What is Secure Score?
Microsoft Secure Score is a measurement tool within Microsoft 365 that assesses an organisation’s security posture. It provides a numerical score based on the security configurations you’ve implemented, user behaviour within your environment and other security-related factors. It’s important to remember that Secure Score is not an absolute guarantee of security. A high score indicates a strong security posture based on Microsoft’s recommendations, but it doesn’t eliminate the possibility of a successful cyber attack.
Benefits_
- Improved security awareness: Secure Score helps organisations understand their current security posture and identify areas for improvement. This increased awareness is crucial for prioritising security investments and making informed decisions.
- Benchmarking and comparison: Secure Score allows organisations to benchmark their security posture against industry averages or similar organisations. This provides valuable insights into how well your security measures stack up compared to others.
- Actionable guidance: Secure Score goes beyond just a score. It provides specific recommendations for improving your security posture. These recommendations are actionable and prioritised, allowing you to focus on the areas that will have the most significant impact.
Use cases_
- Security team alignment: Secure Score can be a valuable tool for security teams to gain buy-in from leadership by demonstrating the organisation’s security posture and the impact of security improvements.
- Security awareness training: Understanding the areas where your score is low can help tailor security awareness training programs to address specific user behaviour that might be increasing security risks.
- Continuous security improvement: Secure Score can be used as a benchmark to track your security progress over time. By monitoring your score and implementing the recommended actions, you can continuously improve your organisation’s overall security posture.
Key components_
- Security controls: Secure Score analyses the configuration of various security controls within Microsoft 365, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), conditional access policies and mailbox data encryption.
- User behaviour: Secure Score takes into account user behaviour within your environment, such as phishing click rates or suspicious login attempts.
- Threat intelligence: Microsoft leverages threat intelligence to identify potential security risks and incorporate those considerations into the Secure Score calculations.
Secure Score is a core feature within Microsoft 365. You can access your Secure Score dashboard directly within the Microsoft 365 security centre. The dashboard provides a detailed breakdown of your score across different security categories, along with specific recommendations for improvement.
By understanding and leveraging Microsoft Secure Score, organisations can take a data-driven approach to improve their security posture, prioritise security investments, and ultimately reduce the risk of cyber attacks.
