Microsoft 365 powers modern collaboration with tools like OneDrive, SharePoint, and Outlook, enabling seamless file sharing, communication, and productivity. However, this convenience introduces complex security challenges, including exposed data, overprivileged SaaS-to-SaaS integrations, weak identity security, and misconfigurations that attackers can exploit. Valence Security’s SaaS Security platform provides end-to-end protection by detecting, managing, and remediating risks across your Microsoft 365 environment.
Common Security Challenges Faced by Microsoft 365 Admins
As part of the Shared Responsibility Model in SaaS Security, Microsoft 365 secures application infrastructure, and provides numerous settings and features to strengthen security, but organizations remain responsible for protecting their data, identities, and third-party integrations. Without proper configuration, management, and regular auditing, these features can become ineffective. Common challenges include:
Misconfigurations
Security gaps often arise due to mismanaged settings or configuration drift over time. Attackers exploit issues like unenforced Conditional Access policies or poorly secured Global Administrator accounts, underscoring the need for continuous monitoring and proactive remediation.
SaaS-to-SaaS Integrations
Microsoft enterprise applications (the term used for third-party SaaS integrations) can often be granted excessively high privileges or remain active beyond their usage. Valence found that 65% of such integrations in Microsoft 365 are inactive, yet retain valid OAuth tokens, API keys, or service accounts, leaving organizations vulnerable to attacker exploitation.
Data Exposure
Sensitive data is stored in Outlook, OneDrive, and SharePoint, with sharing and collaboration features often leading to exposure risks, such as the use of open links, files with non-corporate emails, or external shares which remain active long after their intended usage, creating uncontrolled data exposure.
Unauthorized Access
Weak enforcement of multi-factor authentication (MFA) due to initial misconfigurations or exceptions allotted to external contractors, shared accounts, and for various other reasons require security teams manually search for where authentication gaps exist.
Valence addresses these challenges with a holistic approach that includes continuous configuration monitoring, proactive governance, and comprehensive risk remediation, empowering security teams to enforce critical policies such as MFA, manage user lifecycles and ensure timely offboarding, and protect sensitive data across Microsoft 365.
Real-World Example: The Midnight Blizzard Breach
The Midnight Blizzard breach highlights the dangers of misconfigurations and how they often combine to provide dangerous attack paths. Attackers launched a password spray attack on a Microsoft 365 test tenant without MFA, then gained access to a legacy OAuth token with access sensitive emails. Undeterred, they created additional malicious OAuth applications, extending their access while evading detection through residential proxies. This attack underscores the importance of enforcing MFA, managing non-human identities, and ensuring proper lifecycle management in SaaS—key areas where Valence excels.
Robust Microsoft 365 Security Made Simple
Valence’s SaaS Security platform combines SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM), SaaS risk remediation and SaaS Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR) capabilities to find and fix Microsoft 365 security risks and detect suspicious user activities that could indicate a breach attempt. Valence empowers security teams with:
SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM)
Valence provides unparalleled visibility into Microsoft 365 to help security teams monitor, detect, and address misconfigurations, risky SaaS integrations, and data exposure risks. Key features include:
- Configuration Monitoring: Audit and monitor security settings across OneDrive, SharePoint, Outlook, Teams, Exchange, Dynamics 365, Entra ID (formerly known as Azure Active Directory) and other Microsoft 365 apps to identify gaps and configuration drift
- Misconfiguration Detection: Detect issues like unprotected Global Administrator accounts, unenforced Conditional Access policies, unmanaged and local accounts, over-privileged or inactive non-human identities, and weak DLP settings
- Data Exposure Insights: Identify overexposed data in external file shares, shared documents with non-corporate emails, and open links across Microsoft 365 applications.
Valence empowers security teams with a flexible "Remediation by Choice" framework to address risks without disrupting business operations:
- Guided and Automated Remediation: Perform one-click fixes directly in Valence or apply automated workflows to resolve misconfigurations, data exposure risks, and inactive SaaS-to-SaaS integrations at scale
- Business User Collaboration: Enable business users to proactively address risks through Slack or email notifications, ensuring alignment with security policies while minimizing manual intervention
- Customizable Workflows: Tailor automated workflows for different scenarios, such as revoking inactive OAuth tokens or external data shares
SaaS Identity Threat Detection and Response (ITDR)
Strengthen human and non-human identity security within Microsoft 365 by detecting and responding to suspicious activity:
- Threat Detection: Monitor audit logs for suspicious behavior, including unauthorized access attempts, privilege escalation, or anomalous account activity
- Non-Human Identity Security: Secure API tokens, service accounts, and shadow IAM accounts while enforcing best practices for lifecycle management
- Enhanced Incident Response: Integrate with Microsoft Sentinel to accelerate detection and response for identity-based threats
