Why choose Microsoft to secure your organisation?

With the average cost of a data breach now nearing the £3.5 million mark and the threat landscape continuing to grow, having a comprehensive security solution is critical for any organisation. But despite this, many organisations are seeing a worrying dip in security posture.

A lack of resources is a common theme in this year’s annual Information Security Maturity report published by ClubCISO and Telstra Purple. Although data suggests that security budgets have increased, this may be slowing down. Every organisation is different, so having the right cybersecurity strategy and tools to suit defence needs has never been more critical.

There are, however, issues impacting a strong security culture. According to the ClubCISO report, the top three factors negatively impacting security culture are competing priorities, overstretched security teams, and a lack of resources to promote a security-aware organisation.

Telstra Purple’s security heritage and Microsoft’s comprehensive cybersecurity portfolio can help you meet these challenges head-on.

Commitment to Security

Microsoft may not immediately jump to mind when it comes to security. But, with plans to invest over $1 billion annually in cybersecurity research and development for the coming years, the software giant is committed to an end-to-end approach to protect customers.

Microsoft continues to make substantial investments in building security into its core technologies, including Windows, Office, 365 and its cloud computing platform Azure. In addition, it operates its own Cyber Defence Operations Centre (CDOC), a 24/7 cybersecurity and defence unit. Over 8,500 security experts and data scientists protect with front-line responders across 77 countries, detect, and respond to threats. Its sophisticated data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms look at 43 trillion signals daily. To date, Microsoft has removed over 10,000 domains used by cybercriminals and 600 used by nation-state actors.

Microsoft is acutely aware of the scope and scale of the threat vector. Password attacks have rocketed to an estimated 951 attacks every second, a 75% increase in just twelve months, according to its Digital Defense report.

Microsoft powers Microsoft.

It is important to note that Microsoft powers its business on the same multi-tenant cloud services as its customers, including those represented by governments and highly regulated industries such as pharmaceuticals.

Like ourselves, Microsoft knows that security is not an issue it can address alone. Over 15,000 partners in Microsoft’s security ecosystem are thus helping to raise the bar for security resilience for itself and its customers.

Effective cyber resiliency demands a holistic, adaptive approach to deal with evolving threats head-on. As well as fostering a strong partnership base, Microsoft’s security offering looks holistically across all critical endpoints, including mobile and the cloud.

As a Microsoft Solutions Partner, we have the technical capabilities to deliver successful security outcomes. Utilising our security expertise and Microsoft’s extensive product portfolio, we can provide a robust, agile platform that detects threats and responds rapidly to security breaches. We are ISO 27001 certified, and our customers can access 240 plus independent security specialists.

A four-pronged approach to security

Changing a security stack can be a daunting challenge. But it can also reduce complexity and provide cost savings.

The average enterprise is estimated to use more than 30 different security tools, often disjointed and ‘bolted-on.’  Security does not have to be this difficult to manage. Microsoft 365, with extended detection and response (XDR) portal, unifies best-of-breed security for endpoints, email, identities, and SaaS applications. It provides incident-level visibility across the entire kill chain, automatically disrupting advanced threats and speeding up response times across endpoints, applications, and data.

Microsoft 365 Defender isn’t just designed to help security teams detect attacks. It also halts the progression of attacks using automatic attack disruption, isolating, and disabling compromised accounts.

Do more with less.

The expanding threat landscape can be overwhelming for organisations looking to continuously improve their security posture. It is almost impossible for them to keep up trying to analyse data from multiple points.

This is where Telstra Purple and Microsoft come in—providing an integrated end-to-end approach to threat protection that consolidates point solutions while at the same time reducing overheads needed to manage solutions by increasing automation and integration.

Security is now an essential part of achieving business outcomes. It is paramount that organisations build up as much resilience as possible. But it doesn’t have to be complex. There has never been a better time to modernise your security strategy and build security conveniently and easily into your organisation.