DEV Community: Robert Allardice

How to Secure Office 365 Account: 10 Best Practices

Robert Allardice — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 10:51:03 +0000

Microsoft Office 365 is safe to work, they have invested millions of dollars to upgrade their security. Developers are continuously enhancing their protection to keep your organizational data safe.

However, there could be numerous other threats that could harm your organization: malware, hackers, data leakages, losses, etc. So, to increase the security of your Office 365 account, you must implement some security practices.

This article will take a deep dive into some of the best practices to secure Office 365 accounts and their data. It's quite important for administrators to takes these into account to secure their organization.

Security Pillar of Office 365

There are 4 fundamental pillars of Office 365 security that you can use to increased the security of your organizational data.

Threat Protection: The most important responsibility of an administrator is to ensure that the organizational data is protected against malware, ransomware, phishing, and brute-force attacks.

Security Management: Implement security management for setting up anomaly detection policies to ensure that organizational data is safe. In case of any potential breach on your network, you will get an instant alert.

Secured Access: You must ensure that only authorized users can read specific information about your organization.

Data Protection: Along with threat protection, it's also quite important to protect company information from leaks, losses and ensures that data won’t be deleted, modified or revealed.

10 Best Practices to Secure Office 365 Account in 2021

Your Office 365 administrator needs to implement these 10 practices to increase the security of your Office 365 account. This will assist you in customizing your security & compliance and boost it 10 times.

Use Multi-Factor Authentication
Control Security Score
Backup Your Data
Educate Your Employees
Protection Against Ransomware
Encrypt Office Emails
Detect Suspicious Activity
Set up Strong Password Policy
Manage Corporate Devices & Data
Setup Active Directory

1. Setup Multi-Factor Authentication

The most effective way of increasing Office 365 security is by protecting Office 365 account from hackers attack. Upon enabling multi-factor authentication in your Office 365 security, your employees required to provide a unique, steadily changing code along with their user name and password for logging into their Office 365 account. Moreover, Office 365 has a superb feature that won’t ask you to prompt for unique code to connect your account to a trusted computer or device.

So, if in case somebody attempts to hack into one of your employee's accounts, they require to provide that unique code and password for login. As the unique code is randomly generated and constantly changing, it becomes quite impossible to crack it.

Note: Make sure that your employee doesn’t use a common or weak password for their account.

2. Control Security Score

Microsoft offers a security score navigator to measure whether your organization meets the basic security requirement or not. Using this analytic tool called “Microsoft Secure Score” you can analyze the protection status of your data, applications, devices, infrastructure, and also provides suggestions to improve these securities.

3. Backup Your Data:

Protecting the organizational data from leaks and loss is your own responsibility, Microsoft will only protect from hackers and malware. Using Security and Compliance you can extract your data and store them on a local computer or server as a backup. The best scenario is to export Office 365 mailbox to PST using eDiscovery mechanism. So that it will be easy to import it back if needed.

4. Educate Your Employees

When a new employee joins the organization, it's quite necessary to provide proper security training, and the use of Office 365 is a must. You need to educate your employee to enlighten them against security threats, and cyberattacks. Therefore mandatory security and awareness training should be conduct during joining and to other employees in certain intervals.

5. Protection Against Ransomware

Ransomware is a program that encrypts your account files and restricts access to data by locking your computer. Once locked, it usually asks for ransom (money or information) to unlock it. The attacker claim to give you back your account and its data once received the payment.

To protect against ransomware attacks you can create mail flow that will block any file extension that a cybercriminal can use for ransomware. You can block all the file extensions that contain malicious code or ransomware, or set a rule to warn your employees that the file they are opening contains macros.

6. Encrypt Office 365 Emails

Almost everyone uses emails for exchanging sensitive information such as invoices, contacts, payment details, and other confidential data. These pieces of information are quite important and can easily attract cybercriminals to gain the information.

However, by encryption feature of Office 365 permits you to set certain conditions. For example, a Message can only be seen by a particular recipient, or you can restrict the copy or printing of certain messages. You can also restrict access to emails from email-client other than Microsoft's.

7. Detect Suspicious Activity

To detect the suspicious activity of your or any employee's account, administrators can use Cloud App Security. It is used for monitoring abnormal behavior, detect sensitive data sharing, and monitor data migration. Once the suspicious activity detected, it will instantly alert you and send the notification by mail.

8. Set up Strong Password Policy

Your account password is the first line of defense. Once the password is cracked all of your account information can be deleted or leaked easily. Many users set a common and simple password for their accounts. The weak password is easy to break using a brute-force attack.

Make sure that every employee account password is of a minimum of 8 lengths, contains small and big alphabets with 2-3 special characters. It's better to take the help of a random password generator to create a strong password for the account login.

9. Manage Corporate Devices & Data

Almost every employee uses their smartphones or tablets for work. Whether they need to check their emails or access any document. It becomes quite vulnerable if the device left unsecured.

It is necessary to keep your device safe and also register them in the ‘Corporate complaint’ of Office 365. It enables you to manage access, preview changes to documents, and remove access if needed.

10. Setup Active Directory

Active directory is used to block the unauthorized access of an account from an unusual place or device. If there is any suspicious login attempt detected, the activity directory restricts the signing attempt.

This security feature can be enabled by administrators for all the employees and alerts users as well as admin for suspicious login attempts.

The A-Z Process For Migrating Your Organization From Outlook to Office 365

Robert Allardice — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 05:23:25 +0000

Technology is advancing, so as the organization using a desktop-based email client. More and more industries are opting for cloud suite due to its flexibility and scalability. If you are reading this guide then probably you may have make-up your mind about switching your business over a cloud platform. However, there is a chance that you are completely new to Microsoft Office 365 and don’t know a thing about its architecture. Therefore, in this guide, we will explain the a-z process for migrating your organization from Outlook to Office 365 in a hassle-free manner.

In this guide, we will be explaining the most commonly used and recommended method by Microsoft MVP’s - Office 365 Import Service. Although there are many blogs and articles on its working, most of them don’t consider the user as a layman for Office 365. And there are many other things they forget to explain and that too without any screenshot. But don’t worry, this guide is a complete package that explains everything you need to know for migrating data to Office 365 user account.

Methods to Migrate Outlook Data to Office 365

The process of migrating organizational data from Outlook to Office 365 can be processed in two steps:

Method 1: Export Outlook Data of Each Employee
Methods 2: Import the Outlook Data Files into Each Office 365 User Account.

Both the above steps are important and need to be done carefully to stay away from errors and improper migration. Step 1 requires MS Outlook account of each employee. You can guide your employees to export their Microsoft Outlook data.

Step 1: Export Emails, Contacts, Calendars from MS Outlook

If you already have the Outlook PST files of each employee then you can skip this method and starts migrating organizational data to Office 365. Else, guide the below steps to your employee to export their Outlook data:

Open MS Outlook Account >> Go to File Tab.
Now, click on the “Open/Export” option in the left-panel
Then, click on the “Import/ Export” option from the window (as shown below).
From the pop-up menu, choose “Export to a file” from the list >> Next.
In the next window, choose the “Outlook data file (.pst)” from the available options >> Next.
Select the Account / Mailbox need to be exported from MS Outlook >> Next.
Browse the location to store the exported data from Outlook account >> Finish.

Step 2: Import Service (Network Upload) – To Migrate Emails into Office 365 Account

The Import Service method require can be done in two ways, you can either upload your Organization PST files on Azure Storage and then use Network Upload or use the Drive Shipping method to do the job.

The network Upload method is complex but free. You just need to execute some steps to complete the job. Whereas Drive Shipping method is executed by the Microsoft Team itself, you just need to pay 2$ per GB of PST file.

For the simplicity and execution of tasks for free, we recommend using Network Upload, and below we are going to explain the steps of it.

1: Export Role For Global Admin

Before starting with the Import service, first, you need to assign Global Admin with Mailbox Import/Export role in Exchange Online. Unfortunately, it takes 24 hrs to process the changes.

Go to https://admin.portal.com and open the Exchange Admin Center in it and then click on Permissions options.
Next, click on Admin Role list, select the “Organisation Management” option.
Now, click on “+” button to add a role.
Click on the plus to add a role
Choose “Mailbox Import Export” as a role and click on the OK button.

Now, the role has been set, wait for 24hr for changes to reflect. However, you can create an import job in the next 5 minutes.

2: Create Import Job in Admin Center

Follow the below steps to create the new Import Job after setting permissions in Exchange Admin Center.

Visit https://protection.office.com & go to Information Governance and then click on Import.
Click on the “New Import Job” button, provide the name to the job and then click on Next button.
Choose the option for “Upload Your Data” or “Ship Hard drive” >> Next.
From the import data window, click on the “Show network upload SAS URL” link and copy it to the clipboard.
From same window, click on Download Azure AzCopy to get the tool. Then install the tool on your machine and save the SAS URL at save location.

3: Upload Files Using AzCopy Tool

The Azure Azcopy tool is a command-line utility to upload the files in the temporary Azure storage. This tool will upload all the PST files located in the select folder to Azure Storage.

Search for Microsoft Azure Storage AzCopy in the search bar of your computer.
Copy the below code and Paste (by providing necessary details) it in the Azure tool command-line interface.

AzCopy.exe /Source:"" /Dest:"" /V:"" /Y

Now the command-line will check for the PST Files and will show the details.
Go to the Search bar and search for Microsoft Azure Storage Explorer and then click on the plugin icon as shown below. Click on the Local & Attached option.
For Connect to Azure Storage, select “Use a Shared access signature (SAS) URL option >> Next.
Paste the SAS URL saved in the previous section and then click on Next button.
Click on the “Connect” button on the Connection Summary window.
Now, you can view the uploaded PST files in the Azure Storage Explorer.

4: Mapping PST Files with Office 365 User Accounts

After the PST file has been successfully uploaded in Azure Storage, the next thing to do is map PST file with Office 365 user accounts. For that you can create a CSV file with the following details:

• Workload 

• FilePath 

• Name

• Mailbox

• IsArchive

• TargetRootFolder

5: Finish Import Job

After finishing the mapping the PST files with the Office 365 user accounts you can proceed with import job.

Now, visit protection.office.com again & open the Import Job.
Click on both the checkbox option and click on Next.
Next, click on “Select Mapping Files” browse the mapping CSV and then click on “Save”.
Finally, click on “Upload to the Cloud” and then click on Close.
Finally, click on the “Ready to Import to Office 365” >> Import to Office 365.
In the next tab, click on the filter option (optional) >> Next.
From next menu, click on the “import data”.
Now the progress will begin and starting migrating your organization from Outlook to Office 365

That’s it! The above steps will let you migrate complete Outlook data into Office 365 user account. You can simply close the window, the progress will be complete automatically.

Is it too difficult for your to execute Import Service (Network Upload)

If you are having issues with the process or stuck due to some error, then you can use the Drive Shipping method to do the job.

Although Drive Shipping is an alternative solution for Network Upload but it's quite costly. There are other workarounds that are ways cheaper and simpler than Drive Shipping and Network upload. Take the help of an automated Office 365 Import tool available in the market. You can click on the guide - import PST to Office 365, it will provide a demonstration of the best utility we that will help you to easily migrate your organization Outlook (PST) to Office 365.

We recommend using an automated tool because:

You don’t have to go through the hassle of all the workload of manual solution. The task can be done in 5 steps which will take less than a minute to execute.
Automated tool can be used again for the same user if need to migrate Outlook data to Office 365 user account. Whereas, drive shipping will cost you every time you need to execute the task.

G Suite Vs Office 365 Comparison | See Comparison Between Both Suites

Robert Allardice — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 04:35:30 +0000

G Suite vs Office 365 comparison is a never-ending debate. No doubt, there are the two leading cloud-based email services that are fighting to be at the top. However, in 2020 this debate has taken a new path when both the companies announced the 3 months free trial of their complete service. And, currently, there is huge demand from organizations looking for a comparison between G Suite and Office 365 Suite.

In this blog, we will be providing lime-light on this never-ending debate by delivering our side of knowledge. You will get a complete overview of both cloud suite and a solution, in case if you want to switch to different cloud services.

G Suite Vs Office 365 Which is Better?

Below we will be providing analysis for both Suites by comparing G Suite and Office 365 to find out which is best suited for your business. The following are the factor for comparing both suites:

Pricing
Features
- Email Service
- Storage
Security
Conclusion of Comparison

Comparison Between G Suite and Office 365 Pricing

The initial and most crucial factor when starting out with a comparison between cloud suite is their pricing and plan. Everybody wants to choose the right suit that fits their organization budget. Below we will be providing the G Suite vs Office 365 comparison chart.

When you’re first starting out, pricing is an important factor when making a decision. You want to choose a solution that fits your budget.

Let’s compare the pricing of G Suite and Office 365 to find out which one offers the most value for your money.

Both suite have competitive pricing that makes it harder to decide while choosing the right one for your business organization. Thankfully, there are other deciding factors to compare both.

Comparison Between G Suite vs Office 365 Suite Features

Office 365 and G Suite both are webmail email client with tons of features the help organization to easily run businesses. Let’s look are some of the top features and compare both suites.

Business Email Client

Gmail for Business – G Suite allows admin to register a domain name or use their existing domain name for creating email account.
- The domain name is in the format: userName@domainName.com.
- It also allows creating 30 email aliases for each user.
- The email service will work the same as @gmail.com accounts with a similar interface.
- Easily access your emails from Gmail mobile apps.
Outlook Online – It also allows to create a professional email id with same name as domain name.
- The domain name will be in the format: usernName@domainName.onmicrosoft.com.
- It allows creating 400 email aliases of each user.
- It use Outlook as a mailing app that has web version, a mobile app and MS Outlook as desktop application.

File Storage & Sharing

File storage is one of the main reasons to opting for a Cloud-based email client. Apart from just the availability of email service all the time, you will get unlimited storage space to save organizational data. You can access the data from anywhere and anytime either via web service, desktop app or mobile app.

G Suite Storage – G Suite provides Google Drive as a storage platform.

The basic plan of G Suite come up with 30 GB for storage space for each user. For further plans, the storage space is Unlimited.
Using Google Drive one can easily share files with their colleagues or someone else. You can share it with emails or directly and allow then to just view or edit and download them.
Additionally, Wordpress websites allow you to store your website data in your Google drive account directly without any hassle.

Office 365 Storage – Office 365 provides OneDrive for store data in it.

Office 365 provides 1 TB of storage space with all their Office 365 plans. Although this is the sufficient amount of storage space, still it isn’t unlimited. This 1 TB of OneDrive storage space doesn’t cover the 50 GB of email storage space which is provided separately.
OneDrive storage allow comes up with the web, mobile, and desktop application. If you are using Windows 10 & 8 then, OneDrive comes as the default application. You can use it to synchronize your drive data with your computer.

Other Business Applications

G Suite Vs Office 365 Security Comparison

The security of organizational data is the biggest concern of an organization when using cloud applications. Let’s the comparison between the security features of both the suite:

G Suite Security Features -

G Suite security is same as the security used by Google itself which includes automatic detection of suspicious activity, sign-in attempts, hacking attempts, phishing, etc.
Provide Two-Factor Authentication for all user accounts.
Feature to protect from data leak, by providing keyword to block any outgoing communication.
Provides build-in spam, malware, virus detection for emails, documents & attachments.

Office 365 Security Features -

The security isn’t as tough as of Google’s but it still hard to break
Also provides Two-factor Authentication for all user accounts.
AI tool to learn user habits for detecting suspicious activities.
Also provide spam, virus, and malware detector for emails, documents & attachments.

Conclusion – G Suite Vs Office 365 Comparison

Office 365 and G Suite both are currently the best cloud-based email client available for a business organization. Both suites are easy to use and provide multiple user-friendly applications.

However, if we compare according to price and storage space, then G Suite is the one who is leading. Otherwise, both are the same as well as different in their own means. You can choose the right platform for your organization and test it for free.

Planning to switch from your current suite to a better one?

Then take help of professional software and try to perform the migration yourself. The best software available for free is the SysTools Cloud Migration tool. This automated tool provides 2 complete user account migration for testing out the tool.

It’s the right time to make a switch. You have both G Suite and Office 365 for 3 months free trial version and an automated tool for easy migration testing. So don’t wait up! Carefully read the above G Suite vs Office 365 comparison guide and choose the best suit for your organization.