Microsoft to add new security features to its cloud services

In April 2016, the company will release a new product called Microsoft Cloud App Security that will allow customers to gain better visibility, control and security for data hosted in cloud apps like Office 365, Box, SalesForce, ServiceNow and Ariba. The new product is based on technology from Adallom, a cloud access security broker Microsoft acquired in September 2015.

Office 365 will also get some new security management capabilities that will be integrated with Microsoft Cloud App Security. These include security alerts that notify administrators of suspicious activity in the service; cloud app discovery that lets IT departments know the cloud services Office 365 users are connecting to; and app permissions, allowing administrators to revoke or approve third-party services that users can connect to Office 365.

Microsoft also plans to roll out Customer Lockbox for SharePoint Online and OneDrive, which will boost the customer approval process and will provide transparency in situations when Microsoft engineers need to access Office 365 accounts and data to troubleshoot problems.

Azure Active Directory Identity Protection is a new feature that will enter public preview next week. It will be able to detect suspicious end user activities by using Microsofts data on brute force attacks, leaked credentials, authentications from unfamiliar locations and known infected devices.

Microsoft also built its threat intelligence into its Operations Management Suite, where it can detect when systems are communicating with known malicious IP addresses by analyzing firewall logs, wire data or IIS logs.