Microsoft 365 Security Features Houston Businesses Must Enable

Microsoft 365 includes powerful security features that most Houston businesses never activate. These features are included in your existing subscription — you are paying for them whether or not they are enabled. This guide covers the Microsoft 365 security features that SpaceTown IT enables for every Houston client on day one.

Security Defaults: The Baseline

Microsoft Security Defaults enable a baseline security configuration in Microsoft 365 tenants: MFA registration required for all users, MFA required for all admin accounts, legacy authentication protocols blocked, and privileged actions requiring MFA. Security Defaults are disabled in older Microsoft 365 tenants and must be manually enabled. If your Microsoft 365 was created before 2021, check your Security Defaults status immediately.

Microsoft Defender for Business: Included EDR

Microsoft 365 Business Premium includes Microsoft Defender for Business — a full endpoint protection platform with behavioral detection, EDR capabilities, attack surface reduction rules, and device compliance monitoring via Intune. Most Houston businesses pay for Microsoft 365 Business Premium but never configure Defender for Business, leaving its protection capabilities inactive. SpaceTown IT configures Defender for Business for all Business Premium clients as part of onboarding.

Advanced Anti-Phishing and Safe Links

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 (included in Business Premium and some other plans) provides: Safe Links — rewrites URLs in emails and scans them at click time for malicious destinations, Safe Attachments — detonates email attachments in a sandbox before delivery, Anti-phishing with impersonation protection — detects emails impersonating your executives or your domains. All three features require manual policy configuration to activate. SpaceTown IT configures all three for every Microsoft 365 client.

Conditional Access Policies

Microsoft Entra ID Conditional Access (formerly Azure AD Conditional Access) evaluates every sign-in against policy conditions and enforces requirements before granting access. Key policies SpaceTown IT configures for Houston clients: require MFA for all users, block sign-in from legacy authentication protocols, require device compliance for sensitive application access, and block sign-in from high-risk locations. Conditional Access requires Entra ID P1 (included in Microsoft 365 Business Premium).

Get Your Microsoft 365 Configured Correctly

SpaceTown IT configures and manages Microsoft 365 security for Houston businesses. See also Entra ID Conditional Access and Intune MDM. Call (832) 304-9748.