Why now’s the time to secure your organisation’s future with Microsoft Security

Digital transformation is driving cyber transformation, which is essentially changing the way organisations leverage technology to empower their employees, drive productivity, optimise their operations through economies of scale, transform their products, expand their businesses and engage their customers.

These organisations are strategic in their approach and are reformulating their priorities as coordinated, multi-year journeys to achieve their business objectives. With this transformation, the security perimeter is being redefined, with an increase in hybrid environments, mobile workforces, cloud applications, BYOD and remote work leading to data being accessed outside of corporate networks.

Without a doubt, this shift greatly increases an organisation’s vulnerability to cyberattacks, and these organisations are investing in the implementation of a Security model, complemented by a comprehensive Security solution to protect against the ever-present threat of breaches across this expanded Security perimeter.

In recent months we have seen organisations need to embrace digital and cloud technologies with greater speed and urgency than ever before, necessitating an even greater need to focus on Security.

Security is a top priority for Microsoft and Microsoft is committed to providing a trustworthy platform to its customers.

Put simply, Microsoft implements security solutions which help organisations and partners to Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond and Recover from cyber security threats across the following tenets:

• Identity and Access Management – Empowering customers to better manage their identity and access controls, and prevent breaches;

• Threat Protection – Enabling customers to remain constantly aware of the threats to their digital estate through identification of the attacks before damage is caused;

• Information Protection – Focussing on strengthening customers’ defence by managing and protecting their corporate apps, devices and data; and

• Security Management – Helping customers manage their security landscape.

The comprehensive Security solution from Microsoft protects every facet of an organisation – its users, devices, emails and documents – while also managing Enterprise Security.

As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, UNIFY recognises Security as a critical component in running an enterprise. Over our 15 years of operation, we have worked closely with Microsoft, working in partnership with our customers to take them on the journey of defining and maturing across the cybersecurity lifecycle thus maximising their cloud opportunities while staying protected. UNIFY’s Cybersecurity lifecycle comprises of the following milestones:

• Security Assessment – This exercise helps gain visibility into threats to the customer’s Microsoft 365 cloud environment across email, identity and data in order to better understand, prioritise and mitigate potential vectors of cyberattacks against the organisation. The outcome of this exercise is a Threat Check Analysis Report which accompanies a Secure Score along with recommendations and insights;

• Discovery and Design – To define the Security priorities and roadmap, and translating that to a design which is fit for purpose and aligned to the organisation’s security framework;

• Implementation – Deployment of the solutions based on the approved design and in alignment with the organisation governance, risk and compliance policies; and

• Manage Security Services – Transitioning for managing the security of the organisations enterprise-wide assets by leveraging UNIFY Managed Security Services which is closely aligned with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework to manage cybersecurity-related risks to Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond and Recover from threats.

Some organisations have the need for a dedicated security operations team to manage the security of their endpoints and network, while others may want to have a second set of eyes to review alerts in their network. To address this demand, UNIFY provides a Security Operation Centre as a Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) delivering managed detection and response services to our customers alongside our Identity, Access and Security services.

It’s an exciting time in the Security space, with Microsoft continuing to invest heavily in its Security offerings with an intensity and level of commitment unparalleled by any other technology provider. It’s also a real privilege for the UNIFY team to be able to work closely with Microsoft’s Engineering team and see just how intelligent and intuitive the future of Microsoft Security is (and it’s here today).

You only have to look at the native integration of machine learning within offerings such as Azure Sentinel (providing Security, Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Security Orchestration and Automated Response (SOAR) in the cloud) to see not just how powerful and intelligent the Microsoft Security suite is but also the confidence and assurance it brings to organisations as a result.

As business dynamics change and our organisations continue to expand their digital footprints, extending well beyond the traditional ‘four walls’ of old, this confidence is paramount.

If you’d like to know more about Microsoft Security and how to secure your organisation across every endpoint and network, wherever your users and customers may be, we’d love to talk to you.

Traditional IT boundaries are disappearing, with cloud and mobile computing enabling organisations to open up their digital channels and expand their footprints like never before.

Along with this tremendous opportunity comes increased risk of threat. To maximise these opportunities while staying secure, organisations today need a specialist partner who can ensure their Security, Privacy and Compliance, protecting their digital estates against evolving cybersecurity threats.

Partnering closely with Microsoft, UNIFY’s Security practice delivers Consulting and Managed Security Services to improve and manage our customer’s security landscapes and trust frameworks.

Samrat Choudhury

Chief Operating Officer

UNIFY Solutions

Stay tuned here for more thoughts and insights from our leaders and experts on the future of identity, access and security management.

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