Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) is an electronic authentication method that requires the user to provide two or more forms of identity verification before they are allowed access to a website, network, or application.
When implemented correctly, MFA can make it significantly more difficult for an adversary to steal legitimate credentials to facilitate further malicious activities on a network.
Due to its effectiveness, MFA is one of the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) Essential Eight Strategies to Mitigate Cyber Security Incidents.
Further Information:
Implementing Multi-Factor Authentication | cyber.gov.au
Back to Basics: What’s multi-factor authentication – and why should I care? | NIST
Today’s threat landscape is constantly evolving and team security awareness training is a critical step in securing your business.
Security and data protection aren’t just a job for your Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Chief Product Officer (CPO); they’re everyone’s responsibility every day. The more informed about security threats and prevention your team is, the safer and more secure your data and critical IP is.
Further Information:
The Essential Eight is a series of baseline mitigation strategies taken from the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) Essential Eight Strategies to Mitigate Cyber Security Incidents recommended for organisations. Implementing these strategies as a minimum makes it much harder for adversaries to compromise systems.
Further Information:
- Microsoft 365 makes your business more cost-efficient:
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- The new era of widespread remote work requires new methods of virtual collaboration and Microsoft 365’s all-inclusive productivity suite is a cost-efficient solution to accomplish that.
- Microsoft 365 helps make employees more productive:
- Microsoft 365’s cloud-based tools boost business productivity by helping remote employees collaborate, communicate, and work together more efficiently.
- Microsoft 365 keeps company data more secure:
- Microsoft 365 comes with built-in security solutions preventing data leakage and help remote employees work more securely without hindering productivity.
Further Information:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-ww/microsoft-365/microsoft-365-for-existing-subscribers
Microsoft 365 operates on the shared responsibility model, meaning that Microsoft maintain their infrastructure but you’re still responsible for additional data protection scenarios and to comply with laws and regulations.
Here is what Microsoft says in their Service Agreement for Microsoft 365:
“We recommend that you regularly backup your content and data that you store on the services or store using third-party apps and services.”
Microsoft native cloud backup protection…
- Loss of service due to hardware or infrastructure failure.
- Loss of service due to natural disaster or data centre outage.
- Short-term (93-day) user error with recycle bin/version history, including new OneDrive “Files Restore”.
- Short-term (14-day) administrative error with soft-delete for Groups, Mailboxes or services-lead rollback.
What’s not covered…
- Loss of data due to malicious insiders, hacktivists, malware or ransomware.
- Recovery from prolonged outages.
- Loss of data due to departing employees and deactivated accounts.
- Long-term accidental deletion coverage with selective rollback.
- Permissions fiascoes that interrupt user access.
Microsoft 365 is the productivity cloud designed to help you pursue your passion and run your business. More than just apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Microsoft 365 brings together best-in-class productivity apps with powerful cloud services, device management, and advanced security in one connected experience.
Use professional email and calendaring to reach customers and co-workers wherever work takes you.
- Store, access and share files from anywhere with 1 TB of online storage per user.
- Keep your team on the same page with group chat, online meetings, and calling in Microsoft Teams – the hub for teamwork.
- Help protect your employees, your data and your customer information with advanced security and device management.
Windows 365 is the world’s first Cloud PC. Windows 365 securely streams your personalised Windows desktop, apps, settings and content from the Cloud to any device. A Cloud PC provides users a virtualised computing landscape where you can stream your Windows experience from the Microsoft Cloud to any device.
With a Cloud PC, Windows evolves from a device-based Operating System (OS) to hybrid personalised computing. Hybrid in the context of the Cloud PC refers to the Windows client OS.
The evolution of Windows into a hybrid local and Cloud OS brings new possibilities to organisations of all sizes. Organisations can choose whether a PC with its locally installed OS, or a Cloud PC with its cloud-based OS, is the best fit for a particular user or role in the organisation. In some cases, a user may benefit from having both and choosing the best tool for the task at hand.
Further Information:
1) Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity – With regional and global back-up options your business can confidently know it is covered. Even a minor outage can put you at a competitive disadvantage. So, be ready with a business continuity plan that includes disaster recovery for all your major IT systems, without the expense of secondary infrastructure.
2) Reduced Cost of Infrastructure – The cost of maintaining on-premises infrastructure and its local environment requirements, such as having a climate-controlled room, can be very expensive in the long run. Microsoft Azure eliminates the need for a physical server and its expenses.
3) Flexibility and Time Saving – With Azure, if your business needs more resources, there is no need for restructuring infrastructure. You can Scale Resources with Microsoft Azure, you only pay for what you need. If your business suddenly increases, we can scale the servers to handle the growth.
4) Ease of Accessibility – Azure Cloud Services Data Centres are running globally allowing access to your data at any location, at any time. Sometimes, you don’t even need a VPN to gain access to your data any time of the day, so your business will get a great experience wherever it is located.
5) Data Security – Microsoft Azure Data Centres are some of the most secure and, they keep your data protected from natural disasters. With multiple Data Centres and storage options, your data is stored in at least three separate nodes. With the help of our team of Azure specialists, you can define the backup schedule in terms of extent and frequency.
6) Compliant – Microsoft has taken care of any data compliance issues, so whatever your industry or business sector you can benefit from Azure. The GDPR requires that organisations respect and protect personal data – no matter where it is sent, processed, or stored. With the most comprehensive set of compliance offerings of any cloud service provider, the Microsoft Cloud is here to support your data compliance initiatives.
Here are 4 reasons remote teams should go all in on Microsoft’s Modern Workplace.
- Microsoft’s Modern Workplace offers a better employee experience for remote teams:
Microsoft 365 includes new platforms, tools, and apps to nurture employee well-being, connectivity, and learning in the digital workplace.
- Microsoft’s Modern Workplace promotes more effective collaboration:
Microsoft’s Modern Workplace enhances productivity, enables seamless collaboration, and streamlines workflows across locations and platforms.
- Microsoft’s Modern Workplace automates time-consuming tasks:
Another benefit to the Modern Workspace is the ability to leverage all the available capabilities of the PowerPlatform automation apps.
- Microsoft’s Modern Workplace is scalable for remote teams:
By leveraging self-service functionality in Microsoft 365, Modern Workplace can empower employees to create the resources they need without
“gatekeeping”.
Modern Workplace also facilitates automation with Microsoft Power Automate, which enables you to apply modern Robotic Process Automation (RPA) across the enterprise. Automating repetitive tasks boosts productivity and gives employees more time to focus on innovation rather than administrative tasks. In conjunction with Power Apps, you can leverage a robust platform of connectors to enhance work.
The challenge for organisations is how to empower their people while maintaining top-level security and efficiency. With help from Microsoft’s Modern Workplace solutions and Remote Systems Management (RSM), you can accomplish those goals. You can improve employee productivity and satisfaction and create seamless communication and collaboration while maintaining the security and integrity of your systems and data.
The most significant benefit of using Microsoft Teams for your phone needs, is that it helps you unify your communications and productivity channels into a single solution. A further benefit of Microsoft Teams as the foundation for your phone system is that it’s a Cloud-based infrastructure. As with any Cloud-based service, one of the crucial benefits is the ability to access it from anywhere.
Pricing for using a calling system with Microsoft Teams is relatively minimal. The pricing depends on the system you have set up and the level of Microsoft 365 license you’re using.
Further Information:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/microsoft-teams/voice-calling
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