Satya Nadella talks cyber security in a mobile-first, cloud-first world

MUMBAI, INDIA: In a bid to blend Microsoft’s new business mantra of mobile-first, cloud-first, the software major has started tightening the noose against cyber criminals by opening a Cyber Defence Operations Center.

Besides defending cloud and mobile customers, the center will also act as a SoC and protect internal resources, products and devices from current and emerging cyber security threats.

Addressing an audience at the Microsoft Government Cloud Forum in Washington DC, Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft, said, “Microsoft wants to highlight the fact that a new security approach is needed for today’s mobile-first, cloud-first world and this is why we are increasing our investments and working with the security ecosystem, to better protect and secure our customers who can improve their security posture by moving to the cloud, by adopting modern platforms and by embracing comprehensive identity, security and management solutions.”

Platform enhancements include the ability to manage devices without enrolment, new apps from partners that provide native Intune support, private preview of Azure Security Center, new security features on Office for customer data protection, advanced threat protection (ATP) and e-Discovery and new investments with the Cyber Defence Operations Center and Enterprise Cyber Security Group.

Referring to the company’s intelligent security graph, Nadella said, “It refers to the broad and deep security signal we receive from products, services and our customers, which we then integrate and analyse with machine learning to help discover threats and unique insights. For example, we see an advanced threat taking place against a single customer in Office 365 and we use that intelligence to protect all Office 365 customers and customers using other cloud services.”

When it comes to security, Microsoft’s approach reflects today’s realities of our mobile-first, cloud-first world. This includes bringing teams and technologies together to evolve our security posture, for example, in the new Cyber Defence Operations Center, or customers in the Enterprise Cyber security Group, he added.