Advanced Threat Protection and How It Defends Your Business

Advanced threat protection is a suite of detection and analysis tools that are specifically designed to discover and defend against security threats. Instead of replacing security tools, ATP augments them by searching for and eliminating attacks from known and unknown sources.

This represents a sophisticated, modern approach to cybercrime. Instead of simply deflecting attacks, ATP works to remedy those that have already succeeded by detecting suspicious network activity and responding quickly in the event of a detected breach.

Microsoft Office 365 is a complete set of business tools, and one of the important features of this software is the seamless security provided by applications designed to communicate with each other. Office 365 ATP uses policies that are configured by a system administrator and filters data, suspicious behavior, and other found anomalies at different levels; organization, domain, user, and recipient.

Advanced Threat Protection can protect email attachments, links, and files uploaded by users to OneDrive for Business, SharePoint Online, and Teams, as well as detect links to phishing websites, sites with uploaded malware code, and the presence of malicious code in downloaded/uploaded files. URL trace capabilities help system administrators block potential sources of threats and understand their nature and where they are coming from.

Policies – One of the great features of ATP is how customizable it is to certain situations. Policies determine how the software reacts to predefined threats and the protection level the ATP solution provides.

Safe Attachments – Malicious phishing emails typically come with an attachment that a user is tricked into opening. Safe attachments safeguard users by quarantining emails with attachments before they hit an inbox. The message is routed to a special environment, where attachment files are checked by using virus signatures, machine learning, and advanced analysis techniques to detect viruses. If there are no viruses detected in the email attachment, the email message is forwarded to a mailbox.

Safe Links – Links are another way a hacker attempts to bypass a user, and ATP anti-phishing is specifically designed to detect malicious links and give the user a second chance to not follow them. If Microsoft 365 ATP detects that a link is not safe, a warning message is displayed (just like for downloadable files). ATP can even redirect users to a warning page if they try to click a link detected as malicious.

Spoof Intelligence – Users can receive emails that seem like they come from a reputable source but instead come from hackers. The spoof intelligence feature can detect where the email originated and warn a user before they engage in any risky activity.

Threat Reporting – A major function of Microsoft ATP tools is its ability to compile reports about detected threats and other malicious content from the previous few months. Once analyzed, these reports contain vital insight into how an organization’s security is responding to threats, and administrators can make needed adjustments.