Microsoft 365 CIS Foundations Benchmark Assessment & Remediation
Assess Microsoft 365 configuration against the applicable CIS Foundations Benchmark and prioritize remediation by technical risk and operational impact.
Microsoft 365 security configuration evolves continuously as services, administrative capabilities and security controls change.
A tenant may operate normally while important security settings remain inconsistent, incomplete or no longer aligned with an established security baseline.
This assessment evaluates the Microsoft 365 environment against the applicable CIS Microsoft 365 Foundations Benchmark and develops a prioritized remediation plan based on technical risk and operational impact.
What we assess
Benchmark applicability
- Applicable CIS Microsoft 365 Foundations Benchmark
- Tenant configuration
- Licensing dependencies
- Feature availability
- Benchmark applicability
- Organizational exceptions
Identity and authentication
- Administrative identities
- Authentication requirements
- MFA-related controls
- Authentication methods
- Legacy authentication exposure
- Emergency administrative access
Privileged administration
- Administrative roles
- Role assignment
- Standing privilege
- Privileged access configuration
- Administrative separation
- Access review considerations
Microsoft Entra configuration
- Identity security settings
- Conditional Access-related controls
- User and guest configuration
- Application access
- Administrative configuration
Exchange Online
- Mail-security configuration
- Administrative settings
- External forwarding controls
- Authentication-related configuration
- Mailbox and transport security settings
SharePoint Online and OneDrive
- External sharing
- Access controls
- Default sharing behavior
- Administrative configuration
- Collaboration-security settings
Microsoft Teams
- External access
- Guest access
- Meeting configuration
- Collaboration controls
- Administrative policies
Applications and consent
- Enterprise applications
- User consent
- Application permissions
- Third-party access
- Administrative consent configuration
Auditing and monitoring
- Audit availability
- Security visibility
- Administrative activity
- Alerting foundations
- Investigation requirements
Operational exceptions
- Business requirements
- Legacy applications
- Guest collaboration
- Service accounts
- Third-party integrations
- Licensing limitations
What you receive
- CIS benchmark assessment
- Control-status summary
- Technical evidence
- Applicable / not-applicable classification
- Risk-prioritized findings
- Licensing and dependency notes
- Remediation recommendations
- Exception register
- Implementation roadmap
- Post-remediation reassessment
Example public finding
This is an illustrative example, not a finding from a customer assessment.
M365CIS-018 — Administrative security control is applied inconsistently across privileged roles
Observation
The tenant has established stronger security requirements for some administrative users, but equivalent protection is not consistently applied across all identities capable of performing high-impact administrative operations.
Why it matters
The effective security of the tenant is influenced by the least protected privileged administrative path.
A security control applied to only a subset of administrators can leave alternative paths available during an account compromise.
Recommended direction
Inventory privileged administrative roles, identify all accounts capable of high-impact changes, establish the intended privileged-access standard and apply it consistently.
Document justified exceptions and periodically review whether they remain necessary.
Remediation approach
Benchmark conformance should not be treated as a simple exercise in maximizing a percentage score.
Each finding should be reviewed for:
- Technical risk
- Tenant applicability
- Licensing dependency
- User impact
- Application dependency
- Operational impact
- Existing compensating controls
Findings are then classified as:
- Remediate
- Investigate
- Exception required
- Not applicable
- Dependency prevents immediate remediation
Remediation may involve:
- Microsoft Entra ID
- Conditional Access
- Authentication methods
- Administrative roles
- Exchange Online
- SharePoint Online
- OneDrive
- Microsoft Teams
- Enterprise applications
- Audit and security configuration
What this assessment is not
This assessment measures configuration against the applicable CIS Benchmark.
It is not intended to replace broader architecture and risk assessments.
For example:
CIS Foundations Benchmark Assessment
asks:
Is the tenant configuration aligned with the defined benchmark?
while:
Microsoft 365 Zero Trust Assessment & Remediation
asks:
Do identity, device, application, data and threat controls operate together as an effective security architecture?
The two assessments can therefore complement each other.
Public methodology
Public material may include:
- Assessment workflow
- Benchmark/version support statement
- High-level assessment domains
- Result classification model
- Exception-management approach
- Sanitized sample findings
- Sample report
- Remediation workflow
- Public Microsoft references
Public material should not reproduce licensed CIS Benchmark content.
Environment-specific assessment details and remediation guidance are provided within the agreed project scope.