How Can I Tell if My Microsoft 365 Environment Is Secure?

For most businesses, Microsoft 365 is the heart of daily operations. It stores email, files, Teams conversations, financial data, customer information, and employee identities. The problem? Simply paying for Microsoft 365 doesn’t mean your environment is secure. Many organizations assume Microsoft has secured everything. In reality, Microsoft secures the platform—but you’re responsible for configuring and managing your own environment. How to tell if your Microsoft 365 environment is secure?

Here are eight questions every business should ask.

1. Is Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) enabled for every user?

Passwords alone are no longer enough. If even one administrator or employee can log in with only a password, your organization is at significantly higher risk of account compromise.

What good looks like:

MFA enforced for every user
Strong authentication methods (Microsoft Authenticator or FIDO2 keys)
Legacy authentication disabled

Learn more: https://learn.microsoft.com/entra/identity/authentication/concept-mfa-howitworks

2. How many Global Administrators do you have?

Many organizations unknowingly have five, ten, or even twenty Global Admin accounts. That’s unnecessary risk.

Best practice:

Two to four Global Administrators
Separate admin accounts from day-to-day user accounts
Privileged Identity Management (PIM) where appropriate

Learn more: https://learn.microsoft.com/entra/id-governance/privileged-identity-management

3. Are you protecting against Business Email Compromise?

Business Email Compromise (BEC) remains one of the most common cyberattacks affecting Canadian businesses.

Ask yourself:

Is Microsoft Defender for Office 365 enabled?
Are anti-phishing policies configured?
Are mailbox forwarding rules monitored?
Is impersonation protection enabled?

Learn more: https://learn.microsoft.com/defender-office-365

4. Are Conditional Access policies protecting your users?

Not every login should be trusted.

A secure Microsoft 365 environment should automatically evaluate:

Where someone is logging in from
What device they’re using
Whether the device is compliant
Whether the login appears risky

If something looks suspicious, access should be blocked or require additional verification.

Learn more: https://learn.microsoft.com/entra/identity/conditional-access

5. Can you detect suspicious activity?

Security isn’t just about prevention. You also need visibility.

Ask:

Do you receive alerts for impossible travel?
Failed login spikes?
Privilege escalation?
Malware detections?
Suspicious mailbox activity?

If the answer is no, incidents could go unnoticed for weeks.

Learn more: https://learn.microsoft.com/security/secure-score

6. Are your devices actually managed?

Microsoft 365 security extends beyond email. A secure environment typically includes:

Microsoft Intune
Device encryption
Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
Patch management
Compliance policies

If employees use personal or unmanaged devices, your risk increases significantly.

Learn more: https://learn.microsoft.com/security/secure-score

7. Is sensitive information protected?

Can employees accidentally email payroll data outside the company? Can confidential documents be downloaded to unmanaged devices?

Microsoft Purview can help classify and protect sensitive information through:

Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
Sensitivity labels
Retention policies
Information protection

Learn more: https://learn.microsoft.com/purview

8. When was your last security assessment?

Technology changes constantly. Microsoft introduces new security capabilities every month, and attackers continuously evolve their tactics. If your Microsoft 365 tenant hasn’t been reviewed in the last 12 months, there’s a good chance you’re missing important security improvements.

Common Warning Signs

Shared administrator accounts
No Conditional Access policies
Users can still authenticate with legacy protocols
No phishing simulations or user awareness training
No centralized monitoring or alerting
Devices are unmanaged
Backups haven’t been tested
No documented incident response process

The Bottom Line

Microsoft 365 includes powerful security capabilities, but they aren’t all enabled by default. A secure environment requires thoughtful configuration, continuous monitoring, and regular reviews as your business grows and Microsoft’s platform evolves.

For organizations with 10–150 employees, a Microsoft 365 security assessment is often one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce cyber risk. It can identify misconfigurations, strengthen identity protection, improve compliance, and help ensure you’re making the most of the security features already included in your Microsoft licensing.

Want to Understand Your Microsoft 365 Security Posture?

Many organizations have Microsoft 365 configured years ago and haven’t had a chance to review whether their current security settings still align with best practices. When organizations evaluate their IT strategy with Genieall, we review their existing Microsoft 365 environment as part of our discovery process. This helps us understand where security improvements, licensing opportunities, process changes, or configuration updates may be needed. Our team works with organizations across the GTA to improve their IT security, Microsoft 365 adoption, and overall technology strategy—from growing businesses with 10–150 users to larger organizations with more complex requirements.

If you’re evaluating your current IT provider, planning a Microsoft 365 improvement project, or simply want a second opinion on your environment: Let’s Chat!