Microsoft 365 Security Assessment

A fixed-scope review of your Microsoft 365 tenant: Entra ID, Exchange Online, SharePoint, Teams, Defender, and Purview, with findings ranked by exploitability.
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Definition

What is a Microsoft 365 security assessment?

A Microsoft 365 security assessment is a fixed-scope technical review of one tenant: Entra ID conditional access and MFA coverage, Exchange Online transport rules and anti-phish policies, SharePoint and OneDrive sharing, Teams external access, Defender for Office 365, Purview data protection, and audit logging. Configuration is measured against the CIS Microsoft 365 Benchmark, and Secure Score is read with judgment rather than chased point by point. The deliverable is a findings register ranked by exploitability, a remediation plan sequenced by risk, and the configuration evidence to prove each fix closed. Our cloud security assessment covers AWS, Azure, and GCP infrastructure. This engagement covers the tenant where your identity, mail, and files actually live.

Services

What does the Microsoft 365 security assessment cover?

Entra ID and conditional access
Exchange Online and Defender
SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams
Purview data protection
Audit logging and detection
Secure Score and CIS Benchmark

Entra ID identity review

Conditional access policies tested against the sign-in log, MFA coverage measured per user rather than per policy, legacy authentication protocols enumerated, and privileged roles reviewed for standing access. Findings cite the CIS Microsoft 365 Benchmark control and the affected policy or account.

Exchange Online and Defender for Office 365

Transport rules and mailbox forwarding audited for exfiltration paths, with anti-phish, anti-spoofing, Safe Links, and Safe Attachments policies reviewed against Microsoft's recommended baselines. Business email compromise usually starts in mailbox rules, so this section gets read line by line.

SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams sharing

Sharing link defaults, anonymous link scope and expiration, site-level external sharing overrides, and Teams external access and guest settings, traced to the sites and files they expose. The question that matters is what a guest or an anonymous link holder can actually open.

Purview: DLP, labels, and retention

Data loss prevention policies, sensitivity label deployment, and retention configuration reviewed against how your data actually moves. Available controls differ by license tier: E5 adds auto-labeling and broader DLP coverage, so recommendations name what your tier supports before proposing an upgrade.

Audit logging and detection coverage

Unified audit log status, retention window by license tier, mailbox auditing, and alert policies checked against the incidents you would most need to reconstruct. A tenant that cannot answer who accessed what has an evidence problem before it has a breach problem.

Secure Score and CIS Benchmark mapping

Every finding maps to the CIS Microsoft 365 Foundations Benchmark, and Secure Score is interpreted with judgment: some high-point actions do little for your threat model while unscored gaps matter more. Where a fix also satisfies SOC 2, ISO 27001, or HIPAA evidence needs, the report says which control it closes.

Our approach

Our approach

01

Scope the tenant

One tenant, its domains, and the license mix in play. E3 and E5 expose different controls, so we confirm the tier up front because it changes what we test and what we can recommend.

02

Collect read-only

Configuration is pulled through Graph API and admin center exports under a read-only role you provision and can revoke. No agents, no configuration changes, and no access to message or file content.

03

Benchmark, then verify

Automated checks against the CIS Microsoft 365 Benchmark, then manual review of what tooling cannot judge: whether a conditional access exclusion is a service account or a hole, and whether a transport rule is routing or exfiltration.

04

Rank and hand off

Findings are ranked by exploitability, sequenced into a remediation plan, and delivered with the configuration evidence to prove closure. Remediation typically takes one to three weeks of admin time, driven by tenant size and change control.

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Know what your tenant would give an attacker?

Speak with BD Emerson about scoping an assessment of your Microsoft 365 tenant, from Entra ID to Purview.

Our Advantage

Why BD Emerson for Microsoft 365 security

Identity first

The review starts with Entra ID because most tenant compromises start with a signed-in account. Conditional access gaps and legacy authentication outrank cosmetic findings in every report we deliver.

Exploitability over score

Findings are ranked by what an attacker can reach from where, so your first remediation sprint removes real risk. Secure Score rises as a side effect rather than as the goal.

Evidence that carries to audit

Findings map to the CIS Microsoft 365 Benchmark and note where a fix satisfies SOC 2, ISO 27001, or HIPAA evidence needs. BD Emerson implements those frameworks and performs SOC 2 examinations through its CPA attest arm.

Reviews

What our customers say

Great consulting firms for scaling security, compliance, and appsec.

Outstanding partner in Technical and Cyber Due Diligence

Appsec maturity and application hardening.

BD Emerson helped us simplfiy our compliance management.

BD Emerson did such a phenomenal job. What started as privacy support quickly became a full partnership across compliance, engineering, and even business operations. They’re embedded with our team. They understand our product. They move fast. They’re simply invaluable.

Adam Ben Jacobs

CTO @ OneStep GPS

Great consulting firms for scaling security, compliance, and appsec.

Outstanding partner in Technical and Cyber Due Diligence

Appsec maturity and application hardening.

BD Emerson helped us simplfiy our compliance management.

BD Emerson did such a phenomenal job. What started as privacy support quickly became a full partnership across compliance, engineering, and even business operations. They’re embedded with our team. They understand our product. They move fast. They’re simply invaluable.

Adam Ben Jacobs

CTO @ OneStep GPS

We had a hard time finding the right company to partner with in support of our compliance journey. Some vendors sell the idea that they do the work, but then you end up doing everything. The ambiguity is what killed our last project. BD Emerson’s team has such great technical knowledge and understands the standard so well that they made us comfortable with moving fast. This has led to us closing major enterprise customers that were previously out of reach because of security and compliance.

Tom Watkins

CEO @ AMI AssetTrack

Lead an enterprise initiative to overhaul the organization's technology stack from ecommerce, corporate tech, and corporate security.

Supported ISO 42001 exercise and served as internal auditor.

Rubrik's privacy and compliance team began with the backbone of BD Emerson. BD Emerson supported building out the privacy program, GRC (ISO 27001, SOC 2, CMMC, FedRAMP), and the appsec function.

We needed a partner who could move quickly, without sacrificing precision. BD Emerson brought the expertise, structure, and speed we were looking for. Their team became an extension of ours, embedding themselves across the organization, guiding us step by step, and giving us confidence in areas we hadn’t tackled before. The internal audit they conducted was so detailed that even the external auditors called it out. Achieving ISO 27001 with zero nonconformities says everything you need to know about the quality of the partnership.

Walid Souilem

CTO @ FGI Worldwide

We had a hard time finding the right company to partner with in support of our compliance journey. Some vendors sell the idea that they do the work, but then you end up doing everything. The ambiguity is what killed our last project. BD Emerson’s team has such great technical knowledge and understands the standard so well that they made us comfortable with moving fast. This has led to us closing major enterprise customers that were previously out of reach because of security and compliance.

Tom Watkins

CEO @ AMI AssetTrack

Lead an enterprise initiative to overhaul the organization's technology stack from ecommerce, corporate tech, and corporate security.

Supported ISO 42001 exercise and served as internal auditor.

Rubrik's privacy and compliance team began with the backbone of BD Emerson. BD Emerson supported building out the privacy program, GRC (ISO 27001, SOC 2, CMMC, FedRAMP), and the appsec function.

We needed a partner who could move quickly, without sacrificing precision. BD Emerson brought the expertise, structure, and speed we were looking for. Their team became an extension of ours, embedding themselves across the organization, guiding us step by step, and giving us confidence in areas we hadn’t tackled before. The internal audit they conducted was so detailed that even the external auditors called it out. Achieving ISO 27001 with zero nonconformities says everything you need to know about the quality of the partnership.

Walid Souilem

CTO @ FGI Worldwide

BD Emerson didn’t just help us meet our compliance goals; they integrated security and privacy into the core of our operations. I highly recommend BD Emerson to anyone seeking SOC 2 or GDPR compliance, or simply looking to enhance their security team and boost customer trust in their product and services. Their dedication and expertise have been invaluable to our success.

Padraig Reilly

CEO, Boxcore

BD Emerson understood our business requirements and worked side-by-side with us. The policies and controls we developed together not only meet compliance standards but improve how we operate day to day.

Matt Meierdierks

IT Manager, Lincoln Industries

From day one, BD Emerson brought urgency, clarity, and a sharp understanding of what truly matters to our business — earning and keeping customer trust. They went beyond helping us meet compliance requirements; they helped build a foundation for secure, scalable growth. That kind of partnership is rare.

Jason Marker

CEO @ LifeLenz

BD Emerson didn’t just help us pass an audit—they helped us build a sustainable culture of security.

Alexey Indeev

CTO Spare

BD Emerson was essential in helping our company navigate the daunting process of leveling up our security infrastructure. BD Emerson’s impressive expertise and confidence throughout the process helped our team exceed HIPAA and SOC 2 Type 1 standards quickly, distilling what can be an overwhelming process into a streamlined, organized effort. From day one they began adding value and getting us on course. With their help we delivered on a massive security overhaul with both extreme efficiency and thorough attention to details. Because of BD Emerson’s support, we’ve increased our clients’ trust in Titan Intake and the life-changing work it accomplishes for those seeking specialist referrals.

Patrick Bruce

CEO, Titan Intake

BD Emerson didn’t just help us meet our compliance goals; they integrated security and privacy into the core of our operations. I highly recommend BD Emerson to anyone seeking SOC 2 or GDPR compliance, or simply looking to enhance their security team and boost customer trust in their product and services. Their dedication and expertise have been invaluable to our success.

Padraig Reilly

CEO, Boxcore

BD Emerson understood our business requirements and worked side-by-side with us. The policies and controls we developed together not only meet compliance standards but improve how we operate day to day.

Matt Meierdierks

IT Manager, Lincoln Industries

From day one, BD Emerson brought urgency, clarity, and a sharp understanding of what truly matters to our business — earning and keeping customer trust. They went beyond helping us meet compliance requirements; they helped build a foundation for secure, scalable growth. That kind of partnership is rare.

Jason Marker

CEO @ LifeLenz

BD Emerson didn’t just help us pass an audit—they helped us build a sustainable culture of security.

Alexey Indeev

CTO Spare

BD Emerson was essential in helping our company navigate the daunting process of leveling up our security infrastructure. BD Emerson’s impressive expertise and confidence throughout the process helped our team exceed HIPAA and SOC 2 Type 1 standards quickly, distilling what can be an overwhelming process into a streamlined, organized effort. From day one they began adding value and getting us on course. With their help we delivered on a massive security overhaul with both extreme efficiency and thorough attention to details. Because of BD Emerson’s support, we’ve increased our clients’ trust in Titan Intake and the life-changing work it accomplishes for those seeking specialist referrals.

Patrick Bruce

CEO, Titan Intake

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FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What does a Microsoft 365 security assessment include?

How is this different from your cloud security assessment?

How long does a Microsoft 365 security assessment take?

Do you need write access to our tenant?

Does the assessment help with SOC 2, ISO 27001, or HIPAA?

Is Secure Score enough on its own?

What do we get at the end?

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