Keeping your business safe from cyberthreats is set to get a lot easier, thanks to a new update from Microsoft Teams.
The video conferencing service is set to benefit from a number of security boosts as Microsoft brings several Defender for Office 365 tools and services to the platform.
This includes full end-to-end protection for Microsoft Teams, but also a hopeful rise in awareness and preparation for users in businesses across the world
Microsoft Teams security
“Today, 270 million users use Teams to communicate and be productive, making it indispensable to effective collaboration,” the company wrote in a blog post (opens in new tab) announcing the news.
“However, the growing number of users has also made a new target for adversaries trying to gain access to an organizations’ sensitive data and operations. Attacks like phishing and ransomware that for decades have primarily used email as an entry point, are now also targeting users on collaboration tools with growing frequency.”
The launch follows recent Microsoft research which found nearly three-quarters (71%) of companies admitted to sharing sensitive and business-critical data via collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams.
Among the new features is the ability for users to report suspicious messages directly in Teams, similar to what is already available now to report suspicious emails in Microsoft Outlook.
Security teams will be alerted whenever users report suspicious messages, with the ability to block or quarantine potential risks, and can view them in the Microsoft 365 Defender portal.
Microsoft is also adding to the existing advanced hunting features in Microsoft 365 Defender to support security for Teams, and is giving IT admins the chance to run attack simulations to raise awareness and protection against threats such as phishing.
Collaboration Security for Microsoft Teams is available for customers of Microsoft E5, Microsoft E5 Security, or Microsoft Defender for Office 365, with a public preview available now, ahead of a wider rollout scheduled for June 2023.
