Stop threats before they disrupt your business with Advanced Threat Protection.
Can you imagine your business running without email? Probably not, but according to Microsoft, emails are the most prolific cyber-attack factor that we see in todays’ world. This is largely down to the human element, and the fact that we can sometimes mistake phishing emails, attachments and links for genuine ones.
Emails are great, they’re one of the most powerful forms of communication and collaboration, but how can we continue using emails and reduce the risk of human error?
I have security in place and its always worked for me.
The bottom line is that technology is ever-changing. The increase in sophistication of these attacks can quickly outdate the protections that a standard system would have in place, leaving you unprotected from rapidly emerging unknown threats.
A lot of threats in recent years have come as a result of the world-wide adoption of cloud technology, which despite its many positives does pose some risks that need to be considered and dealt with.
Should I avoid the cloud?
Absolutely not, the cloud is here to stay and most technology is moving in this direction. Avoiding cloud-based apps (such as Office 365) would put you at a disadvantage against your competition.
The answer is not to avoid it, but to evolve with it – evolve your systems, your security, your business processes, and most importantly evolve your way of thinking. It’s happening, so there is no point burying your head in the sand.
How can I protect my cloud emails?
As aforementioned the main risk is the human error factor, following a link to a bogus webpage that steals your credentials or opening an attachment that contains a virus. To answer how you might protect your emails from human error, you must find a way to read, analyse and stop those bogus links and attachments ever landing in your employees’ inbox. Fortunately, Microsoft have invested millions into the development of their solution to this problem, Advanced Threat Protection (ATP).
What is Microsoft’s Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection?
ATP is a product developed by Microsoft that offers continuous and evolving cloud threat protection, keeping your business system ahead of the cyber-criminals. It acts as a bolt-on to Office 365 and boasts a 99.9% malware catch rate.
In essence, it works by analysing up to 6.5 trillion signals per day, and the moment that a new form of malware is identified by Microsoft’s team of 1,000+ dedicated cyber security specialists, everyone in the world with ATP activated benefits from an instant, automatic security patch against this new type of email attack.
What are the benefits to me and my business?
Designed to combat impersonation & spoofing, ATP protects Office 365 users from the ever growing host of malware filled emails which traditional spam filters are struggling to handle. Here is all the added value you receive:
» Spoof Intelligence
Easily detect an email senders legitimacy for protection against fraudulent / misleading emails, keeping your business data safe and ensuring you don’t send payments to cyber-criminals as a result of their deceptively convincing emails.
» Safe Links
URL’s within emails are scanned and flagged if malicious instantly and automatically. This ensures that your employees aren’t following illegitimate links which cleverly encourage you to willingly give up sensitive data.
» Safe Attachments
All suspicious attachments go through a real-time behavioural malware analysis, preventing your business from being compromised and disrupted by a virus which could have been embedded in an attachment.
» Triple Layer Security Scan
3 anti-virus engines scanning all received email in an instant, giving you peace of mind that your business has the best protection in place to avoid any virus attacks that can infiltrate your business via email.
» Holistic Protection
Secure across Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, and OneDrive, so no matter what Microsoft software you’re working on, you know that ATP is working behind the scenes to keep you and your business safe.
» Mailbox Intelligence
Analyses pattern of communication between frequent contacts, ensuring that these emails aren’t intercepted and capitalised on by hackers to insist on change of payment details into their accounts for example or other deceptive malicious activity.
» Low Monthly Cost
Sophisticated software for an affordable, low cost monthly fee (£1.50 per user, per month) meaning that you get the very best protection for your emails and business with no capital expenditure on costly licence fees.
Next steps.
The reality is that these spoof emails are becoming more and more convincing so anyone can fall for them. Office 365’s APT software comes highly recommended by us. We’re backing this technology and use it ourselves day-to-day.
Speak to your IT vendor about enabling ATP from within your Office 365 subscription. It’s a relatively straight forward setup so it shouldn’t cost a fortune and the benefits far outweigh the small monthly fee.
