However, Microsoft has addressed these challenges by offering the Microsoft 365 E5 subscription, providing a comprehensive set of security and compliance features that can help organisations of all shapes and sizes enhance their security and compliance posture. Discover how the additional features of Microsoft 365 E5 can help your organisation to improve security and maintain compliance.
One of the most significant security features of Microsoft 365 E5 is Identity Protection. Part of Microsoft Entra, this feature helps organisations protect their identities by using risk-based conditional access policies, multifactor authentication, and machine learning-based adaptive authentication. With Identity Protection, organisations can ensure that only authorised users access their sensitive data and applications.
Another critical security feature of Microsoft 365 E5 is Entitlement Management, which helps organisations manage access to their resources more effectively. Available via Microsoft Entra, Entitlement Management provides a streamlined and automated approach to managing access requests and approvals, allowing organisations to ensure that only authorised users have access to sensitive data and applications. With Entitlement Management, organisations can manage access to critical resources, ensuring that sensitive data remains secure.
Microsoft 365 E5 also includes Privileged Identity Management (PIM), which allows organisations to manage and monitor privileged identities and provide just-in-time access to critical resources. Found in Microsoft Entra, PIM gives organisations the ability to limit access to sensitive data and applications only to authorised individuals whilst ensuring that all privileged activities are audited and monitored.
A particularly useful compliance feature of Microsoft 365 E5 is Information Barriers. This feature helps organisations ensure that certain groups within the organisation do not communicate with each other to avoid conflicts of interest or to comply with regulatory requirements. Part of Microsoft Purview, Information Barriers allow organisations to create policies that restrict communication between specific user groups or teams, ensuring that sensitive information remains protected.
Microsoft 365 E5 also includes Teams DLP, a feature that helps organisations prevent data leaks in their Teams chats and channels in order to maintain compliance. Teams DLP allows organisations to identify, monitor, and protect sensitive information such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, confidential information, or even specific words. Available to use via Microsoft Purview, Teams DLP is part of the wider Data Loss Prevention suite, allowing organisations to set up policies that prevent users from sharing sensitive information with unauthorised parties, whether it's through chat, channel messages, or other communication channels.
Staying in the DLP suite, Microsoft 365 E5 also includes Endpoint DLP, a feature that helps organisations protect their data from accidental or intentional data leaks. Endpoint DLP allows organisations to identify and monitor sensitive data on onboarded Windows 10, Windows 11 and macOS endpoints. This allows for automated remediation options to prevent data loss, such as blocking printing, uploading to specific cloud services, or copying to removeable media. With Endpoint DLP, organisations can ensure that their sensitive data remains protected and compliant, even when accessed outside the corporate network.
Microsoft 365 E5 includes Attack Simulation Training, a feature that helps organisations identify and remediate vulnerabilities in their security posture via employee focused exercises. Accessed via the Microsoft 365 Defender portal, Attack Simulation Training gives organisations the ability to simulate real-world attacks and assess their readiness to detect and respond to these attacks. A great benefit of the feature is that it also provides training for employees to learn how to recognise and respond to phishing attacks and other common cyber threats.
As can be seen from the features highlighted above, Microsoft 365 E5 is a comprehensive subscription, providing advanced security and compliance features that can help organisations improve security posture whilst meeting ever changing compliance regulations. In addition to the ones detailed, there are a myriad of other features available should your organisation consider Microsoft 365 E5. Before making the leap to E5, many of customers attend one of our Microsoft Cloud Accelerator workshops that help businesses fully understand Microsoft solutions, and even help with achieving stakeholder buy-in. You can browse our workshops here.
Microsoft is unwavering in its commitment to refining Copilot's capabilities. As the technology matures, it will further integrate with the Microsoft 365 suite. While M365 Copilot might not yet be universally accessible, particularly in tightly regulated industries, Satya Nadella, Microsoft's CEO, envisions it as "the next major step in the evolution of how we interact with computing." This sentiment underscores Copilot's significance in reshaping the technological landscape. As Copilot evolves, it's prudent to explore its potential for your organisation, ensuring you're poised to embrace its capabilities the moment they become available.