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Microsoft 365 and Advanced Threat Protection

Most business owners will know that hardly a day passes without the appearance of some new malware campaign. Fortunately, Microsoft 365 offers the solution to help protect your mailboxes as well as your whole IT system against these threats, Advanced Threat Protection.

With Microsoft 365 ATP (Advanced Threat Protection) your emails are protected in real time against even the latest, most refined attacks. Via enhanced protection against malicious links and unsafe attachments, it enhances the existing security features provided by Exchange Online Protection to deliver improved zero-day protection.

All suspicious attachments are subjected to a live behavioral malware analysis, employing machine learning technology to determine whether it contains malware. Attachments deemed unsafe are placed in a ‘sandbox’ before delivery to recipients.

Advanced Threat Protection safe attachments – protecting against unsafe attachments

ATP Safe Attachments forms part of Microsoft 365 Advanced Threat Protection. The ATP Safe Attachment facility comes with high-tech checks to determine whether email attachments are malicious, and then acts to protect your business.

You will have to digitally capture every transaction during a specific VAT period and at the end of that period, send HMRC an automated 9-box VAT return, directly from the whichever software you are using. This more efficient and simpler process will cause fewer disruptions to your business in the long run.

The revised regulations will come into effect on 1 April 2019. All businesses with a taxable turnover higher than the threshold for VAT registration (£85,000) must comply.

In March 2018, Microsoft started extending this protection to files in OneDrive for Business, SharePoint Online, and Microsoft Teams.

The level and scope of protection which ATP Safe Attachments provides to your business are determined by the ATP Safe Attachments policies set up by your Office 365 security and global administrators. The result is a cleaner inbox, free from malware, with improved protection against zero-day attacks.

ATP Safe Links – protecting against malicious links

Like ATP Safe Attachments, ATP Safe Links forms part of Microsoft 365 Advanced Threat Protection. While, by scanning content, Exchange Online Protection already delivers protection against dangerous links, Safe Links builds on this by protecting your environment when a recipient clicks on a link.

At the same time as the content is being scanned, the URLs are being rewritten and passed through Microsoft 365. That means at the same time a user clicks a link, the web addresses are being examined live. Should a link be deemed unsafe, the email recipient gets a warning not to visit that particular URL or gets informed that the website in question has been blocked. Here, also, your Microsoft 365 security team will define the protection your business needs via ATP Safe Link policies they set up in the software. Reports are generated to allow administrators to investigate which users clicked which links, and when.

In October 2017, Microsoft extended ATP Safe Links protection to apply to web addresses in emails, together with those in Microsoft 365 documents, including MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Visio, as well as Office apps on Android and iOS devices.

Starting in March 2018, the company further extended ATP Safe Links protection to emails sent between individuals in the same organisation. At the same time, it also extended protection to apply to web addresses in the online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, as well as Microsoft 365 ProPlus on Mac.

Finally, starting in May 2018, Microsoft 365 ATP warning pages offer more details, new colour schemes, and the ability to proceed to a website despite recommendations and/or warnings.

Further Information

If you have any questions about this or need assistance, then please contact the GCC Group Support Team on 0345 260 1151 or servicedesk@gccgroup.co.uk