Create conditional access policies that prevent devices that are not protected with Defender from downloading company data.Īfter this is completed use the Microsoft Security Dashboard to review the health and cyber risk of all of your devices including applications.

Configure Microsoft Defender and deploy it to every device (Windows 10,11, macOS, Android, iOS).

Configure Microsoft End Point management and onboard every device.

Change your Microsoft Licenses to Microsoft 365 Business Premium (unless you are using E5).

What are those consulting companies doing? Here is a simple recipe to turn this around: Especially since they are all using some version of Microsoft 365. Given the majority of my clients are in regulated industries and almost every company I have evaluated has outsourced its information technology to a third-party consulting firm this is unacceptable. Most, if not all, small businesses I have had engagements with are not able to produce an accurate inventory. To be able to measure the quality of a company’s information technology it is imperative to have a complete list of all devices that have access to company data. I also perform due diligence reviews for potential acquisitions since most of my clients are alternative asset firms. I routinely go through the exercise of evaluating the state of IT and cybersecurity for my clients. In my IT consulting company GLM West, Inc. Microsoft 365 Business Premium includes the license for Microsoft Defender for Desktop as part of that offering. If you read my post about licensing then you know I recommend small and medium-sized businesses purchase Microsoft 365 Business Premium. I’ll be focusing on small and medium-sized businesses which Microsoft defines as having under 300 users. In this post, I will talk about some of the features that differentiate Microsoft Defender for Desktop from other anti-virus solutions.

Microsoft Defender is more than just Anti-Virus, it is an essential part of securing your business.

Windows defender review