Moving to Microsoft 365 or Azure doesn’t automatically make your business more secure. In fact, cloud misconfiguration is now one of the top causes of data breaches — and the responsibility for securing your cloud environment falls squarely on your business, not Microsoft.
For NYC businesses that have made the shift to cloud-based infrastructure, this guide covers the security configurations that are most commonly missed and most likely to be exploited.
Critical Cloud Security Configurations NYC Businesses Must Implement
Microsoft 365 Security Essentials:
- Enable MFA for all users — Microsoft reports MFA blocks 99.9% of account compromise attacks
- Configure Conditional Access policies — restrict access by location, device compliance, and risk level
- Enable Microsoft Defender for Office 365 — advanced anti-phishing, safe links, and safe attachments
- Audit log retention — enable unified audit logging and retain for 90+ days for incident response
- Disable legacy authentication protocols — Basic Auth is exploited in the majority of password spray attacks
Azure Security Fundamentals:
- Enable Microsoft Defender for Cloud and address all high-severity recommendations
- Implement Azure Policy to enforce security baselines across resources
- Use Managed Identities instead of service accounts with stored credentials
- Enable diagnostic logging on all resources and route to a central Log Analytics workspace
- Apply network security groups (NSGs) to restrict traffic between subnets
The Most Common Cloud Security Mistakes NYC Businesses Make:
Sharing admin credentials instead of using individual privileged accounts. Storing sensitive data in public-facing Azure storage blobs. Not configuring alert rules for suspicious sign-in activity. Allowing all legacy authentication protocols that bypass MFA. These misconfigurations are frequently the entry point for breaches at small businesses.
"The cloud gives you enterprise-grade tools. But a misconfigured cloud is more dangerous than an on-premises network — the attack surface is internet-facing by design."
SolvedIT Inc. specializes in Microsoft 365 and Azure security for NYC businesses. We perform cloud security assessments, remediate misconfigurations, and provide ongoing monitoring to keep your cloud environment locked down. Book your cloud security assessment today.
