Microsoft SharePoint and OneDrive Security and Compliance
Microsoft SharePoint and OneDrive are two trending solutions that differ in what they offer to businesses, in terms of resources and utilization, yet clients choosing either solution (or both) share the same concerns; how secure and compliant are they? And why?
Why go Cloud-Based?
OneDrive acts more like an information filing and management system. At the same time, SharePoint goes a step further and offers an entire platform, jam-packed with multiple software, resources, and gadgets for a business to use.
When customers choose to use SharePoint, they stand to gain an effective and complex platform that offers:
Customizable apps that can be used across multiple devices,
Online collaboration tools,
Team connection resources,
Direct and accessible website design features,
An intelligent intranet and optimized cloud services,
To name a few. In the right hands, SharePoint’s advantages and uses are endless.
OneDrive and SharePoint present three advantages to users that choose a cloud-based solution: measurable savings in space, time, and money.
It eliminates the need for large server rooms, costly backups and maintenance of systems, and the need to worry about safety, updates, and security. Software is always kept up to date, the data backup is automatic, and all that the user needs to do is to log in and access their designated intranet consistently.
Is Microsoft SharePoint and OneDrive Security Safe?
If companies are to entrust their sensitive data to One Drive and SharePoint’s platforms and data centers, how secure, and compliant are they? As these platforms transform the market, security and compliance have become the focus of scrutiny and attention.
Security and compliance measures By Microsoft
Microsoft guarantees the security and compliance of its data centers and processes by taking crucial steps, such as auditing their systems continuously and automatically for compliance protocol. Content is protected by data encryption and file keys, while at rest and in transit. Data is protected at rest within Data centers in multiple ways:
Physical Data Protection:
Only essential personnel can access data centers.
To gain access, personnel need both smart card and biometric verification.
Premises are protected by security on-site, motion sensors, video surveillance, and intrusion detection alerts.
Data centers are geo-distributed, and client Data is mirrored in two sites, at least.
Continuous validation of Data in centers by Inventory agents, monitoring, and remediation of machines ensures their health and viability, with unsuitable devices being flagged and queued out.
Network Protection
They are protecting networks and client identities by dividing and isolating identities from the corporate network.
Application security
Ensuring application security through a multi-ended process:
By the designing engineers through diligent testing,
Automated and manual analyses of the applications to reveal weaknesses,
Responding to reports generated by Microsoft Bug Bounty programs encourages users to identify vulnerabilities through financial rewards.
Content Protection:
Data can only be accessed through two-factor-authentication, and engineers working as support to resolve system issues can only access data by requesting permission. Further, data is protected in transit by best-in-class encryption and allowing secure access only.
Harboring metadata for 14 days within automated backups; that can give users retrieval accuracy within 5-minute windows.
Customer End Security and Compliance
If properly utilized, end users can rely on Cloud-based security and compliance measures built into SharePoint and OneDrive to provide protection equal to if not surpassing that of on-site systems. These measures include but are not limited to:
Compliance Center
A Portal built into the SharePoint platform reveals a glance that a compliance score is based on users’ behavior.
Security alerts, reports, and policies, regarding threats against security; both internal and external (Malware, attempted access, improper use of data)
Access to mobile devices storage (authorization) and remote management of devices (remote wipe-out).
Customer lockbox: ensuring Microsoft engineers and other personnel cannot access data in a lockbox without proper permission.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies in place to protect essential Data.
Sensitivity labels can be used to tag relevant data, track it, and generate usage reports. Information barriers and layers of privacy that protect and divide the intranet.
Retention labels that control how long data is retained /completely deleted or marked as a record.
eDiscovery parameters that protect files related to an investigation and determine access and retrieval.
Conclusion on Microsoft SharePoint and OneDrive Security
SharePoint and OneDrive have gone to great lengths and employed multiple measures to ensure their customers’ safety and compliance. The argument for cloud-based security and compliance becomes strong and noticeably clear: Go Cloud-based or go home!