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11 Jan Why you should choose Microsoft for cybersecurity
When we think of Microsoft, the first thing that comes to mind is normally its dominance in the computing and business productivity space. The company’s Windows operating system has over a billion users, and Microsoft 365 is utilised by over a million companies worldwide. You’d be hard pressed to find a businessperson who hasn’t heard of the productivity tools like Word, PowerPoint, or Teams; but Microsoft’s comprehensive cybersecurity protocols for its products and solutions are often overlooked and rarely given enough credit.
While many associate Microsoft security with old versions of Windows Defender, the company has come a long way in recent years. It now offers a suite of advanced, AI-driven tools that work proactively to keep companies very secure. Microsoft’s security offering can provide businesses with a range of unrivalled advantages, including:
- A vast commitment to security
Microsoft spends over £750 billion every year on cybersecurity research and infrastructure, ensuring that security is integrated into its core solutions while maintaining a 24/7 security expert and defence centre.
As well as ensuring high quality security for its customers and partners, Microsoft is committed to protecting the world in a wider sense. It has, for example, launched counter-attacks on US election hackers Fancy Bear, and detected and defended against attacks targeting the Trump and Biden campaign staff.
- Dedicated security strategy
After many years of operating in the security space, Microsoft has built a strategy that ties in neatly with its innovations in Azure, AI, and productivity. Tight integrations across its product stack ensure that security advances aren’t just good for protection – they increase the overall value of its offerings.
In general, the company sees security as three interlinked arms: platform, intelligence, and partners. Across its platforms, Microsoft offers identity, threat, and information protection. The intelligence gathered from these integrations allows the corporation to scan billions of emails, authentications, and webpages to advance its understanding of threats and the ability to respond to them.
Partnerships, however, are the most important piece of the puzzle. While Microsoft’s products offer significant advantage and value alone, organisations need peace of mind that they are getting the most out of the products and solutions. CSP partners can support customers with seamless migration and easy billing. Customers can also benefit from a complete product ecosystem to fill any gaps.
- A leader in security best practice
Microsoft has long put heavy emphasis on the latest best practices and industry standards, but security is one area where it’s consistently ahead of competitors. It has a reputation for swiftly replying to Requests for Information (RFIs) when it comes to the creation of standards. Microsoft has also publicly committed to spreading US and EU security standards to worldwide customers.
As a holder of various government contracts across the world, Microsoft is bound to keeping up to date with the latest industry standards as well as helping its partners and customers adhere to them.
- Customer education focused
Microsoft works with its reseller partners to provide education on its cybersecurity approach and solutions. With the help of a reseller, end-users learn to protect themselves online, follow standards and policies, and understand the benefits and limitations of the products they use. Most resellers offer regular webinars and training courses that can range from a day to five days and provide certifications at the end.
Microsoft’s Executive Briefing Centre also lets relevant parties meet with the company’s security experts across various security disciplines to ask questions and gain a deeper understanding.
- A constantly developing security portfolio
Microsoft’s position in the market allows it to both innovate itself and acquire agile start-ups that push the boundaries of protection. In the past two years, it has snapped up CyberX, Semmle, BlueTalon, Dependabot, and more. The benefits of these acquisitions ultimately trickle down into its solutions.
More recently, though, it evolved its portfolio to help organisations adopt the zero-trust security concept. Its zero-trust deployment centre is a tool to aid migration, provide education, and assess what stage of the process an enterprise is currently at. Its Azure Defender solution, meanwhile, implemented new protections for Resource Manager and DNS.
These constant developments ensure organisations who utilise the company’s products properly remain protected despite ever-evolving threats. Microsoft’s dedication to constantly developing its security strategy, as well as staying up to date with industry standards and best practices, make it the ideal cybersecurity ally for your business. A Cloud Solution Provider can support you in getting the most out of your Microsoft solutions and tap into features that until now, could be untouched.