What steps are you taking to make sure your business is doing all it can to reduce risk and be cyber safe?

One thing that can be a guiding light for Australian businesses is the Essential Eight, developed by the Australian Cyber Security Centre.

It is a condensed and prioritized list of their Strategies to Mitigate Cyber Security Incidents and is a great starting point for all businesses. The list includes...

- application control
- patch application
- Microsoft Office macro settings
- user application hardening
- restrict admin privileges
- patch operating systems
- multi-factor authentication
- daily backups

We've spoken before about Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and the importance of keeping your software updated, but which of these are you implementing in your business?

Tips and Tricks on Mac and Window computers

There are so many tips and tricks in both Windows and Mac environments that many people just don't know about.

Many of these can save minutes, or even hours.

Who doesn't want a more efficient and productive team?

Here's a great one if you're a Windows user that will change your life! Our team can't imagine life without it.

The Windows key, along with the "V" key, allows you to access the clipboard history feature in Windows 10.

By pressing the Windows key + V, you can access a list of items that you've previously copied or cut to the clipboard.

If you have enabled it yet, then the first time you use Windows + V it will ask if you want to turn this feature on.

This feature allows you to quickly paste items that you've copied earlier, without having to switch back and forth between windows.

With the clipboard history feature, you can save time and work more efficiently by quickly accessing your copied items without having to navigate through multiple windows.

Give it a go, and let me know what you think in the comments!

Now how's that for increasing your Cyber Intelligence? 😄

Have you ever wished that you could keep all of your notes and ideas in one place?

If so, then Microsoft 365 Onenote may be the tool for you. This powerful application has been designed to help busy professionals streamline their workflows, improve collaboration, and increase productivity. Keep reading to find out how this innovative program can help you manage your projects with ease.

Microsoft 365 Onenote is a digital notebook application that allows users to easily store and organise notes, documents, images, audio files, and more. A powerful feature is that all content is searchable, including specific parts of videos, as these are transcribed, and even handwriting. I can personally vouch for this, as my own handwriting would rival that of most doctors and the search feature still works with it!

It's an integral part of the Microsoft Office suite of applications and can be accessed from any device with an internet connection - including iPhones, iPads, Android devices, Macs and PCs. With Onenote, users can quickly access all of their notes from any location.

We like to think of it as a digital scrapbook.

Onenote offers a range of features that make it easy to organise notes and documents.

These include:

• A tabbed note-taking interface that lets users easily switch between different topics;

• The ability to share notebooks with colleagues or clients;

• The ability to add tags for easier organisation;

• A powerful search functionality;

• The ability to create checklists;

• Powerful collaboration tools such as real-time co-authoring;

• Easy integration with Outlook tasks;

• Mobile synchronisation across devices.

These features provide users with a range of benefits such as improved project management capabilities, better team collaboration, increased productivity levels and more effective communication between teams.

In addition, Onenote comes equipped with built-in security features which ensure data remains safe at all times.

While the possibilities are endless when it comes to using Microsoft 365 Onenote for business purposes, some popular use cases include:

- project tracking & management
- meeting minutes & action items tracking
- document storage & sharing

All these tasks can be easily managed within the same platform which makes it easier for businesses of all sizes to stay organised and efficient while minimizing costs associated with manual processes due to its low cost subscription model compared to traditional software solutions.

As you can see from this overview of Microsoft 365 Onenote's features and benefits, it's clear that this powerful program can help busy professionals streamline their workflows, improve collaboration, and increase productivity. Whether you're looking for a way to store documents securely or need an easy way to track projects across teams, Microsoft 365 Onenote has something for everyone.

Securing your business using Microsoft 365 Compliance Centre

In today’s digital world, data security is essential to the success of any business.

As technology advances, so do the threats to your data.

To mitigate these risks, businesses must be proactive in protecting their data from malicious actors, inside and out.

From our experience, Microsoft 365 has the edge over Google Workspace when it comes to managing and reporting on cyber security in an organisation.

However, neither platform is as secure as it could and should be out of the box.

For businesses that use Microsoft 365, that’s where Microsoft 365 Compliance Centre comes in. This powerful tool helps businesses ensure that their data is secure and compliant with industry regulations.

Microsoft 365 Compliance Centre is a cloud-based platform that provides end-to-end visibility into your organisation's security state and compliance posture. It offers advanced analytics, reporting, and insights into your data security posture, as well as real-time alerts when suspicious activity is detected. With these features, businesses can quickly identify potential threats and take the necessary steps to protect their data.

Microsoft 365 Compliance Centre offers numerous benefits to businesses looking to secure their data assets. For example, it provides organisations with an automated way to monitor activities across all devices in their environment, including mobile devices, in order to detect suspicious behaviour and prevent potential attacks before they happen.

Additionally, it helps organizations stay compliant with industry regulations by providing detailed reports on all areas of compliance risk, such as user access rights and personal identifiable information (PII) storage.

Finally, Microsoft 365 Compliance Centre also includes built-in intelligence capabilities that allow organisations to quickly respond to threats or anomalies in near real-time.

One of the most important features of Compliance Centre is the Microsoft Secure score, which is a measurement of an organisation's security posture, with a higher number indicating more recommended actions taken.

Most clients we onboard have a secure score of around 20%, however, for SME businesses you should be aiming for between 60-70%. Anything above that is dependent on whether or not you're an enterprise organisation with relevant enterprise licensing.

Microsoft 365 Compliance Centre is the perfect solution for businesses looking to secure their data assets from external threats or malicious actors while ensuring compliance with industry regulations.

This powerful tool can help protect your business from potential cyber-attacks and is an integral part of keeping you compliant with applicable laws and regulations and managing your business's cyber security strategy.

How do you ensure your business is running as efficiently and productively as possible?

If you're a Microsoft 365 business, a relatively new feature called Viva Insights allows you can gain actionable insights into the productivity of your business and maximise the performance of each team member.

Microsoft 365 Viva Insights is an AI-powered workplace analytics tool that helps businesses stay competitive and productive in today’s digital workspace. It provides insights into employee engagement, team collaboration, workflows, and performance to help you optimize your processes and make data-driven decisions.

Viva Insights is packed with features that can benefit businesses of all sizes. Here are a few of its key features:

💥 Dashboard - An intuitive dashboard makes it easy for you to access all of your analytics in one place. You can view summary reports as well as drill down into detailed reports on topics such as employee engagement or team collaboration.

💥 Insights - The insights feature allows you to track metrics such as user adoption, meeting quality metrics, active collaboration trends, top contributors, sentiment analysis, and more. This gives you an understanding of how your employees are working together so that you can optimise their performance.

💥 Collaboration Tools - Microsoft 365 Viva Insights also includes tools for collaboration such as relationships mapping which helps identify the most connected people in your organisation; knowledge sharing which helps teams find experts quickly; and pulse surveys which give employees quick feedback on topics such as diversity or work/life balance.                  

Here are a few examples of how businesses can use the platform:

💥 HR departments can use the insights feature to better understand employee engagement levels across different departments or teams so they can target initiatives accordingly;

💥 CIOs can use the dashboard to view summary reports on IT utilisation and user adoption rates so they can adjust their strategies accordingly;

💥 Managers can use the collaboration tools to get quick feedback from their teams on topics such as diversity or work/life balance;

💥 Sales teams can use the relationships mapping feature to quickly identify experts who could help close deals faster;

💥 Product teams can use the knowledge sharing feature to quickly find answers when researching new ideas or initiatives.  

Microsoft 365 Viva Insights offers a wealth of features that could benefit any business looking to stay competitive in today’s digital workspace. From dashboards for tracking KPIs to insights for gaining a deeper understanding of employee engagement levels, this platform has something for everyone.