Microsoft has long dominated the business email marketplace. Millions of businesses use Microsoft Outlook as their email platforms to send emails, schedule events, and maintain business contacts both in and out of the office. Microsoft Outlook is the front-end application for the Microsoft Exchange Server, a calendaring and mail server that runs exclusively on the Windows Server platform. Traditionally companies would have to purchase a physical server, install Windows Server and then install Exchange along with backups and fail-safes to host their email in-house. Then companies were able to purchase dedicated cloud servers in which they could host Exchange.
With the Microsoft Office 365 suite, you don’t have to worry about getting a separate email server. Included with Office 365 is Microsoft Exchange Online which is the entire Exchange experience, offered as a cloud service. Businesses that have an Office 365 subscription have Exchange Online included. However, for those who don’t, Microsoft Exchange Online can be purchased as a stand-alone service with plans starting at $4.00 per month, per user.
Besides having the scalability and redundancy of the cloud, Exchange Online has multiple security options which help to keep email and the data held within each email safe and secure.
Here are a few of the security protections available within Exchange Online:
Anti-Spam and Anti-Malware Tools
Microsoft Exchange Online comes with both anti-malware and anti-spam filtering mechanisms. According to Microsoft, “malware” in this case includes both viruses and spyware. With Exchange Online incoming and outgoing messages are scanned and filtered for malicious software and for spam (unsolicited) email messages. These settings are enabled by default which means administrators don’t have to set up or maintain the filters. Although there are filtering customizations that can be configured based on an organization’s needs through the Exchange Admin Center.
Enhanced Administrative Controls
Even though Exchange Online is hosted in the cloud on Microsoft’s servers, system administrators can configure Exchange just as if it were installed as an on-premise service through the Exchange Admin Center. This web-based management console has multiple options that control security, accessibility, and organization. Admins can manage administrator and user roles. Through specific compliance management options, admins can manage auditing, data loss prevention, and specific policies based on industry or governmental regulations. Admins can also manage which users can access email and other Exchange services via mobile devices, which helps to keep company data safe while giving employees the mobility to take their work on the road.
Data Protection in the Cloud
Office 365 is designed to host multiple customers with data storage and processing, separated by Active Directory. Microsoft addresses this issue using data isolation, designed to address a concern for data privacy in the cloud where a company’s data is stored on the same servers as that of other companies. Through this configuration, your data cannot be accessed or compromised by other organizations on the same server as each company operates within a secured, isolated environment.
