We all know that cyber security is essential for businesses, but finding the right amount of money and resource to dedicate to it can be challenging – especially for small businesses. Have you ever wondered if you’re keeping up with best practice or if your cybersecurity set up is outdated and insecure? Are you curious about how you compare to other businesses of your size or in your industry? This is where Microsoft Secure Score can help.

What is Microsoft Secure Score?

Secure Score is a measurement tool that puts a numerical score (0 to 100%) against aspects of your business’s security setup to show how well you’re doing. It looks at a variety of areas such as identity, data, devices, apps and infrastructure. The greater the percentage, the better your security is. This gives a really solid indication of which areas you’ve got spot on, and which areas you might want to dedicate more attention and resource.

Secure Score also allows you to see how your security measures stack up against industry benchmarks and other businesses like yours. This helps you to understand where you stand and see areas which might need improving. Of course, the score can also work as confirmation that you’ve already got a brilliantly robust security set up!

How does Secure Score Benefit my business?

In our opinion, the biggest benefit of Secure Score is providing you with focus. Cyber security can feel really overwhelming, especially for small businesses. It can be difficult to understand what you actually need and what is just good marketing. What are the essentials and what are security ‘luxuries’? Secure Score can help you get to grips with that. It will identify your business’s areas of weakness – if you have any – so you know where to focus your efforts and what solutions to prioritise.

Secure Score can also act as a pat on the back. It offers comprehensive insights into your current security state, highlighting the areas you’re excelling at as well as the areas that need improvement. We find it useful as a tracking tool – you can use Security Score multiple times to show your improvement over time and track your progress.

Perhaps the most obvious benefit is, of course, that identifying your risks and fixing them will reduce your chances of falling victim to a cyber attack. Implementing the recommended actions will significantly lower your exposure to potential threats.

Cyber Security Top Tips

Lastly, we can’t do a cybersecurity blog without including some top tips – and these will also help improve your Secure Score.

Strengthen Your Passwords: Use long, complex, and unique passwords for different accounts. Administrators should maintain separate admin and user accounts for added security.

Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Enhance account security by enabling MFA. Even if a hacker obtains your password, they won’t be able to access your accounts without the second factor.

Review Access Controls: Restrict system access to only those who need it. Ensure former employees no longer have access to your systems.

Update All Software and Systems: Keep all your software, including antivirus programs, up-to-date to protect against the latest threats.

Backup Your Data (and Practise Recovery): Regularly and securely back up all critical data. Conduct practice recoveries to ensure you’re prepared for real-life data loss or disaster scenarios.

Educate Your Users: Educating users is the most effective way to prevent cyber attacks. With the rise in cyber threats, it’s crucial to remain vigilant at all times.

If you’d like more information on Secure Score or would like to run an assessment on your business, please get in touch using the form below.