The Top 10 Office 365 Protection Solutions

Acronis provides backup, disaster recovery and secure data access solutions. Their Cyber Protect Cloud backup solution provides users with backup and recovery services for Microsoft 365, as well as email security, endpoint protection, and data loss prevention. The solution offers simplified, at-a-glance reporting for more streamlined operations alongside the ability to group manage multiple workloads and centralized protection plans.

Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud Backup Features:

• Anti-ransomware technology with built-in automatic recovery enhanced with AI-based static and behavior anti-malware analysis
• Assesses and scores based on security metrics, identifying gaps and providing recommendations on how to improve
• Assess machines for vulnerabilities to ensure all applications are up to date
• Simplified, at-a-glance reporting for more streamlined operations
• The ability to group manage multiple workloads and centralized protection plans
• Secure file sync and share capabilities

Pricing And Plans: Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud for Microsoft 365 starts at $139, with optional add-ons available. This plan protects Microsoft 365 data stored in Exchange Online, OneDrive for Business, SharePoint Online, and Teams.

Expert Insights’ Comments: Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud works to combat advanced cyber-attacks via unified protection technologies that simplify daily IT operation, endpoint deployments, and management, as well as reporting functionality. Acronis provide secure backup for O365 with secure file sync and sharing capabilities. Users of the solutions praise the straightforward installation and setup, as well as the comprehensive feature set. We would recommend this solution to organizations looking for an all-in-one solution backup and security solution which focuses on threat prevention.

Avanan’s email and application security solution is cloud-based and capable of providing advanced protection against phishing, account compromise, and malware. This solution offers powerful email protection, analyzing all inbound, outbound, and internal communication from both email, and Office 365 messaging applications such as OneDrive and Teams, securing them against data loss threats and advanced social engineering attacks.

Avanan Features:

• Anti-phishing tools utilize advance ML algorithms and connects via API behind Microsoft 365’s default security
• Zero-day malware protection and antivirus which run on your cloud applications, blocking any malicious files
• Data loss prevention – control who has access to data and how it is shared
• Automated encryption and sharing policies help to ensure compliance regulations are met without sacrificing functionality

Pricing And Plans: Avanan offers a range of pricing options. For SMBs under 500 they have Protect, Advanced Protect and Complete Protect. Protect offers protection from advanced phishing, malicious links or files, Advanced Protect adds to these features threat emulation of files and links for zero-day protection, and Complete Protect expands further to include data loss prevention and encryption. The cost of each of these options varies depending on if you require email only protection, or emails and collaboration, and can be found on their website. For enterprises over 500 users, education sectors, and government organizations, contact Avanan directly for a quote.

Expert Insights’ Comments: Avanan operates from within the email environment, working seamlessly with Google Workspace and Office 365, so users have the option to deploy it on the Office 365 app or to configure in manually in moments. Users praise the easy onboarding and strong set of features. We would recommend this solution to organizations of any size that are looking for comprehensive, multi-layered security for email and Microsoft Teams, capable of blocking both internal and external attacks.

CloudAlly (acquired in 2021 by OpenText) is a leader in cloud-based data protection for small and midsized businesses. Their enterprise grade backup and recovery solution, CloudAlly Backup for Microsoft 365, integrates seamlessly with all Microsoft 365 plans and supports backup and recovery for all M365 data (this includes Calendar, Mail, Tasks, and Contacts), as well as OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint.

CloudAlly Backup for Microsoft 365 Features:

• Intelligent workforce management – simplify the process of on and offboarding employees with bulk activation and automated addition/deletion of users
• Fast and easy recovery of data without overwriting existing information using point-in-time, non-destructive restore
• Intuitive user interface allows for fast and simple out-of-the-box usage with two-click recovery
• Microsoft Office 365 administrators have access to advanced user management, transparent status monitoring, email alerts, and activity logs
• Backups are protected with AES-256 encryption at rest and in transit

Pricing And Plans: Microsoft 365 backup pricing from CloudAlly can be paid for in three ways. The Monthly costs is $3 per month per user (free trial available), or Yearly at $30 per year, per user (free trial available). Details of the Enterprise plan can be given through contacting Microsoft directly.

Expert Insights’ Comments: CloudAlly Backup for Microsoft 365 is one of the few Microsoft 365 backup providers capable of backing up all aspects of Office 365, including Teams, and Groups. The solution is very easy to configure and deploy, making it simple to restore data. CloudAlly also provides backup for Salesforce, Google Workspace, Box, and DropBox. We would recommend this solution to organizations who prioritize a reliable yet streamlined process.

Hornetsecurity is a provider of next-generation cloud-based security, security awareness, compliance, and backups solutions. Their solution, 365 Total Backup, (formally Altaro Office 365 Backup), is designed to effectively backup Microsoft Office 365 mailboxes, OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint files automatically. It is a feature rich solution with a range of backup, recovery, management, and storage capabilities.

Hornetsecurity 365 Total Backup Features:

• Auto creation of backups
• Ability to fully restore mailboxes or granular restore
• Restore from any point in time
• A single cloud console to monitor and manage backups
• Audit log
• Advanced security with AES 256 encryption

Pricing And Plans: Hornetsecurity offers a free trial of their solution. They provide a price calculator that gives you a price based on subscription length and number of users. Committing to a two-year subscription gives you a 5% discount, while a three-year subscription gives you a 10% discount.

Expert Insights’ Comments: Hornetsecurity’s automated backup and recovery solution for data protection and security allows you to back up and protect all your Microsoft 365 and Windows-based endpoints easily. This solution is scalable and feature rich, making it is a suitable service for organizations of any size who are looking to comprehensively protect their Office 365 mailboxes, as well as their SharePoint and OneDrive document libraries.

IRONSCALES is a powerful email security solution which protects Office 365 against phishing, credential theft, and business email compromise (BEC). As a fully cloud-based solution that works at the mailbox level, IRONSCALES is able to identify suspicious email activity and send a warning banner to alert users of the potential risk, helping to avoid a successful attack while minimally impacting productivity.

IRONSCALES Features:

• Quick deployment via Microsoft graph API
• Smart dashboard – triage and prioritize incidents
• Machine learning-powered threat detection – uses contextual analysis to identity malicious or unusual behaviors and automatically remove harmful content
• Crowdsourced threat intelligence – a threat detected in one inbox leads to threat remediation being pushed out across all IRONSCALES linked inboxes
• Automatically perform a 90-day scan of mailboxes to build a baseline for user behavior
• Security awareness training

Pricing And Plans: IRONSCALES offer three subscription plans for businesses. Their Starter plan is free for up to 500 mailboxes and includes phishing simulation testing, reporting, SSO integration, and a mobile app for Security Admins. Email Protect is $6 per mailbox, per month, and includes everything is the Starter plan plus ransomware and malware protection, crowdsources threat intelligence, and BEC protection. Complete Protect is $8.33 per mailbox, per month and includes all features of the previous two plans as well as account takeover detection and response, security awareness protection, and Microsoft Teams Protection. For Enterprise, Government, or Education organizations, pricing can be found by contacting IRONSCALES directly.

Expert Insights’ Comments: IRONSCLAES is a market leading solution for protecting against sophisticated email threats, including targeted spear-phishing and business email compromise. Users praise the automated threat protection as well as the community aspect provided by the crowdsourced threat intelligence and warning banners placed on email messages automatically. We would recommend this solution to organizations looking for a comprehensive, all-in-one approach to protecting against email threats.

ManageEngine are a provider of IT software designed to streamline the process of managing your IT operations and maintain your overall security posture. ManageEngine M365 Manager Plus is an extensive Microsoft 365 tool designed to report, manage, monitor, audit, and create alerts regarding critical activities. The solution enables teams to manage a range of Microsoft 365 services in one place.

ManageEngine M365 Manager Plus Features:

• Comprehensive reports give insights into mailbox content, traffic, and user activity
• Online auditing capabilities address mailbox creation and deletion, mailbox permission changes, and mobile device discovery
• Management capabilities let you enable and disable mailboxes in bulk, configure mailbox auto reply, and set mailbox features
• Health and performance monitoring of endpoint provides real-time alerts, and historical data

Pricing And Plans: ManageEngine M365 Manager Plus offers convenient pricing for enterprises of all sizes. Pricing for this solution varies depending on the number of users/mailboxes and starts at $345 for 100 users (Standard Edition) and $595 for 100 users for the Professional Edition.

Expert Insights’ Comments: ManageEngine 365 Manager Plus is a comprehensive Office 365 management solution that users rate highly for its monitoring capabilities and granular control in particular. We would recommend this solution for organizations of any size looking for a solution that can ease compliance management and offer advanced auditing and alerting features to keep their Microsoft 365 setup protected.

Microsoft Entra is Microsoft’s comprehensive identity and access management suite, which works with the full range of Microsoft tools; these include Microsoft Azure Active Directory, Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM), and decentralized identity to provide secure access for necessary users. The sign-in process remains simplified, unified, and secure. It enables teams to manage, secure and monitor all O365 identities.

Microsoft Entra Features:

• Effectively secure all identities including employees, customers, partners, apps, and workloads across all environments
• Provide only the essential access – limit permissions, ensure access lifecycles are managed, and make sure access for any identity operated on a least privilege principle
• Maintain a high level of user productivity via a simplified experience that hardly impacts on resources access

Pricing And Plans: A free trial of Microsoft Entra is available. For pricing information, contact the sales team directly.

Expert Insights’ Comments: Microsoft Entra put users in a position of control over their own identity by allowing them to safely manage their digital and real-world identities through effective identification methods. Entra provides verification for all identity types and gives admins the ability to secure, manage, and govern access to important resources. We would recommend Microsoft Entra to organizations looking to implement native authentication and single sign-on for Office 365 accounts.

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 (previously known as ATP) is a security solution developed by Microsoft for enterprise clients who use Office 365. This platform supports users in protecting themselves against a number of different malicious emails threats, including malicious URLs, phishing emails, and threats to collaboration tools. Defender comes included in certain Office 365 subscriptions, like Enterprise E5, but can also be obtained as an added solution.

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Features:

• Uses industry-leading AI to detect malicious and suspicious content and correlate attack patterns to identify campaigns specifically designed to evade protection
• Robust filtering stack prevents a wide variety of volume-based and targeted attacks including business email compromise, credential phishing, ransomware, and advanced malware
• Enhanced visibility and hunting capabilities let you track attacks across Office 365
• Extensive incident response and automation capabilities supports the security team’s effectiveness
• Simulations and training capabilities for building user awareness
• Simplified configuration guidance tools to identity coverage gaps

Pricing And Plans: Microsoft Defender for Office 365 offers two plans. Plan 1 is $2 (per user, per month) and offers protection against advanced attacks, including internal email protection and detailed reporting. Plan 2 is $5 (per user, per month) and offers everything in Plan 1 plus advanced threat hunting, automation, attack simulation training and cross domain XDR capabilities.

Expert Insights’ Comments: Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is a strong email security solution offering user native protection for Office 365, as well as industry leading AI and automations. Users rate it highly and praise how seamless it is, operating in the background without causing disruption. We would recommend this solution to organizations looking for a feature rich solution that takes a comprehensive approach to preventing email attacks, with native deployment and automated threat detection.

Okta is a cloud-based identity and access management platform that supports Office 365 users in securing access to business resources with adaptive authentication and single sign-on solutions. Their MFA solution, Okta Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication, provides users with strong authentication control with a wealth of out-of-the-box integrations for cloud tools and applications. It also offers custom built applications to support a smooth login experience for all overs, on all devices, across all accounts.

Okta Adaptive Multi-Factor Authentication Features:

• Secure authentication for all environments – protects identity and access to data wherever users or data is located
• Adaptive and risk-based capabilities – allows for dynamic policy changes and step-up authentication based of changes to user and device behavior
• Comprehensive second factors and assurance levels – a full range of second factors are available, spanning all assurance levels, so the appropriate authentication strategies can be applied to the right circumstance
• Integrates with thousands of web apps through standards-based protocols, capable of centrally enforcing MFA across them all
• Supports integrations with other security tools such as SIEMs, CASBs, and network security devices

Pricing And Plans: Okta Adaptive MFA is $6 per user, per month. For MFA on its own the cost is $3 per user, per month. Contact the sales team at Okta for further details.

Expert Insights’ Comments: Okta’s solution is a cloud-based authentication solution that enables teams to secure O365 accounts, with MFA and SSO, offering granular customizations and comprehensive integrations. Users rate Okta highly for its ease of use and comprehensive feature set. We would recommend this solution of mid-to-large organizations interested in powerful but easy-to-manage authentication and SSO tools for their workforce applications, including Office 365.

Ping Identity provide identity and access management solutions designed to ensure safe access to user accounts and cloud applications such as Office 365, while keeping the overall login experience streamlined and unobtrusive. Their solution, PingOne, is an adaptive, risk-based, authentication solution which works to secure access to all corporate applications, this includes both cloud and on-prem apps like the Office 365 suite, while ensuring the user experience is streamlined and easy-to-manage.

Ping Identity PingOne Features:

• Centralized authentication services – allows you to connect a user in any directory, accessing any app, hosted in any cloud, in any situation
• Ease of orchestration – lets you design and manage frictionless, secure employee access
• SSO and MFA for employees and partners
• A centralized management portal with self-service APIs, templates, and delegated administration capabilities
• Cloud directory and enterprise integrations enable a single source of truth

Pricing And Plans: Ping Identity offers three tiers for their PingOne solution. The first of these is Essential, which offers centralized SSO, MFA and integration with your Microsoft environment for $3 per user, per month. Next is Pluswhich adds to these features enhanced security and intelligent adaptive authentication, and cost $6 per user, per month. Final there is Premium for the more demanding and complex use cases; this expands upon the capabilities of the previous tiers to include SSO for non-standard apps and multi-cloud, hybrid environments (contact the sales team for pricing information).

Expert Insights’ Comments: Ping Identity is a market leading authentication provider, enabling security teams to implement a streamlined, hands-off approach to identity and access management with wide support for authentication methods. Users rate the solution highly for its easy configuration and strong functionality. We would recommend PingOne from Ping Identity to organizations looking for customizable, adaptive authentication to prevent the compromise of their Microsoft Office 365 accounts, and other third-party SaaS applications and internal applications.