Office 365 ProPlus adds a new service, Security Policy Advisor

Last month, Microsoft introduced some improvements to Office 365 ProPlus, including the default installation of the 64-bit version of the Windows platform, the In-Place upgrade tool, and the deployment of Teams for businesses in the suite application by default. Today Microsoft launched the Security Policy Advisor for Office 365 ProPlus users, allowing users to manage their security policies in a more efficient manner. Microsoft said it will also introduce more security features for ProPlus users this year.

Office 365 ProPlus policy management is simplified on all devices, and in conjunction with the newly released Office Cloud Policy service, administrators can assign policies to users through the Azure Active Directory group and automatically deploy when the account is logged in.

Image: Microsoft

In addition, the new service caters to the dynamics of modern workplace policy development. The administrator monitors and highlights the impact of the policy on the employee, who can then decide whether to take action or otherwise take action on the proposed change. Group Policy Objects (GPOs) can run in parallel with the Office Cloud Policy Service and optionally retain existing policies.

“Security Policy Advisor changes the game with knowledge already available within your organization. It analyzes how individuals use Office and then recommends specific policies to boost your security profile. Even better, for each recommendation, you can see how people would be impacted, giving you greater confidence in choosing policies that are right for your environment. It may recommend, for example, disabling VBA macros in Word or macros in Excel files from the web—providing relevant threat intelligence (if available) and identifying just how frequently individuals in your group use those features and would be impacted by the policy.”

Currently, the Security Policy Advisor is only available in English (en-us). However, there will be wider service availability in the coming weeks.