As a business owner, you know that keeping your data safe is of the utmost importance. Microsoft SharePoint can be a great way to store and share your business information, but it’s important to take some steps to ensure that your data is safe. Here are a few tips to help you secure your business data in SharePoint and keep it protected from cyberthreats.
Turn on multifactor authentication
Enabling multifactor authentication (MFA) is one of the easiest ways to prevent unauthorized access and keep your data secure. MFA requires users to provide multiple pieces of evidence that they are who they say they are, making it significantly more difficult for hackers to access your files and data.
Disable external sharing
The external sharing features of SharePoint are great if you want to allow people outside of your organization to access specific documents, sites, or groups. However, leaving these on increases the risk of data leaks and unauthorized access. If you don’t need to share files externally, it’s best to disable these features and keep your data only in your organization.
Enforce device policies
While this isn’t something you can do in SharePoint itself, you can use Microsoft Endpoint Manager to enforce policies on users based on their device and location. For example, you can create a security policy that prevents users from accessing SharePoint data on a personal device, or one that only allows them access if they’re connected to the company network. This mitigates the risk of business data being compromised if a device is stolen or lost.
Limit the use of item-level permissions
Item-level permissions allow you to set specific permission levels for different items within your SharePoint sites. However, they can be difficult to manage and can create security vulnerabilities.
For example, if you forget to remove a former employee’s permissions to an important file, they could still access and potentially download the data even after they’ve left the company. While this might not be a huge issue if they’re a trusted employee, it can be a big risk if it’s someone who ends up wanting to get revenge. A disgruntled former employee could use this opportunity to leak sensitive data to a competitor or the press, which could seriously harm your business. You can prevent this from happening by trying the next tip.
Use SharePoint groups to manage user permissions
This will make it easier to add and remove users from the group as needed, instead of having to manually change their permissions for every document or site. It also makes it easier to see who has access to what data, allowing you to easily identify any users who shouldn’t have access to sensitive information. Ultimately, using SharePoint groups can go a long way toward keeping your data secure.
Assign a single admin for each site collection
With SharePoint’s intuitive platform, it’s easy for anyone to create sites and add content to suit their needs. But this can be a problem if you have too many users who have the power to do so. You could end up with multiple unused sites that no one is keeping track of. Having a single person manage each site collection helps you to keep everything organized, and it ensures that there is someone who is constantly keeping an eye on the health and security of individual site collections.
Monitor SharePoint for changes and access events
Doing so allows you to catch any unauthorized activities or breaches as they happen and take corrective action before any damage is done. SharePoint includes a number of features that make it easy to monitor your environment, such as audit logs, alerts, and activity reports. Utilize these features to your advantage and keep a close eye on your data at all times.
Related reading: Ways to keep your cloud data secure
By following these tips, you can better safeguard your SharePoint environment and keep critical information safe from unauthorized access and leaks. For more information or ways on how you can safeguard your business data, contact our experts at Kortek Solutions today.