This blog was originally published by Sereno IT Support here

10 Microsoft 365 Security Features Businesses Should Be Using

As cyber threats become more sophisticated and more frequent, protecting your users, business data and IT infrastructure is no longer optional. Every organisation needs security controls that are capable of keeping pace with the risks it faces.

If your business already depends on Microsoft 365 for day-to-day work, you may already have access to security capabilities that are not being fully used.

Microsoft 365 includes a broad set of security tools designed to protect organisations operating in an increasingly connected environment. These capabilities help defend your people, information and technology against a wide range of digital threats.

In this guide, we’ll look at the top Microsoft 365 security features and explain how each one contributes to a stronger security posture, whatever the size or sector of your business.

At a glance: the 10 features

1. Defender for Office 365: Real-time email + collaboration protection against phishing, malware and ransomware.
2. Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Scans, classifies and blocks sensitive data from leaving the organisation.
3. Microsoft Entra ID: Identity-as-a-service with MFA, SSO and conditional access at the core.
4. Defender for Endpoint: Behavioural threat detection across laptops, desktops and mobile devices.
5. Purview Compliance Portal: Central hub for security policies, audit logs and compliance reporting.
6. Microsoft Secure Score: A measurable benchmark of your security posture, with prioritised recommendations.
7. Teams Security Controls: Safe Links, Safe Attachments and audit-trail visibility on collaboration.
8. Insider Risk Management: Surfaces risky internal behaviour, data leakage, IP theft, policy violations.
9. Defender for Cloud Apps: Visibility and policy enforcement across cloud-app usage outside Microsoft 365.
10. Identity Protection + Conditional Access: Adaptive policies that respond to user, device and location signals in real time.

Diving deeper into each feature

Defender for Office 365 (formerly Advanced Threat Protection)

Defender for Office 365, previously called Advanced Threat Protection (ATP), forms an important part of Microsoft 365’s security capabilities. It provides real-time protection against threats including malware, infections, phishing and ransomware.

The service operates across Microsoft 365 by examining emails, files and links as they move through the environment. It uses sophisticated algorithms and machine learning to identify and neutralise potential threats before those threats have an opportunity to compromise your network.

Take an employee who unknowingly follows a phishing link in an email. Safe Links and Microsoft 365 Defender’s automated investigation capabilities can identify the malicious destination and stop an attacker from using it to gain access to the business.

Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is a core capability within the Microsoft Purview Compliance Portal. Its role is to stop sensitive business information from being shared outside your organisation, whether that happens accidentally or deliberately.

DLP operates by scanning and identifying sensitive information against predefined policies, helping you protect that information both while it is being transferred and while it is stored.

Microsoft 365 Data Loss Prevention also supports encryption access controls, information protection rules and detailed restrictions around how sensitive files are handled. Those controls reduce the risk of leaks and breaches while helping you meet data protection requirements and protect the reputation of the business.

Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory)

Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), now called Microsoft Entra ID, gives businesses a central platform for identity and access management. It allows you to manage user identities and access privileges securely across Microsoft 365.

Capabilities including Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and Single Sign-On (SSO) help protect digital assets by making sure access to important resources is limited to authorised users.

Entra ID also works with conditional access policies, giving you tighter control over when additional authentication is required and under what circumstances access is permitted. The same identity controls shape how Microsoft Copilot interacts with workplace information, so users only see data they already have permission to access.

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint provides advanced threat intelligence and endpoint protection across your devices. It uses technologies including machine learning and behavioural analytics to identify suspicious activity and address security risks on desktops and mobile devices.

You can connect Microsoft Defender for Endpoint with Microsoft Intune as a Mobile Threat Defence solution. This allows you to reduce the likelihood of a breach by setting up device compliance and conditional access policy, preventing high-risk devices from being used to access corporate resources.

Microsoft Purview Compliance Portal (formerly Security and Compliance Centre)

The Microsoft Purview Compliance Portal gives you one central location for overseeing and managing your organisation’s security posture. From the same interface, you can configure policies, monitor potential threats and review information that helps you decide what action to take.

Using Microsoft Purview and its built-in compliance features also helps businesses simplify security management while maintaining alignment with compliance requirements specific to their industry.

Secure Score

Microsoft Secure Score gives organisations a practical way to benchmark their current security posture. Microsoft calculates the score using factors such as system configuration, user behaviour and how closely your environment follows recognised Microsoft security best practices.

The value is not simply the score itself. Secure Score also highlights actions you can take to strengthen security.

Acting on those recommendations helps you improve threat detection, protect business communications and lower the risk of incidents such as business email compromise.

Microsoft Teams Security Controls

For many organisations, Microsoft Teams is now one of the main places where employees communicate, collaborate and exchange information. That makes the security configuration around Teams directly relevant to how safely your people work.

Microsoft 365 Teams depends on properly managed identities and access policies, giving administrators control over who can access information and who is allowed to share it. Safe Links and Safe Attachments add another layer of protection by checking URLs, Office documents and other attachments for malicious destinations or harmful content.

Administrators can also inspect audit logs for activity that does not look normal. Unexpected patterns of file sharing or attempts to sign in from unfamiliar locations, for example, can be identified and investigated.

Insider Risk Management

Security threats do not always originate outside your organisation. Insider Risk Management, which sits within Microsoft Purview, helps you identify risks associated with internal users, including data leakage, intellectual property theft and breaches of security policy.

It examines activity across multiple services and generates alerts when behaviour deserves further investigation. When user activity moves outside expected patterns, Insider Risk Management can initiate automated investigation and use audit logs to review recent events and establish what took place.

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps (formerly Microsoft Cloud App Security)

Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps helps you protect cloud applications by giving you visibility into user activities, exposure of business data and compliance-related risks.

It monitors the way cloud applications are being used and flags suspicious activity or breaches of your security policy. That visibility allows you to enforce stronger controls and preserve the integrity of data across your cloud environment.

Microsoft Entra ID Protection & Conditional Access Policies

Identity protection and conditional access are fundamental parts of the Microsoft 365 security framework. Together, they strengthen identity security and give you greater control over who can access important business resources.

Identity Protection monitors user accounts and applies adaptive security policies designed to prevent unauthorised access. Conditional access then allows you to set access requirements according to defined user and device conditions.

For example, if an employee’s email is hacked or their login credentials are compromised, Identity Protection can recognise the suspicious activity and require multi-factor authentication to confirm that the person attempting to sign in is the legitimate user.

How Sereno Can Help

The tools are already there. The question is whether your Microsoft 365 environment is actually making full use of them.

If you are not using the security capabilities available within Microsoft 365, you are leaving controls on the table that can help protect your users, data and systems from cyber threats.

And if you are unsure which settings matter or how they should be configured, you do not have to work it out alone. Our Microsoft 365 support services include cybersecurity solutions that help businesses understand, configure and manage Microsoft 365 security features.

From multi-factor authentication through to access controls, we can guide you through the setup and make sure those protections are working as intended.

Get in touch for a free consultation and we’ll explain the Microsoft 365 security capabilities available to you, then help you put together an approach that fits the specific needs of your business.