Who wants their business in a headline about security issues? No one. Everyone, everyday, in every business must be conscious and cautious about security. Securing digital platforms like SharePoint and Microsoft Teams is so important because these platforms house sensitive content. A report by IBM found that the average cost of a data breach in 2020 was $3.86 million, a stark reminder of the financial and reputational stakes involved. For businesses using SharePoint and Teams, security is now a strategic imperative. This article delves into best practices for securing these platforms, ensuring your organisation’s data remains protected and your operations are resilient. With the growth in guest access now is the time to get this right.
SharePoint and Microsoft Teams, may promote the ease of collaboration and productivity, they come with their own set of security challenges. From protecting sensitive data against leakage, to user management, and to warding off external cyber threats, the task of securing these platforms is multifaceted. Let’s look into how you can navigate these challenges effectively.
1. Tightening Access Control
The key to robust security in SharePoint and Teams starts with stringent access control. Implementing the principle of least privilege ensures that team members have access only to the information necessary for their roles. Regularly reviewing security settings and adjusting these permission levels not only helps in maintaining operational efficiency but also minimises potential vulnerabilities. It will also identify permission inheritance or incorrect custom permission levels, which is a sneaky security loophole when people change roles within an organisation. The use of the “Everyone” should be limited, and easy to check for.
3. Content level security
Poke around your document libraries and you will quickly discover an array of sensitive content that is vulnerable at the file level. Within M365 individual files can embody an additional layer of security quickly and easily by applying sensitivity labels. This feature may be one of the most underused features to prevent unauthorised access to sensitive documents. Sensitivity Labels make it easy to protect people from accessing your files, no matter how they got their hands on it, it provides real-time authentication checks against the file.
2. Fortifying Data Sharing and Communication
In Teams, where communication is instant and continuous, securing data sharing and meetings is critical. Adopting practices such as using meeting lobbies and password-protected sessions can significantly reduce unauthorised access risks. Similarly, in SharePoint, educating users on safe sharing practices and utilising the platform’s external sharing settings helps maintain control over who accesses your data. Even putting approvals on external access request can be a great way to protect your content.
4. Content Audits
Regular audit of SharePoint and Teams content is recommended as part of content management to ensure relevance, however is also an integral part of security maintenance. Ensuring that sensitivity labels and document management best practices are in place. You can also check for personally identifiable information using the Microsoft 365 Compliance Centre.
Leveraging Advanced Security Features
The battle against cyber threats requires more than just basic defenses. SharePoint and Teams are equipped with advanced security tools that, when utilised effectively, can provide a robust shield against various cyber risks.
Advanced Threat Protection and Identity Management
Engaging features like Advanced Threat Protection can significantly enhance your defense against malware and phishing. Moreover, integrating Azure Active Directory for identity and access management, including multi-factor authentication, adds an extra layer of security, making unauthorised access significantly more challenging for potential intruders.
Ensuring Compliance and Regular Audits
Regular audits of your SharePoint and Teams environments are crucial in identifying and addressing potential security risks. Leveraging Microsoft’s compliance features can also ensure that your use of these platforms aligns with regulatory requirements, an aspect crucial for businesses in regulated industries.
Building a Culture of Security
Securing SharePoint and Teams is not just about implementing the right tools or ticking the right boxes in the security settings; it’s about cultivating a culture of security awareness within your organisation. On a daily basis, you need to consider the behaviors of individual users which poses one of the biggest potential risks to your environment. A small human error can have a major impact on your business.
Continuous Training
Ongoing training for all team members on the latest security threats, safe data handling practices, and compliance requirements is essential. Educating your teams about the latest phishing attempts can go a long way to mitigate human error risks in the modern workplace. We advocate for the inclusion of security training in all end user training, as it should never be an add on or separate module.
Maintaining Vigilance
Establishing a network of security champions within your organisation can further advocate for best practices and provide peer-to-peer support. These champions can add an addition layer within your business to remind peers about sensitive file management and disseminate additional resources to promote best practice. We all know that endless emails from IT departments or managers can remain unread.
A Proactive Approach to Security
Enhancing security in SharePoint and Microsoft Teams is an ongoing process that requires a proactive approach. By implementing these best practices, you can create a secure collaborative environment that not only protects your data from potential risks but also fosters a culture of security-mindedness. Effective security facilitates end user and client confidence, ensures adherence to compliance measures, and keeps you out of the security breach headlines.
The Propelle are experts in securing SharePoint and Teams. Contact us if you need some assistance.