508-909-5961 [email protected]

Office 365 gets new security tools

Security is, by far, the biggest issue concerning most businesses today. Although safeguards like firewalls and antivirus software are necessary, they’re no longer sufficient in dealing with increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. Today, companies require multiple layers of security to steer clear of cyberattacks and compliance woes.

The post Office 365 gets new security tools appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

12 May, 2017 / by Complete Technology Resources / in Office, Office 365, Security category
Office 365 gets new security tools

Security is, by far, the biggest issue concerning most businesses today. Although safeguards like firewalls and antivirus software are necessary, they’re no longer sufficient in dealing with increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. Today, companies require multiple layers of security to steer clear of cyberattacks and compliance woes. To help companies with this process, Microsoft has released threat intelligence, advanced threat protection, and data governance features.

Threat Intelligence
Threat Intelligence for Office 365 gathers data from Microsoft security databases, Office clients, email, and other recorded security incidents to detect various cyberattacks. This feature gives users in-depth knowledge about prevalent malware strains and real-time breach information to analyze the severity of certain attacks.

What’s more, Threat Intelligence comes with customizable threat alert notifications and easy-to-use remediation options for dealing with suspicious content.

Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) upgrades
In addition to Threat Intelligence, Office 365’s ATP service now has a revamped reporting dashboard that displays security insights across a company. This includes a security summary of what types of malware and spam were sent to your organization, and which ones were blocked. According to Microsoft, these reports will help you assess the effectiveness of your current security infrastructure.

ATP also has a new capability called “Safe Links” which defends against potentially malicious links in emails and embedded in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint files. If suspicious links are discovered, the user will be redirected to a warning page to avoid an infection.

Advanced Data Governance
The newly released Advanced Data Governance feature is also a much needed enhancement for highly-regulated companies. It classifies files based on user interaction, age, and type, and recommends general data retention and deletion policy recommendations. If, for example, your business has retained credit card data for longer than necessary, Advanced Data Governance will alert you of the possible data governance risks.

Data loss prevention enhancements
Last but not least, the Office 365 Security & Compliance Center is also receiving data loss prevention upgrades. With it, you can easily access and customize app permissions and control device and content security policies. So if someone in your company attempts to leak sensitive customer information, Office 365 will notify your administrators immediately.

Although all these features are available only for Office 365 Enterprise E5 subscribers, security- and compliance-conscious companies definitely need these upgrades. Get the right Office 365 subscription by contacting us today.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

The post Office 365 gets new security tools appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Read More

Watch out for this Microsoft Word bug

Feature updates can come and go, but when Microsoft releases a security update, you need to install it as soon as possible. This is because hackers are constantly looking for software bugs to exploit, and in Microsoft’s case, cybercriminals have found a serious vulnerability in Word.

The post Watch out for this Microsoft Word bug appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

26 Apr, 2017 / by Complete Technology Resources / in Office, Security category
Watch out for this Microsoft Word bug

Feature updates can come and go, but when Microsoft releases a security update, you need to install it as soon as possible. This is because hackers are constantly looking for software bugs to exploit, and in Microsoft’s case, cybercriminals have found a serious vulnerability in Word.

The attack
On April 10, cybersecurity firm Proofpoint discovered scammers running email campaigns to trick people into clicking malware-ridden Word attachments. The fraudulent emails, simply titled “Scan Data,” included attached documents that were named “Scan,” followed by randomized digits.

Although the emails seem harmless, clicking on the documents triggers a download for Dridex malware, a Trojan virus designed to give hackers direct access to your banking information. From there, they can simply log in to your online account and make unauthorized transactions under your name.

In 2015, the distribution of Dridex allowed cybercriminals to steal approximately $25 million from European accounts. And if your business fell victim to this malware, there’s a possibility your company might not be able to recover from the loss.

The solution
Fortunately, two days after the discovery of the bug, Microsoft released a security update to disable the dangerous documents, urging users to install the patch as soon as possible. But even though Dridex was inoculated relatively quickly, employees continue to be the biggest problem.

Like most malware attacks, Dridex was distributed via phishing campaigns that preyed on a victim’s trust and curiosity. Hackers added barely any text to the email, yet people were still fooled into clicking on dangerous links.

To make sure Dridex never reaches your company, you must provide comprehensive security awareness training. In your sessions, encourage employees to practice safe computing habits, which include being cautious of online links, setting strong passwords, and avoiding downloads from untrusted and unknown sources.

Much like updating your software, keeping your staff’s security knowledge up to date on the latest threats is also imperative. Ultimately, your goal is to have employees with a security-focused mindset when browsing the web.

Of course, if security training and cybersecurity solutions are not your company’s specialties, you can always rely on a trusted managed services provider like us to protect your business. We can update and secure your systems regularly, and make sure your staff are actively doing their part to reduce security risks. Contact us today!

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

The post Watch out for this Microsoft Word bug appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Read More

Microsoft’s docs.com: possible data breach

It was recently revealed that docs.com, Microsoft’s free document-sharing platform, was posting private documents to the public. Although there are Office 365 users who are perfectly aware of how the program works and have no qualms about publicly sharing their documents, hundreds of other users are not.

The post Microsoft’s docs.com: possible data breach appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

11 Apr, 2017 / by Complete Technology Resources / in Office, Office 365 category
Microsoft’s docs.com: possible data breach

It was recently revealed that docs.com, Microsoft’s free document-sharing platform, was posting private documents to the public. Although there are Office 365 users who are perfectly aware of how the program works and have no qualms about publicly sharing their documents, hundreds of other users are not. Since docs.com is essentially a document-sharing website, can Microsoft be held liable?

What’s the damage?

Usernames and passwords for various devices and applications; personal information such as home and email addresses, bank account details, social security numbers, and phone numbers; and medical info comprising patient treatment data and health insurance numbers -- all these were some of the supposedly leaked documents, which were clearly meant to be private. But, a security researcher discovered that these sensitive files were accessible using docs.com’s search function.

After being alerted to the ‘leak,’ Microsoft responded by removing the search bar. However, most of the documents were already indexed by search engines, Google and Bing, which is how these docs remained available to the public despite disabling the search function.

Recent updates

To alleviate the damage, Microsoft launched an update that limited what users can do to uploaded files, such as restricting files to a read-only status. Although buttons to ‘like,’ download, add to collections, and share in social media are enabled, only users who enter an email address, phone number, or sign in using their Office or Microsoft account can perform any of these functions. Since anyone can easily create a Microsoft account, docs.com users may not feel at ease.

Microsoft’s final word

Docs.com is easy-to-use and is valuable to those eager to publish their documents. The site’s user-friendliness also makes it a popular choice for Office 365 users who wish to ‘spread their work to the world.’ Office 365 users can easily upload from their own computer, OneDrive, or Sway account, and share away. Being a free service also adds a lot of incentive for users to upload their Word, Excel, or any other file onto the site.

In an effort to solve glaring privacy issues, Microsoft has issued some key updates, such as a warning message reminding users that the document to be uploaded will be publicly available on the web. While it may seem like Microsoft committed a blunder, a stricter privacy setting and a few stronger, more visible warnings to users can help make docs.com a useful productivity tool rather than a hacker’s hunting ground.

Discerning Office 365 users can make the most out of docs.com, but they should use the service with caution. If you’ve uploaded documents with sensitive information on docs.com, now is the best time to remove them from the site, or review your privacy settings here and in other document-sharing services.

If you’re not sure how to proceed, or want to learn more about this and other Microsoft products and services, call us now for advice.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

The post Microsoft’s docs.com: possible data breach appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Read More

AI-based productivity coaching from O365

It seems like every quarter Office 365 is adding a new service that totally changes the way we do business. As we settle into 2017, Microsoft is granting businesses a machine learning-based tool for getting more out of your employee’s work day.

What is MyAnalytics?

Microsoft’s newest productivity offering is all about applying machine learning technology to your employees’ Office 365 data.

The post AI-based productivity coaching from O365 appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

04 Apr, 2017 / by Complete Technology Resources / in Office, Office 365 category
AI-based productivity coaching from O365

It seems like every quarter Office 365 is adding a new service that totally changes the way we do business. As we settle into 2017, Microsoft is granting businesses a machine learning-based tool for getting more out of your employee’s work day.

What is MyAnalytics?

Microsoft’s newest productivity offering is all about applying machine learning technology to your employees’ Office 365 data. By utilizing extremely powerful computing processes to analyze huge blocks of information, MyAnalytics can uncover trends and correlations that may be too complex for human discovery.

Every day, Office 365 users create several thousand new data points across Microsoft’s productivity suite, and there’s a lot of potential to rearrange meetings, project goals, and employee tasks to increase efficiency.

The most obvious improvement is with Outlook calendar. MyAnalytics tracks how long you’re spending with each person in your office as well as the time you’re investing in specific projects. After sufficient information has been gathered, your Office 365 dashboard will begin coaching you on how to organize meetings and project goals based on your habits and past successes.

How can it improve your office?

Have you ever worked on a huge project that required multiple contributors? Did you all meet regularly to update each other on progress? Users who add contacts -- from both inside the company and out -- and projects to MyAnalytics get reminders to stay in touch with co-workers most vital to project completion.

Every metric tracked by MyAnalytics can be shared with your team to make sure everyone is on the same page. So MyAnalytics is more than just a motivational tool, because sharing these metrics allows your team to identify bottlenecks and trends to smooth the workflow process.

Response time is another key metric your employees are probably only vaguely aware of. MyAnalytics calculates average email response times -- both from you and from contacts -- to identify what time of day you’re best at communicating, and how you can adapt your schedule to get more work done in the same amount of time.

Privacy concerns

One of the greatest things about MyAnalytics is that it doesn’t introduce any new privacy concerns for business owners. All the data it uses to create customized coaching and advice is publicly available to everyone at your business -- via calendar appointments, email content, and message timestamps. The only difference is that Microsoft is lending you the previously prohibitive computing power to sift through all of it.

Availability

This wonderful new tool comes free with any Enterprise E5 plan, but can also be added on to E1 and E3 Enterprise plans for just a few dollars per month.

Increasing employee productivity is never as clear cut as it is with MyAnalytics. Install a solution, follow its advice, and start brainstorming about what to do with all your extra time. We’ve got plenty of other great solutions for streamlining your business processes -- call us today to find out!

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

The post AI-based productivity coaching from O365 appeared first on Complete Technology Resources, Inc..

Read More