Microsoft 365 provides a feature known as Secure Score, a tool to help you understand your organization’s security posture. It is a key dimension in preparing for exam MS-101: Microsoft 365 Mobility and Security. It gives you an assessment of your security posture with comparison to a benchmark and other companies in your industry, while offering suggestions to improve it.
Understanding Microsoft 365 Secure Score
Secure Score measures your organization’s security configuration in Microsoft 365 by assigning points based on your configuration settings and activities, such as enabling multi-factor authentication, protecting access to email and documents, and so forth. The feature takes into these considerations and provides a score.
The tool provides an analytical view of your organization’s security posture. It is not absolute but needs to be considered in relation to what is typical for your industry and the specific context of your organization.
Checking Your Secure Score
Accessing Secure Score involves navigating to the Secure Score page via the Microsoft 365 security center. On the Secure Score dashboard, organizations can view their current score, a comparison with the maximum possible score, and a comparison with the industry’s average Secure Score.
Further more detailed reports are available showing trends over time, within different categories and impacts of certain actions in increasing Secure Score.
Actions to Improve Secure Score
Once you have access to your Secure Score, the next step is making improvements. Secure Score provides tailored recommendations to improve organization’s score, referred to as “improvement actions”.
There are several actions that can be undertaken to improve your Secure Score:
- Enable MFA for administrative roles: Enabling Multi-Factor Authentication increases the security of user logins for cloud services beyond just a password.
- Use dedicated administrative accounts: This ensures that the likelihood of a high-level account being compromised is reduced.
- Encourage users to complete the Security Training: Providing Security training helps users understand how to identify phishing attacks and malicious links.
- Turn on sign-in risk policy: This enables Microsoft to use adaptive machine learning algorithms and heuristics to detect anomalies and suspicious incidents.
Taking these actions will not only boost your Secure Score but also significantly improve your security posture, ensuring the protection of sensitive data against breaches and attacks.
Reviewing and Responding to the Secure Score
Security posture is a dynamic component and needs regular monitoring and improvements. Therefore, one should routinely evaluate the Secure Score and remediate any potential vulnerabilities. Use Secure Score’s built-in workflows to remediate issues without leaving the tool.
In conclusion, Secure Score offers a quantitative measure that supports an organization in its efforts to optimize security in Microsoft 365. While preparing for the MS-101 exam, understanding and using Secure Score to identify potential weaknesses forms a crucial part. An organization needs to not just aim for a higher Secure Score but should primarily aim for maintaining robust and comprehensive security. Evaluating and responding to Secure Score forms an important part of this process.
Practice Test
What is the Microsoft 365 Secure Score?
- a) A scoring model and recommendation tool that quantifies your organization’s security position.
- b) A tool to measure software compatibility in Microsoft
- c) A feature to track data breaches in your organization.
- d) A financial tool provided by Microsoft.
Answer: a) A scoring model and recommendation tool that quantifies your organization’s security position.
Explanation: The Microsoft 365 Secure Score is a measurement of an organization’s security posture, with higher scores indicating more healthy security set-ups.
True or False: The Microsoft 365 Secure Score only takes into account settings and features that are in Microsoft 365?
Answer: True
Explanation: The score only considers Microsoft 365 services and items you can influence by adjusting your configurations.
Which of the following is not a factor that contributes to your Microsoft 365 Secure Score?
- a) User behavior
- b) Security settings
- c) Regularly running Secure Score analytics
- d) The usage of Microsoft 365 features
Answer: c) Regularly running Secure Score analytics.
Explanation: Although running Secure Score analytics can help improve your overall security posture, it does not directly contribute to your Microsoft 365 Secure Score.
Can the Microsoft 365 Secure Score reach 100%?
- a) Yes, it’s possible if all recommended actions are met.
- b) No, it’s not possible and is designed to be a yardstick, not a percentage.
Answer: a) Yes, it’s possible if all recommended actions are met.
Explanation: The 365 Secure Score can reach 100% if the organization applies all required security strategies and controls.
True or False: Microsoft 365 Secure Score does not prescribe the expected results from the actions taken.
Answer: True
Explanation: Secure Score only indicates potential improvement areas and offers actions to improve; it does not provide the outcome of these actions.
Which of the following features are accessible in the Microsoft 365 Secure Score system?
- a) Score Analyzer
- b) Action Queue
- c) Active Score
- d) All of the above
Answer: d) All of the above
Explanation: The Microsoft 365 Secure Score includes a Score Analyzer, Action Queue, and Active Score to help users interpret and improve their security status.
Secure Score is a part of which Microsoft service?
- a) Microsoft Security 365
- b) Microsoft Secure Center
- c) Microsoft Security Center
- d) None of the above
Answer: c) Microsoft Security Center
Explanation: Secure Score is a part of the Microsoft Security Center and not a standalone or a part of any other service.
True or False: The Secure Score does not include third-party apps or services data?
Answer: True
Explanation: The Secure Score applies only to Microsoft 365 and does not include data or settings from third-party apps or services.
In analyzing the Secure Score, a higher score always implies better security. True or False?
Answer: False
Explanation: A higher score reflects the adoption of recommended actions; it doesn’t necessarily indicate that you are better protected.
Is Secure Score available for all Office 365 users?
- a) Yes
- b) No
Answer: b) No
Explanation: This feature is only available to Office 365 Business Premium or Enterprise users.
Interview Questions
What is Microsoft 365 Secure Score?
Microsoft 365 Secure Score is a security analytics tool available to Microsoft 365 users that provides insights into the security health of an organization. It works by measuring the extent of users’ regular activities and security settings to present a security score that can be compared with a benchmark set by Microsoft.
What is the primary function of Microsoft 365 Secure Score?
The primary function of Microsoft Secure Score is to identify opportunities for improving user and organizational security by measuring your regular activities and security settings, and assigning a score based on these activities and settings.
How is the Secure Score calculated by Microsoft 365?
Microsoft 365 Secure Score calculates its score based on system settings, user behavior, and other security-related measurements within the organization’s Microsoft 365 environment. It then compares this calculation to a benchmark provided by Microsoft.
What are the benefits of running regular Secure Score reviews?
Running regular Secure Score reviews helps organizations understand their security position and measure their progress, identify potential vulnerabilities, implement actionable recommendations, track security improvement over time, and compare their security performance with other organizations.
Can Microsoft 365 Secure Score predict if I will have a security breach?
No, Secure Score is a tool for increasing visibility and providing suggestions for your organization’s security posture. While it can help guide you in enhancing your security, it is not capable of predicting possible security breaches.
What does a Secure Score of 200 mean?
A score of 200 is the maximum Secure Score achievable, indicating that all recommended security measures and controls are in place. However, it does not guarantee the absolute security of your organization, as new threats constantly evolve.
Is Microsoft 365 Secure Score available for all Microsoft 365 subscriptions?
Microsoft 365 Secure Score is available to all Microsoft 365 commercial customers and Office 365 Business Premium customers.
How can I improve my Microsoft 365 Secure Score?
You can improve your Secure Score by implementing recommended security features and following best practices suggested by Microsoft. Examples are enabling multi-factor authentication, using dedicated admin accounts, and regularly reviewing audit logs.
How often is the Secure Score updated?
Microsoft 365 Secure Score updates every 24 hours, but sometimes it might take up to 72 hours to reflect changes in the score.
Can I customize my Secure Score assessment?
Yes, some customization is possible within Secure Score. For example, you can specify which user accounts are not covered by certain security controls, which can adjust the score to more accurately reflect your security posture.
How does Secure Score assist in compliance with industry regulations?
Secure Score helps in regulatory compliance by providing a clear picture of your organization’s security posture. It enables organizations to take actionable steps to improve their security, which can contribute towards compliance with security-related regulatory standards.
What does the Secure Score represent?
The Secure Score in Microsoft 365 is a representation of the organization’s security posture. A high score indicates that many of the recommended security controls and measures are in place.
Who can access the Secure Score in an organization?
Anyone with the global administrator, security administrator, and security reader roles in Office 365 can access the Secure Score.
Is Secure Score available for all geographies and industries?
Yes, Secure Score is available to Microsoft 365 users worldwide, regardless of the size of their organization or the industry they belong to.
Can Secure Score suggestions be prioritized?
Yes, Secure Score provides a ranked list of available security controls for an organization, allowing them to prioritize the implementation based on potential impact on their score.
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