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If you're an SME, it's likely that Microsoft 365 serves as the backbone of your business's operations, providing cloud solutions for recording data and sharing resources, the means of communication through Outlook and Teams, and much more.

But while it's trusted by millions of business users worldwide, Gloucestershire-based managed services provider System Force IT warns that businesses shouldn't assume automatic protection against cyber threats and data loss, with further layers needed to ensure security.

Jez Walton, technical director at System Force, says: 'Microsoft 365 itself is one of the most secure platforms a small business can build on. The problem is never the platform, it is the defaults. Every Microsoft 365 breach we investigate has the same shape: someone confused 'switched on' with 'configured properly'. Those are two very different things.'

A key way that businesses can protect against data loss through Microsoft 365 is through using multi-factor identification (MFA), which adds an extra layer of security by requiring users to verify their identity through multiple methods.

System Force says stolen or weak passwords are one of the most common causes of breaches in SMEs. MFA ensures that logins require more than just a password, with employees needing to confirm access through a mobile device or biometric factor – making it nearly impossible for hackers to gain access, even if credentials are compromised.

Jez says: 'If a business asks me where to spend the next thirty minutes of IT time, the answer is always multi-factor authentication. It is genuinely the single biggest jump in security you can make in an afternoon. 

'We have watched MFA stop credential-stuffing attacks within hours of a password leaking on the dark web. Without it, the same attack ends with someone reading your invoices and pretending to be your finance director.'

It's also important to ensure emails sent from your Outlook accounts are only seen by the intended recipients – especially when sending sensitive information and documents like contracts or invoices – through using managed email encryption services.

Jez explains: 'Most business owners are surprised when we explain that a standard email is the digital equivalent of writing on a postcard. Anyone who handles it in transit, or anyone the recipient accidentally forwards it to, can read everything in it. 

'Managed encryption fixes that, particularly for the things that genuinely matter: contracts, invoices, anything containing client data, anything you would not want on the front page of the local paper.'

º£½ÇÉçÇøes can also enhance their security by employing advanced threat protection, which actively scans emails, attachments, and links to block phishing attempts, ransomware, and malware before they reach your inbox. System Force says by stopping threats at the source, you reduce the chances of employee error and prevent costly disruptions.

While data loss prevention tools are effective in blocking the flow of confidential data outside of your business, both preventing and flagging instances of sending or uploading files to unsecured sites.

'Most data leaks we investigate are not malicious', Jez says. 'They are an employee who is genuinely trying to be helpful, attaching the wrong spreadsheet to an email, or syncing a folder to a personal Dropbox to work on at home. 

'Data loss prevention catches those before they leave the building. It is also one of the controls cyber insurers increasingly want documented evidence of before they will renew your cover.'

And just in case the worst happens, System Force says it's important to have an effective backup in place for Microsoft 365, so that you can quickly restore your information following data corruption, accidental deletion or a cyberattack.

Jez explains: 'This is the single most misunderstood part of Microsoft 365. The platform is reliable, but it is not a backup. Microsoft holds deleted items for a limited window and then recycles them. If your finance team accidentally deletes a year of invoices and you discover it three months later, there is nothing for Microsoft to restore. A separate backup product solves it, and most businesses are genuinely shocked at how cheap it is once they price it.'

System Force is inviting Gloucestershire SMEs to find out more about Microsoft 365 security in the next of its free online webinars. 

To sign up for its Cloud and Microsoft 365 Security webinar – running live at 10.30am on Wednesday 10 June 2026 – and to find out more information, visit .

Its free guide to Microsoft 365 security 'quick wins' for businesses can be downloaded at ; and for details on how to get managed protection from the Gloucestershire provider, visit .