If you use Office 365 in your organization, you have a powerful security and compliance tool at your fingertips called the Office 365 Protection Center accessible at https://protection.office.com. The Protection Center is your one-stop portal for creating reports, locating information and implementing security for your organization. Microsoft takes your organization’s security very seriously and the Protection Center’s goal is to make this as easy and transparent as possible.
The Office 365 Protection Center is broken down into 3 major components.
- Advanced Threat Protection (ATP). Block email hacks and spam using Microsoft’s sophisticated threat filter. You’ll receive protection from malware, viruses, and malicious URLs. Access intelligent reporting and tracing capabilities to identify the threats attacking your organization.
- Data Loss Prevention (DLP). Use Microsoft’s advanced set of tools and processes to ensure sensitive data is not lost, misused, or accessed by unauthorized users. Identify, monitor, and automatically protect your organization’s data across Office 365.
- Mobile Device Management (MDM). Secure and manage phones, tablets, and other mobile devices used by licensed Office 365 users in your organization. Create mobile device management policies that can help control access to your organization’s email and documents. If the device is lost or stolen, you can remotely wipe the device to remove sensitive company information.
The latest version if the Office 365 Protection Center user interface ensures all of Office 365 Security and Compliance tools are front and center. The user interface is also completely customizable, so you can focus on the features most important to you. The most common categories are accessible via the navigation menu are as follows.
- Alerts – View recent alerts, trends, and the severity of the alerts potentially threatening your organization.
- Permissions – Control what your users have access to in the Protection Center. Delegate permissions to users based about your organization’s policies.
- Data Governance and Data Loss Prevention – Create and administer policies of how your data is stored, archived, and retained.
- Threat Tracker – View malware trends and common malware families identified by Office 365. View your top targeted users for malware threats. Create policy and even simulate an attack to see how your organization stands up to specific threats.
- Mail Flow – View statics of email flowing through your organization. View top senders and recipients of email in your organization. Use message trace to track email entering and leaving your organization.
- Search and Investigation – Use eDiscovery and audit log searches to enforce your organization’s data compliance policies.
The Office 365 Protection Center is always improving to stay ahead of tomorrow’s ever-changing threats. New features and capabilities are added often. Learning about the tools and capabilities of the Protection Center will ensure your organization has maximum protection against these threats.