Microsoft 365 Security Review Guide

The guide begins with user identities and account protection. It helps you review active accounts, former users, shared accounts, guest users and the process for adding, changing or removing access. It also covers multi-factor authentication and encourages closer examination of accounts that are excluded from normal security controls.

A dedicated administrator section helps you identify who holds privileged roles and whether those permissions remain necessary. It prompts you to separate everyday user activity from administrative work where appropriate and to ensure that emergency access arrangements are properly controlled.

The email and collaboration review covers suspicious forwarding rules, mailbox permissions, external sharing, Microsoft Teams access and how users exchange information with people outside the organisation. The aim is to make sharing deliberate and understandable without preventing legitimate collaboration.

The device section considers how computers and mobile devices access organisational information. It includes prompts covering device ownership, supported operating systems, encryption, screen locks, updates and the action taken when a device is lost, replaced or no longer used.

The guide also addresses file access, retention, recovery and audit visibility. It helps you ask where important information is stored, who can reach it, how deleted or changed content may be recovered and whether relevant activity records are available under your current configuration and licensing.

A final action plan allows each finding to be marked as confirmed, requiring investigation or needing improvement. You can assign an owner, priority and target review date rather than relying on an informal list of concerns.

This guide is intended for business owners, directors, operations managers, Microsoft 365 administrators and internal staff responsible for technology or information security.

It is particularly useful for small organisations that have adopted Microsoft 365 gradually, inherited settings from a previous provider or experienced changes in employees, contractors and working locations.

Professional firms can use it to review access to confidential client information. Charities and sports clubs can examine accounts shared between staff and volunteers. Remote teams can use it to consider how identities, devices and information are managed outside a central workplace.

Where the review identifies uncertainty or higher-risk settings, seek appropriate technical, legal or regulatory advice before making changes.