Microsoft releases enhanced protections for ransomware aimed at small businesses

In the face of growing danger from cyber threats such as ransomware and phishing, Microsoft have released an upgraded set of features for their Microsoft 365 business edition in the hopes of safeguarding small businesses.

Microsoft has said that Microsoft 365 Business will now include sophisticated scanning of attachments and AI-powered analysis to uncover and destroy malicious messages. The updates also include automatic checking of links in emails and full device protection to prevent devices from accessing ransomware and other suspicious web locations.

Together with these updates, Microsoft 365 Business subscribers will also be able to protect important banking information such as credit card numbers, because of improved data loss protections which will help to identify, monitor and protect sensitive information. They will also provide information protection procedures in Outlook, email archiving, preservation policies and BitLocker device encryption on all Windows devices.

The latest updates from Microsoft come after a recent report from security watchdog SonicWall who found that British businesses and organisations in the UK face almost 40 attacks every day from cyber criminals.

What is ransomware?

Ransomware is a dangerous form of malware which locks a computer user’s files away from them and demands a payment to return them. However, quite often the files are never returned, despite the victim paying their ransom. Ransomware can cause huge disruption to a business, not only to the loss of data and down time to get things up and running again but also through the potential for financial losses and risk to their reputation.

Here at ECL we have extensive experience in protecting businesses against the latest malware, computer hacks, viruses, spam, phishing scams and other threats and can advise you on the best methods of protecting your business. We can also help businesses to update their systems to run the latest and most secure version of Windows available. For more information please, please call us on 01268 575300 or email us on info@ecl.co.uk.