Microsoft 365 versions, Microsoft have also released new security and compliance add-ons. These can only be added onto Microsoft 365 E3 and are aimed at companies that want to gain the advanced security and compliance tools within Microsoft 365 E5 but are not ready to make the leap in cost or do not require the Telephony and Power BI Pro licences included in E5. Security add-ons include: Geolocation Restrictions (Conditional Access), Multifactor Authentication, and Identity & Threat Protection (which includes all the Microsoft Defender/Advanced Threat Protection suites and Information Protection & Compliance, which includes O365 Advanced Compliance and Azure Information Protection).

• Geolocation Restrictions can be added as an add-on to Microsoft E3 or Business Premium licenses or can be bought using the P1 license which costs at around: AUD $8.24/license/month.
• To add the Microsoft Defender (Advanced Threat Protection) on your license would cost an additional AUD $2.70/E3 license/month.
  

Microsoft Secure Score
Microsoft also provides a Microsoft Secure Score which measures your organisation’s security posture. A higher number/score is indicative of the improvements of the organisation’s security status through action points taken. This secure score can accessed through the Microsoft 365 Defender portal once subscribed to the Microsoft Defender/ATP.

Products measured by the Microsoft Secure Score are the following:

• Microsoft 365 (including Exchange Online)
• Azure Active Directory
• Microsoft Defender / Advanced Threat Protection
• Microsoft Teams
  

Highest secure score is at 100% but a score of 80% or above would suffice.

Why Microsoft 365?
Many organisations are now using and enjoying the benefits of Office 365, which is packed with various applications to help staff work and with new apps being added regularly (such as Teams and Planner). With Microsoft 365 – you get all your Office 365 features and functionality but then also enjoy Windows 10 and EM+S features in a more cost effective package; providing complementary security tools to Office 365 to improve organisational security, which is obviously a very hot topic.

Our main reasons why we recommend upgrading to Microsoft 365 include:

Unparalleled security scale – The main reason why Microsoft 365 has some of the best security products on the market is their sheer scale of telemetry that feeds into their tools – and their investment in their continual development. Microsoft have over 3,500 security professionals working on these products, which are all built on their Intelligent Security Graph. This underlying platform receives a massive 6.5 trillion signals daily – so if a new threat is picked up from one of those emails, Microsoft’s products can learn to detect it as a threat and block it in real-time.

Value – Microsoft 365 saves you up to 25% in licensing costs, so if you’re already paying for Office 365 then you can upgrade to gain access to Windows 10 and a great set of security and mobility tools within EMS for a greatly reduced cost over buying them separately.

End of Windows 7 Support – Extended support for Windows 7 will end in 2020, which means that you will no longer receive security updates and leaves you exposed to cyber threats. If you are running Windows 7 (which is apparently still used by around 45% of organisations) then you will be considering upgrading to Windows 10, which is included with Microsoft 365 – giving you a better discount and access to a lot of other valuable products.

One integrated solution – As most organisations use Office 365, it makes sense to keep your security tools and operating system within the Microsoft stack. Historically some organisations might use different vendors to spread risk but this adds complexity, reduces integration and therefore also limits insights and speed. By using Microsoft 365 all your solutions perfectly integrate and feed data into one another, making one very simple, integrated toolset that is extremely efficient, quick to react and produces a holistic overview.

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