Completed across all six phases.
The Microsoft 365 baseline security engagement is complete across six phases: initial planning and assessment, followed by five delivery domains covering identity, email, endpoints, data protection and audit.
The implementation followed staged rollout and validation practices, with configuration and operational handover included in the delivery. Customer names, tenant identifiers, account details and internal policy prefixes are excluded from this public report.
5security delivery domains
107documented checklist items
The checklist counts describe the implementation documentation. Numerical before-and-after Secure Score results are not included in this public summary.
Delivered technical coverage
02Entra ID · PIM · Conditional Access
Identity & access
Established the identity foundation with privileged access controls, Conditional Access and MFA.
- Privileged access
A three-tier PIM model for eligible administrator roles, with activation controls and a separate emergency-access path.
- Conditional Access
Six policies covering MFA, legacy authentication, sign-in risk, user risk, location-based access and privileged access.
- Authentication
Authentication methods, MFA onboarding and Identity Protection policies, with emergency accounts excluded from normal access restrictions.
- Operational review
Role-assignment review, PIM alerting and a quarterly access-review cadence documented for ongoing administration.
18 ITEMS IN THE DOCUMENTED PHASE CHECKLIST
03Defender for Office 365 · Exchange Online
Email & threat protection
Hardened Microsoft 365 email and collaboration with Defender for Office 365.
- Links and attachments
Safe Links coverage across email, Office and Teams, plus separate standard and high-risk Safe Attachments policies.
- Phishing and impersonation
An anti-phishing baseline covering mailbox intelligence, spoofing and user/domain impersonation protection.
- Email authentication
DKIM configuration and validation, with SPF and staged DMARC alignment coordinated with the client’s DNS owners.
- Detection and response
Seven email alert categories, Automated Investigation and Response, Zero-hour Auto Purge and Threat Explorer access.
19 ITEMS IN THE DOCUMENTED PHASE CHECKLIST
04Defender for Endpoint · Intune
Endpoint security & management
Connected Defender for Endpoint and Intune to bring device health into access decisions.
- Endpoint protection
Defender for Endpoint settings, threat analytics, investigation/remediation controls and the Intune–Defender connector.
- Intune foundation
Enrollment and compliance configuration, six targeting groups, device categories and non-compliance notifications.
- Windows policy baseline
Five configuration profiles covering the security baseline, Defender, Firewall, BitLocker and a 16-rule ASR baseline.
- Application protection
Three app-protection tiers, managed application deployment and app configuration for Windows, iOS and Android.
- Onboarding handover
Windows enrollment guidance and the management foundation were delivered. Fleet-wide device enrollment execution was outside the engagement scope.
32 ITEMS IN THE DOCUMENTED PHASE CHECKLIST
05Purview · Sensitivity labels · DLP
Data protection & governance
Established a classification and protection framework using Microsoft Purview.
- Classification
Five top-level classifications, with protection settings and publishing policies for documents and email.
- Automatic classification
Four auto-labeling policy areas covering financial, personal, health and legal information, with staged review.
- Data loss prevention
Seven DLP policy areas spanning email, SharePoint/OneDrive and endpoint activities such as removable media, printing and uploads.
- Persistent protection
Five Rights Management templates and message-encryption configuration, including label-driven mail-flow protection.
20 ITEMS IN THE DOCUMENTED PHASE CHECKLIST
06Audit · Alerting · Secure Score
Audit, compliance & posture
Closed the engagement with audit coverage, operational alerting and a prioritised security-posture review.
- Audit coverage
Unified Audit Log and workload auditing reviewed, with retention and licensing dependencies recorded.
- Operational alerts
Twelve alert categories covering privileged activity, bulk operations, suspicious messaging, DLP events and endpoint threats.
- Posture assessment
Secure Score assessment and improvement-action review, with a prioritised remediation backlog.
- Handover
An executive security-posture summary, implementation references and operational next steps formed the closeout package.
18 ITEMS IN THE DOCUMENTED PHASE CHECKLIST
Scope & delivery ownership
The engagement is complete within its agreed scope. Activities assigned to client IT and separately scoped services are distinguished below.
Delivered scope
- Identity and privileged-access configuration.
- Email and collaboration protection.
- Intune and Defender for Endpoint management foundations.
- Purview classification, DLP and encryption configuration.
- Audit, alerting, posture assessment and documentation.
Engagement boundaries
- Windows device enrollment execution was excluded; onboarding guidance was delivered.
- DNS publishing and customer-owned inputs were coordinated with the client’s IT owners.
- Third-party SIEM integration, SOC operations, penetration testing and phishing simulations were separate services.
- Feature availability and retention remained subject to the tenant’s licensing entitlements.
Operational handover
01Configuration & implementation
Policy coverage, deployment sequencing, control dependencies and reusable engineering references.
Operations & ownership
Administrative access, alert handling, onboarding guidance and ongoing review responsibilities.
Posture & next steps
Audit coverage, licensing considerations, Secure Score assessment and prioritised remediation items.
Engineering toolkit
The engagement used a repeatable administrative toolchain for Microsoft 365, Azure and endpoint configuration.
