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5 Essential Security Measures for Microsoft 365 You Shouldn't Ignore

For years, Microsoft 365 security guidance has focused heavily on protecting administrative accounts. That makes sense—administrators have elevated privileges and represent some of the highest-value targets in an organization. But with the release of CIS Microsoft 365 Benchmark v7, the guidance has expanded. CIS now recommends that all users—not just administrators—periodically reauthenticate.

The CIS Microsoft 365 Benchmark continues to evolve alongside the threat landscape, and Version 7 introduces several important new controls that reflect where attackers—and Microsoft—are headed. This release continues the trend of strengthening Microsoft 365 against modern identity attacks, AI-related data leakage, and automated threat containment. Here are five of the most impactful additions organizations should be paying attention to.

For years, legacy authentication was one of the easiest ways for attackers to bypass security controls in Microsoft 365. Even in environments with Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) enabled, legacy protocols allowed attackers to authenticate using only a stolen username and password—no second factor required. The result? Attackers could quietly access mailboxes, download data, and gain valuable data for their next move.