Imagine your company’s digital infrastructure as a bustling city. Your employees are the citizens, and your data is the valuable treasure stored in various buildings. While that analogy helps visualize the scope of the project, the reality of securing a modern organization is far more complex than building walls. It requires rigorous adherence to frameworks, automated policy enforcement, and constant monitoring.
We propose a comprehensive security upgrade for your digital tenant. We implement this in three strategic stages to ensure we protect your environment without halting your operations. Here is the technical breakdown of how we harden your Microsoft 365 environment.
We start by developing your Microsoft environment at the root level. This is not just about clicking a few toggle switches in the admin center. We deploy tenant-wide security and usage standards that automatically refresh to ensure your configuration never drifts from the baseline. You can view some of our open-source configuration standards on our engineer Alex’s Github: Secure M365 Configuration.
Identity is the new perimeter. We configure Azure Active Directory (Entra ID) to disable legacy authentication protocols that bypass Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). We also harden Exchange Online by enabling strict audit logging and customizing anti-phishing policies. Crucially, we implement full Email and Domain Authentication using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. This ensures your domain cannot be spoofed and that your emails land in patient inboxes, not spam folders. You can read more about how this works in our KB Article: Email Authentication Explained.
We lock down SharePoint and Teams to prevent accidental data leakage. This involves restricting external sharing capabilities to specific domains or disabling anonymous sharing links entirely. Depending on your company’s stance on Work-From-Home or Bring-Your-Own-Device, we will configure data access settings to closely match your current policy. As you look toward the future, we also prepare your environment for AI Integration. We structure your data governance now so that tools like Microsoft Copilot do not surface sensitive HR or patient data to unauthorized users.
Once the foundation is set, we implement the controls that determine who is allowed in and from where. This is where we move from basic passwords to intelligent, context-aware access and drill in on security controls.
We utilize Microsoft’s Conditional Access policies to verify identity, location, and device health before granting access. We block login attempts from high-risk countries and require compliant, managed devices for accessing sensitive data. If a login looks suspicious, we block it immediately.
We go beyond Microsoft’s native tools by implementing Umbrella Cloud Control. This solution installs a dedicated application on every device and phone allowed to access your Microsoft resources. This app works in tandem with Conditional Access to create a strict allow-list. We configure the system to only permit connections from the specific IP addresses associated with your organization’s registered devices. If a hacker steals a password but tries to log in from a device without this app, the door remains locked.
Beyond just access, we need eyes on the glass. Umbrella Cloud Control connects your environment to a 24/7 human-monitored Security Operations Center (SOC). These analysts monitor user logins, event logs, registered applications, and data access protocols within your Microsoft tenant. While automation is great, having a human expert review suspicious activity ensures that complex threats do not slip through the cracks.
In the final stage, we focus on the data itself. For healthcare organizations, this is the most critical step for meeting HIPAA requirements and maintaining a high Microsoft Secure Score.
We use Microsoft Intune and Autopilot to manage the lifecycle of your hardware. We push security policies, certificates, and Wi-Fi profiles to devices automatically. If a laptop is lost or stolen, we can wipe company data remotely while leaving personal data intact.
We implement Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies that automatically detect sensitive information types, such as Social Security numbers or medical record numbers. If a user attempts to email this data externally, the system can automatically encrypt the message or block the transmission entirely. We also utilize Compliance and Data Labeling to classify documents based on sensitivity, ensuring that a “Highly Confidential” patient file cannot be printed or copied to a USB drive.
By the end of Stage 3, you have a hardened, compliant environment. You are not just protected against current threats; you are resilient against future ones.
Already an Umbrella Client? Visit the Client Portal to view your current Secure Score or submit a ticket if you need help with a specific policy.
New to Umbrella? If you are ready to secure your practice with enterprise-grade configuration, visit our Contact Us page to start the conversation.
Email: sales@umbrellaITgroup.com
Sales: 904-930-4261