Bolster security to enable collaboration and engagement

In the last two years, we have seen organizations in Bangladesh truly transform the way they work and collaborate.

With more and more organizations adopting technology to enable remote work and stay open for business, the need to balance friction-less collaboration and highly targeted engagement with privacy and security has never been more critical. In fact, even before workers transitioned home in large numbers, IT leaders were facing rapidly transitioning work models fueled by an increase in remote working, freelancer exchanges and platforms, and a geographically-distributed workforce. With today’s blended workforce which includes not only remote full- and part-time employees, but also freelancers, contractors, consultants, subsidiaries, parent companies, partners and of course customers, the term “insider risk” has taken on a whole new meaning. While threats have been rising fast over the past two years, there has been low adoption of strong identity authentication, such as multifactor authentication (MFA) and passwordless solutions. According to Cyber Signals, a cyber threat intelligence brief informed by the latest Microsoft threat data and research, only 22 percent of customers using Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), Microsoft’s Cloud Identity Solution, have implemented strong identity authentication protection as of December 2021. MFA and passwordless solutions can go a long way in preventing a variety of threats and we’re committed to educating customers on solutions such as these to better protect themselves. From January 2021 through December 2021, we’ve blocked more than 25.6 billion Azure AD brute force authentication attacks and intercepted 35.7 billion phishing emails globally with Microsoft Defender for Office 365. At Microsoft, we understand our role in helping to protect and defend our most valuable digital asset, our identity. To ensure that people have secure access to their Microsoft accounts and services, we verify their identity—but relying on a single password to authenticate users creates an attractive point of failure for hackers. The volume, pace, and sophistication of online threats are all increasing. From IoT to nation-state activity, new ransomware tactics to insights into the cybercriminal economy, Cyber Signals provides trend analysis and practical guidance to strengthen the first line of digital defense. With increasing numbers of people working remotely and accessing their business apps and data from multiple locations, including home offices, coworking spaces, and other remote locations, individuals are realizing the importance of secure authentication. And it’s not just about securing enterprises, it’s our personal data, devices, identities, platforms, and clouds that are also targets.

The writer is Managing Director, Microsoft Bangladesh