12 Microsoft 365 Security Features and Best Practice Guidance – 4: Secure Score: Measuring and Improving Your Security Posture

HybrIT Marketing
May 14
2 min read

What is it?

Microsoft Secure Score is a built-in tool within Microsoft 365 that helps you understand and improve your organisation’s security posture. It analyses your environment and provides a numerical score (out of a possible maximum) based on your current configuration and behaviours. It also recommends specific actions you can take to strengthen your security.

Secure Score can be accessed through the Microsoft Defender portal and gives you a straightforward way to track your progress over time as you implement best practice improvements.

Why is this important?

Gives you a clear, quantifiable measure of how secure your Microsoft 365 environment is
Identifies weaknesses or misconfigurations you might not be aware of
Helps prioritise the most impactful security changes
Encourages continuous improvement over time
Allows benchmarking against similar organisations in your industry

A high Secure Score doesn’t guarantee full protection, but it’s a reliable indicator that you’re actively reducing your exposure to threats.

What plans is it included in?

Secure Score is available across all Microsoft 365 plans that include:

Microsoft Defender for Office 365
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 E3 and E5
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (for some metrics)
Azure AD Premium P1/P2 (for identity-related actions)

The depth of insights and the improvement actions may vary depending on your licensing level.

Real world scenario

One of our clients in the manufacturing sector had grown rapidly and adopted Microsoft 365 across their global workforce. However, their Secure Score was sitting below 30 percent, indicating a large number of unaddressed security issues.

Through our Managed Microsoft Security service, HybrIT conducted a full security assessment. We:

Enabled MFA for all users
Applied conditional access policies to block risky sign-ins
Hardened email security through Defender for Office 365
Removed legacy authentication protocols
Introduced regular reviews of Secure Score improvement actions

Over a six-month period, their Secure Score rose from 29 to 72. More importantly, they saw a sharp decline in phishing attempts reaching end users and increased confidence from their stakeholders around data security.

How HybrIT can help configure this

HybrIT can support your business by:

Reviewing your current Secure Score and explaining key findings
Prioritising the most effective improvements tailored to your business
Implementing configuration changes securely and in line with Microsoft best practice
Setting up regular score tracking and alerts
Training your internal team on what the numbers mean and how to act on them

We don’t just give you a report – we act on the results.

Best practice tips

Turn on MFA for all users – still one of the most effective defences
Review Secure Score monthly – make it part of your security routine
Don’t chase the number blindly – focus on relevant improvements for your environment
Use conditional access – block access from risky locations or devices
Disable legacy authentication – it’s an easy win that boosts your score and cuts down on risk
Train your users – human error is still the biggest weakness in most setups
Use Secure Score as a talking point – share progress with leadership to keep security on the agenda