Microsoft 365 Business

Limitations with MDB Standalone

What are the limitations with Microsoft Defender for Business Standalone?

Most of my readers will already be familiar with Microsoft Defender for Business (MDB), which is included with Microsoft 365 Business Premium. And a majority of those will be deploying MDB as one part of a broader security solution which includes other services within the Business Premium...
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Making sense of the many DLP options in Microsoft 365

Making sense of the many DLP options for Microsoft 365

One of my readers wrote to me recently about an article that I penned a couple of years ago, on the topic of Data Loss Prevention in Microsoft 365. They pointed out that my breakdown was a bit dated now, and that the Microsoft universe seems to...
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The Importance of Clear Communication

The Importance of Clear Communication

I regularly advocate for aggressive change in small-sized organizations. In many ways, this is one place where smaller sized businesses have an advantage over mega-corporations. The larger the company, generally the longer it takes for them to adopt (and adapt to) new technology. There are exceptions to every rule of...
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Unboxing Microsoft Defender for Business: Device-based Conditional Access

Unboxing Microsoft Defender for Business, Part 4: Integration with MEM and Conditional Access

Welcome back to this series! Microsoft Defender for Business (MDB) is a huge product with lots of ground to cover. So far we have discussed the Simplified configuration process, Threat & Vulnerability Management, and Attack Surface Reduction Rules. Since we began our...
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Why Not Set Up a Retention Policy Today?

Why Don’t You Have a Retention Policy In Place Yet?

Most SMBs I consult with have never configured a retention policy, or indeed, they are not even aware of the retention capabilities in Microsoft 365. In general, Information Governance is one of those areas that simply does not get the attention that it deserves, especially in the small...
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Unboxing MDB, part 3: ASR rules

Unboxing Defender for Business, Part 3: Attack Surface Reduction rules

If you haven't been following this series, let me catch you up. First, understand that Microsoft recently made a huge announcement: their enterprise-class endpoint security solution, known as Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, has been re-packaged and released for the SMB (and included in the popular Microsoft 365 Business Premium SKU)...
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Unboxing Defender for Business, Part 2: Threat & Vulnerability Management

Unboxing Defender for Business, Part 2: Threat & Vulnerability Management

Last time we looked at how to get started with Microsoft Defender for Business and the so-called "Simplified configuration process," which helped us onboard our first Windows devices and apply basic policies to manage antivirus and firewall settings across the organization. In this blog post, we will ask the...
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Introducing Microsoft Defender for Business: you heard that right... it's *included* with Business Premium

Introducing Microsoft Defender for Business: you heard that right… it’s *included* with Business Premium

Remember a couple of months ago when Microsoft announced Microsoft Defender for Endpoint P1? Many critical eyes in the community quickly pointed out that Business Premium customers were apparently left out to dry, even though the SMB is where we need the most help when it...
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Announcing the Microsoft 365 SMB Data Protection Toolkit

Announcing the Microsoft 365 SMB Data Protection Toolkit

Update March 2023: This product has been updated significantly, and renamed too. It is now called The SMB Guide to Data Protection and Microsoft Purview in Microsoft 365 Business Premium Plans. It still contains the written guide as well as supporting materials such as scripts and templates to help you...
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