Microsoft 365 is in the focus of cybercriminals

Daniel Hofmann, CEO of Hornetsecurity, explains why additional protection is necessary

Companies are increasingly exposed to ever more dangerous cyber threats. Email communication is the focus of attack, but companies do not take this threat seriously enough, especially when it comes to Microsoft 365.

Microsoft 365 is under attack

Microsoft 365 is the world’s most widely used cloud-based office suite. Sensitive files are uploaded and exchanged in the Microsoft 365 cloud every day by more than 100 million business customers. Cybercriminals know this too and the number of targeted attacks on Microsoft 365 are increasing rapidly. Our latest survey shows that one in four companies using Microsoft 365 has had to report a security incident related to email communications.

Ninety-five per cent of all cyberattacks on businesses occur via email. A single inbox often contains numerous email messages with other users’ personal data, sensitive files and sometimes even confidential information.

Sometimes all it takes is a user’s innocent interaction with infected email content or a malicious attachment for cybercriminals to take over the account. Just one single successful attack on a Microsoft Office Cloud user can allow a hacker to get access to truckloads of internal information. Even worse: if a hacker takes over an administrator account, he or she gains the same rights as the account owner and will therefore also be able to access the data of all users in the company.

Additional protection of email communication is necessary

The focus of additional protection should therefore be primarily on the area of email communication. It is necessary to secure Microsoft 365 accounts with a third-party solution. Specialised providers like Hornetsecurity are ideal for this as they hide Microsoft DNS and MX records, which means that hackers cannot easily identify Microsoft 365 users and are therefore less likely to target them. These solutions also provide significantly better protection against targeted attacks on Microsoft 365 accounts, by applying multiple layers of defence.  In addition, robust solution providers provide full encryption of mailbox data stored in the cloud.

Our recent analysis of email security within Microsoft 365 confirmed that only 68% of organisations trust M365 to adequately protect them from email security threats and 50% secure themselves with additional third-party applications.

I therefore strongly recommend beefing up Microsoft 365 security by using a powerful, tried and tested email security solution.

About Hornetsecurity Group

Altaro Software proudly forms part of the Hornetsecurity Group. Hornetsecurity is a leading global email cloud security and backup provider, which secures companies and organisations of all sizes across the world. Its award-winning product portfolio covers all important areas of email security, including spam and virus filtering, protection against phishing and ransomware, legally compliant archiving and encryption, as well as email, endpoint and virtual machine backup, replication and recovery. Its flagship product is the most extensive cloud security solution for Microsoft 365 on the market.  With more than 350 employees in 10 regional offices, Hornetsecurity is headquartered in Hanover, Germany and operates through its international network of 5,000+ channel partners and MSPs and its 11 redundant, secured data centres. Its premium services are used by 50,000+ customers including Swisscom, Telefónica, Konica Minolta, LVM Versicherung, Dekra and Claas.

Daniel Hofmann, CEO of Hornetsecurity