Strengthen Your Security Foundation with Microsoft 365 Baseline Security Mode
Microsoft has introduced Baseline Security Mode for Microsoft 365 tenants, delivering robust protection for essential services such as Microsoft 365 Apps, SharePoint, OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, Exchange Online, and the Entra Identity Platform. This new feature empowers administrators to evaluate and deploy a curated set of security policies, ensuring your organization’s environment is protected against evolving threats with minimal configuration effort.
What’s Included in Baseline Security Mode?
The initial rollout of Baseline Security Mode offers 20 configurable security settings spanning Entra ID, Exchange, Microsoft 365 Apps, SharePoint, and Teams. Administrators can deploy these policies directly from the Baseline Security Mode interface or adjust individual settings within each application’s admin center to meet organizational requirements.
To view and manage Baseline Security Mode settings:
- Go to the Microsoft 365 admin center and select Settings > Org Settings, then navigate to the Security & Privacy tab.
- Select Baseline Security Mode.
- In the fly-out pane, choose Open Baseline Security Mode.
How to Safely Deploy Baseline Security Mode?
Microsoft recommends running the built-in Impact Reports before enabling Baseline Security Mode to ensure there will be no disruption to your environment. Only proceed with deployment if the report indicates “Zero Impacts.” Please note that these settings are applied directly at the organization level, without phased rollout options.
Some of these settings, if implemented, may affect your existing use cases and business processes. Therefore, before applying Baseline Security Controls, review your organization’s history of change requests and any approved exceptions, as you may have already implemented stricter security controls or excluded certain settings for business reasons. To minimize risk and simplify troubleshooting, thoroughly review the documentation and apply settings individually during approved maintenance windows, following your organization’s change control processes.
Baseline Security Mode vs. Other Security Scores
Baseline Security Mode is a comprehensive feature that provides actionable security recommendations and policies, enabling organizations to establish a strong security posture across Microsoft 365 with ease.
- Secure Score is a measurement tool that reflects your current security posture and suggests improvement actions across Microsoft and third-party products.
- Identity Score and Security Defaults are preconfigured basic security settings, primarily focused on Entra ID features.
While Secure Score and Identity Score serve as measurement and recommendation tools, and Security Defaults offer basic preset configurations, Baseline Security Mode delivers a more holistic and flexible approach to implementing foundational security controls.
Conclusion:
Implementing Microsoft 365 Baseline Security Mode is an essential strategic move to enhance your organization’s security posture and protect critical business assets. Take action today—enable Baseline Security Mode to ensure continuous protection and peace of mind. For expert guidance or best practices, connect with our industry-leading experts team at service@helient.com.