Techblog
Keeping Business Data Safe With Office 365
In today’s digital age, keeping your company and customer data secure is part of the day-to-day business. How do businesses find a simple and secure solution?
The European Union’s introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has made it more important than ever for businesses to understand their obligations when it comes to data protection. Locally, the Singapore Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) was introduced in 2014. It also sets strict rules for the collection and use of personal data by private companies.
Why were the GDPR and PDPA introduced?
Laws demanding that businesses protect individuals’ private data have varied from country to country, leading to confusion for individuals about what their rights are, and what is expected of companies in terms of data management and security.
The GDPR attempts to provide security for individuals and certainty for companies by harmonising data protection laws in the digital age.
What the legislation means for businesses
Similar to the PDPA, the GDPR — which came into force in May 2018 — sets strict guidelines for how businesses must collect, store, secure and protect data. Companies must have policies, procedures and systems in place for dealing with sensitive data that protect of all individuals’ privacy.
What happens when they fail to comply? The GDPR sets out two levels of fines for data security breaches: first, fines of up to €10 million, or 2% of the company’s annual global turnover, whichever is higher; second, fines of up to €20 million or 4% of global turnover, whichever is higher. Under the PDPA, penalties may range up to S$1 million.
Microsoft Office 365: Ensuring compliance and security for business data
To avoid such penalties, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) service providers are now helping companies adopt software to ensure they are compliant. As well as offering solutions like Office 365 that help SMEs meet their requirements, solution providers like Singtel also offer data risk assessments to help SMEs identify their risks.
ICT service providers can help businesses assess their employees, processes and technology to identify gaps in their ability to comply with data security laws and regulations, as well as raising internal awareness of the need to make data protection a serious corporate priority.
An ICT service provider can help you create a personalised business security plan, including how to implement best-practice data security solutions provided by Microsoft Office 365, which offers a full suite of protection systems for a modern digital business.
Advanced Threat Protection (ATP)
Office 365 protects against incoming unknown cyber-attacks contained in emails, files and applications, or “phishing attacks”. Office 365 ATP analyses suspicious content in real-time, with suspicious attachments sent to a safe online “chamber” where they can opened without affecting the network.
Azure Information Protection for Office 365 enables more secure access to corporate data and safer sharing of sensitive information through message encryption. It allows business owners to easily set restrictions (such as Do Not Forward and Company Confidential) and provide permissions across multiple platforms, thereby protecting corporate data.
Azure Active Directory Premium
This directory is central to securely managing permissions and access to a company’s network resources. The active directory brings together a range of online services involved in authenticating identity on the network by securely storing and confirming passwords and other users’ information.
Cloud-based Microsoft Intune helps a business to manage how employees use mobile devices to access the company’s data and applications, including email.
For more information on how your business can use Office 365 to ensure data security regulatory compliance, contact Singtel for a consultation.
Business benefits-at-a-glance:
- New security laws mean businesses must have processes and systems in place to protect private data
- Failure to comply could result in penalties worth millions of dollars
- Compliance also enhances productivity by optimising internal technology systems and processes
- Singtel's certified consultants assess your data security gaps, deploy the right solution and train end users on best practices