Why Mobile Threat Defense is an Absolute Requirement to Protect O365/Teams Users & Zero Trust Efforts

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Why Mobile Threat Defense is an Absolute Requirement to Protect O365/Teams Users & Zero Trust Efforts

Government agencies’ usage of Microsoft Office 365 and Teams has skyrocketed (over 900% for some agencies). Unfortunately, the cyber threats to the GFE and BYOD mobile devices that are accessing O365 has also significantly increased. Without implementing mobile threat defense (MTD) solutions, agencies and their “Zero Trust” initiatives are exposed and at risk. 

Adversaries only need to find one unprotected device to wreak havoc on an agency’s infrastructure. The Mitre ATT&CK Matrix highlights the risks that mobile device management (MDM) products, virtual private networks (VPNs), and multi-factor authentication (MFA) products, do not address. 

Speaking of MFA, as government agencies are accelerating their reliance on Zero Trust and MFA strategies in light of remote working, the Achilles heel is being exposed: mobile devices. Mobile endpoints are the Achilles’ heels for these efforts since all of their power and strength can be brought down by compromising the mobile device being used for authentication.   

But there is hope. Zimperium and Microsoft have been protecting O365 and Teams users together way before the 2020 rush to remote working. We recently did a webinar together titled, “Top 5 Ways to Secure All Remote Workers With Microsoft & Zimperium” that went in depth on the topic, but I wanted to reiterate the two fundamental building blocks here. 

Foundationally, agencies need two core capabilities to secure O365 and Teams users and Zero Trust efforts:

  • Unified Endpoint Management (UEM): The ability to manage and remediate risks and threats is foundational to securing endpoints. For O365 and Teams implementations, the logical solution is Microsoft Endpoint Manager.
  • Mobile Threat Defense (MTD): Since UEMs have no ability to detect actual threats on mobile endpoints–device, network, phishing and malware attacks– protection strategies must include real-time MTD solutions. For O365 and Teams implementations, the best solution is Zimperium zIPS.

Manage mobile endpoints with Microsoft Endpoint Manager

You need to begin with a solid management foundation to build from – Microsoft Endpoint Manager. Microsoft Endpoint Manager provides a management framework for mobile endpoints and apps, including O365 and Teams. Microsoft Endpoint Manager helps focus on outcomes:

  • Are the right people on the right devices accessing the right information?
  • Is the data protected at all times?
  • Are the applications used to access data protected with policies?
  • Are all of my endpoints manageable from one location to ensure consistency in security and policy across all platforms?

Secure your mobile endpoints with Zimperium zIPS

Since UEMs like Microsoft Endpoint Manager were not designed to detect active attacks, you need to implement an MTD solution to complete protection. As the leading enterprise MTD solution available, Zimperium zIPS is the only mobile security solution offering real-time, on-device, machine learning-based detection and protection of known and unknown threats on Android, iOS and Chromebooks endpoints. 

zIPS runs locally on any mobile device and detects device, network, phishing and malicious app cyberattacks without a connection to the cloud. When zIPS detects suspicious activities on-device, it sends detailed information via zConsole to the UEM for policy-based remediations and threat forensics data to SIEMs and XDR/Next-generation SIEMS like Microsoft Sentinel for SOC analysis.

zIPS’ unique ability to detect on-device and in real-time is critical to protecting Zero Trust. If MTD protection is not always-on, well then, it’s not always-on and a dependency on a cloud connection by default disables your Zero-Trust posture.  

By ensuring mobile endpoints, and the networks they are utilizing, have not been compromised, Zimperium ziPS protects O365/Teams users and Zero Trust access simultaneously. In fact, zIPS is not only the most effective detection solution available, it is also the most enterprise ready (especially for Microsoft environments since it is the only major MTD solution that can operate on Azure cloud and is integrated with Microsoft Sentinel) and was the first solution to receive FedRAMP authority to operate (ATO).

Contact us

0365/Teams users and Zero Trust efforts must have MTD, and Zimperium zIPS is the best MTD solution available. Want to learn more? Contact us and we would be happy to discuss it further or show you why we are so confident in making that statement. If you would like to learn more about actual mobile attacks and what enterprises and agencies can do to protect themselves, please download our “Anatomy of a Mobile Attacks” whitepaper.

 

Jim Kovach
Author: Jim Kovach
Mobile Security Specialist, Public Sector. View the author's experience and accomplishments on LinkedIn.