January 13, 2022
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4
min read

Now is the Time to Improve M365 Privacy Management

Digital technology enables corporations to streamline and automate many business processes. While the change offers them much-needed convenience, it comes at a price: they must protect their digital information from outsiders, whose attacks have been rising in number and sophistication. Consequently, many companies struggle to meet that requirement, but the right software license management system provides them with needed assistance.

Enterprises are deploying digital solutions at unprecedented rates, especially since the pandemic began. Because of it, companies accelerated the digitization of their internal operations by three to four years, and the share of digitally enabled products in their portfolios jumped by a shocking seven years, according to McKinsey

A Growing Number of Regulations

Organizations now need to protect their digital data, which is constantly under attack. Cybercrime is expected to inflict damages totaling $6 trillion globally in 2021. In response, a raft of regulations emerged that try to ensure that organizations have the proper checks in place to safeguard sensitive information.

  • The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996: HIPAA is a federal law that creates standards to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without their consent or knowledge.
  • National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework: NIST is a science laboratory overseen by the US Department of Commerce and whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. The NIST Cybersecurity Framework is a set of security guidelines based on existing standards and best practices. The framework provides common guidance on how companies ensure digital data privacy.
  • CIS Benchmarks: The Center for Internet Security (CIS) is a nonprofit entity formed to identify, develop, validate, promote, and sustain cybersecurity best practices. CIS benchmarks are configuration baselines and best practices designed to secure computer systems.
  • General Data Protection Regulation: GDRP is a set of privacy and security laws created by the European Union. They outline obligations that organizations based anywhere must follow if they collect data about individuals living in the EU.
  • California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018: The CCPA was written to provide consumers with control over the personal information that businesses collect about them. The law outlines their rights as well as a business’ responsibility to safeguard such information.

Employees are the Weak Link

Corporations need to monitor their compliance with these security frameworks or face repercussions, such as fines and damage to their brand. Computer security is only as strong as its weakest link. In most cases, the finger gets pointed at employees, who are often harried and have limited technical expertise.

As a result, businesses face a delicate balancing act. On the one hand, they want to provide employees with access to digital information, but on the other hand, they need to ensure that the data is safe. Consequently, they need to monitor how often employees use productivity applications, like M365, and what they do with them.

Improve Management Visibility

The first problem is such usage information is typically scattered across the enterprise in various applications and spreadsheets. Enterprises need to consolidate reporting, remediation, and auditing data for all of their M365 services. CoreView provides that ability and presents data in a single intuitive dashboard.

Such reporting capabilities enable administrators to manage and govern their Microsoft software. They create filters that kick off automated workflows, so they review employee usage at regular intervals: monthly, weekly, daily, or even hourly.

If they need to dive in and take a closer look at user activity, they collect that information in seconds. Two tabs within CoreView’s dashboard — Analyze and Manage — help users gather intel about their Tenants. With the information, administrators search, filter, audit, and alert data efficiently. The information leads to actionable insights that enable them to proactively manage their licenses.

Create a Clear Picture of Employee Software Usage

With the solution, they recognize what happened and how to fix any problems. CoreView retains logs for at least a year, and continually monitors M365 usage, closely scanning all user and administration activities. As a result, IT and administrators view long-term M365 audit log data for deep forensics and root cause analysis. Then, they send that intel into a powerful workflow engine and receive automated alerts and reports for:

  • Breach attempts
  • Email forwards
  • External file sharing
  • Mailbox security risks
  • Policy violations

Having that information, they quickly identify and remediate suspicious behavior, either from internal or external sources. Administrators also find and stop suspicious sign-ins and sign-ins from infected devices. They identify risky configurations, such as anonymous access, excessive admin access, etc. Managers quickly determine what led to a breach and identify affected files and systems. They can then grant or block access to users. With the solution, corporations stop hackers; prevent phishing, and malware from spreading; and automate the quarantining of accounts until the users’ identity can be verified. In essence, they protect sensitive information more effectively.

The computer landscape has been changing with the growing use of digital technologies. Companies now must protect their electronic information in order to comply with the growing number of privacy regulations. A strong license management solution, like CoreView, empowers them to meet those objectives.

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