Microsoft Secure Score: Speak the language of data with Scored Security

Insights • December 21, 2023 • 5 minutes read

Principal Consultant – Microsoft Cloud

Key Takeaways

The surge in Australian data breaches highlights the urgent need for stronger security controls.
Microsoft Secure Score gives you a measurable view of your organisation’s security posture and clear data-driven recommendations for improvement.
Continuous monitoring of Secure Score and its recommendations enables proactive risk reduction and stronger protection of identities, apps and devices.

The increasing number of data breaches impacting Australian organisations has put the spotlight on security postures like never before. There were approximately 1300 notifiable data breaches reported to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner from January 2022 to June 2023. In addition, Australia’s corporate leaders say a cyber attack represents the single largest threat to their business and is the top issue that keeps them awake at night, according to The Australian’s 2024 CEO Survey.

As organisations continue to face security threats, how can they properly protect their data?

In many industries, regulatory measures are in place to help protect sensitive information and prevent a breach of privacy. For IT managers and directors, however, communicating the importance of investing in a more secure IT infrastructure can get lost in translation when presenting the solution to stakeholders, if not backed with tangible evidence showing the impact at an organisational level.

What is Microsoft Secure Score? – Showing, not telling

Microsoft Secure Score is a measurable, tangible, and reliable tool overarching all Microsoft Azure Services, providing a third eye on the organisation’s security stance.

With clear and easy to understand data benchmarks, Microsoft Secure Score measures your organisation’s security posture, with higher numbers indicating more recommended actions.

With access to a centralised dashboard in the Microsoft Defender Portal, organisations have easy access to data, enhancing the IT manager’s ability to monitor and progress work on the security of their Microsoft 365 identities, apps, and devices. Following the score recommendations based on the data provided by Microsoft Secure Score allows organisations to safeguard their data from potential future cyber threats.

What does Microsoft Secure Score Do? At your fingertips

With cyber security becoming increasingly complex, clarity and simplicity are at a premium.

Being able to readily access a report on your security posture without needing to spend hours deciphering it is a significant advantage for IT managers and the board of directors, as these security controls will provide key information on how to best protect their most vulnerable assets – their employee and customer data.

Microsoft Secure Score provides organisations with reports on the current state of the organisation’s security posture, recommendations on the discoverability, visibility, guidance, and control and establish key performance indicators with a comparison to benchmarked data. These offerings are tangible measures of security that can be presented to stakeholders as informative data on the company’s IT infrastructure reducing the chances of miscommunication with non-technical stakeholders and managers.

Once the organisation holds a license for a supported Microsoft product, you will gain access to comprehensive visibility across your Microsoft ecosystem, with security recommendations based on its Microsoft Secure Score provided. This is regardless of the license edition, subscription, or plans, with the score updated in real-time to reflect the information presented in the visualisations and recommended action pages. It also syncs daily to receive system data about the achieved points for each action.

What is a good Microsoft 365 Secure Score?

Microsoft 365 Secure Score is a measurement of an organization’s security posture, with a higher number indicating more improvements. It’s important to understand that there is no definitive “good” score, as it depends on the individual needs and context of each organization. Here are some other general guidelines can be offered:

Baseline Score: Initially, organizations should aim to understand their current Secure Score and identify the recommended actions to improve it.
Industry Comparison: Comparing your score with similar organizations in your industry can provide a benchmark.
Continuous Improvement: The goal should be continuous improvement. As Microsoft adds new recommendations (or improvement actions) and as your organization’s environment changes, your Secure Score will fluctuate.
Risk Management: Focus on the actions that reduce the most risk first, rather than just trying to increase the score.
Realistic Goals: Set realistic goals for improvement based on your organization’s resources and risk profile.

What is an acceptable Secure Score?

As mentioned above, there is no definitive good score, however as per Microsoft’s recommendations:

60% or lower: If an organisations Microsoft 365 Security Score is 60% or lower, it implies a heightened risk of security threats. To protect your data from potential cyberattacks, it’s crucial to adopt industry-standard security measures.
80% of higher: If an organisations Security Score is 80% or higher is generally deemed as sufficiently secure according to Microsoft’s standards.

How to improve an organisation’s Secure Score?

To improve your organization’s Microsoft 365 Secure Score, consider these basic steps:

Review Recommendations: Regularly check the Secure Score dashboard for Microsoft’s security recommendations.
Implement Security Best Practices: Follow Microsoft’s guidelines to implement security best practices.
User Training and Awareness: Educate your users about security threats and safe practices.
Update and Patch Regularly: Keep all software and systems up to date with the latest security patches.
Enable Multifactor Authentication (MFA): This adds an extra layer of security for user accounts.
Regularly Review and Adjust Permissions: Ensure that users have only the permissions they need for their role.
Monitor and Respond to Alerts: Keep an eye on security alerts and respond promptly.
Secure Devices: Apply security measures to all devices accessing your organization’s resources.

How we can help

As a proud Microsoft Solutions Partner Specialist, the team at Interactive can support your organisation’s IT infrastructural changes and provide a secure out-of-the-box solution. Our on-demand team of cloud experts are here to help you secure your business.

We will ensure Microsoft Secure Score is in place when transitioning to Microsoft Azure so IT managers have access to the best recommendations and data, empowering them to continuously improve their security controls.

As a trusted advisor always by your side, our team can support your organisation by reviewing the secure score recommended practices suggested by Microsoft Secure Score and help implement the changes to strengthen your company’s security posture.