Elly Yates-Roberts |
Microsoft and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) have released a download pack that will help UK companies and organisations to meet the latest Government guidelines on cybersecurity in seconds.
Covering recommendations relating to passwords, staff profiles, antivirus programs and app restrictions, the pack can be imported into Microsoft Intune – a service that has been adopted by a range of businesses and organisations to manage staff devices and apps from one place using the Azure cloud platform.
The pack allows IT professionals to import guidance settings rather than having to manually enter them in a process that would normally take days. This also ensures that the settings are applied consistently and reduces errors.
“Many cyberattacks could be mitigated by using simple security features already present in the Windows 10 platform,” said Stuart Aston, national security officer at Microsoft UK. “This new downloadable pack will help companies and organisations take a big step towards ensuring their systems and staff are safe online.”
Microsoft’s new solution configures Windows 10 to align with the NCSC’s 12 end user device security principles and will help prevent users from downloading malicious software by configuring Windows SmartScreen. This puts restrictions on running software unless it has been cleared for safe use.
“Microsoft believes security should always come first, which is why we have developed this pack with the NCSC,” Aston added. “It enables customers to turn on the Windows 10 guidance in a consistent way, so they can feel confident that their systems comply with the latest NCSC recommendations.”