Exchange Online Protection: Configuration Analyzer (Your Mail Security Advisor)

Hi guys and ladies, today I’m going to write about the hidden guru in your Exchange Online Protection, a.k.a Office 365 Mail Security or Microsoft Defender for Office 365.

Why improving your mail security configuration is important? Well, malicious attacks gets improve from time to time, so does security too. In the past, scammers used to send fake letters to houses claiming to be from the bank or police officer, to lure you into turning yourself in with money. Now 2022, scammers are sending blast mails to any IP address or available legit domain in the world, claiming to be an authorized organization and to seek their victims.

There are times you would like to compare what your vendors recommendation and the global recommendation of mail security configuration, now you have it in your Microsoft Exchange Online portal. Basically configuration analyzer scans your existing policies and provide either Standard or strict recommendation to improve your mail policies.

*Note:

Do not make changes to default policies by Microsoft. Recommended to create new ones.

How to get that?

1. First you login to your https://security.microsoft.com portal
2. At the left taskbar, you can see the “Email and collaboration” category
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3. Select the “Policies & rules”
4. Select “Threat policy”
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5. Select “Configuration Analyzer”

As you can see they do scan your default policies by you can ignore them. The most important thing inside this table, is the structured and convenient information that provide you understanding on how you can improve your existing policies.

You may refer to the references below to know whether is your license has this feature available.

References

1. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/security/office-365-security/configuration-analyzer-for-security-policies?view=o365-worldwide