Microsoft Secure Score: What “Good” Actually Looks Like and How Irish Businesses Compare

Cybersecurity isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s critical. Microsoft Secure Score gives businesses a clear view of how secure their Microsoft 365 environment is, but many Irish organisations aren’t sure what a “good” score looks like, or how to improve it.

What Microsoft Secure Score Is

Microsoft Secure Score is a measurement of an organisation’s security posture within Microsoft 365. It calculates points based on security settings, activities, and policies you’ve implemented. The higher the score, the better your security posture.

Think of it as a dashboard showing your business where it is secure and where there are gaps.

Why Secure Score Matters for Irish Businesses

A higher Secure Score doesn’t guarantee zero breaches, but it reduces risk significantly. Benefits include:

• Reducing exposure to phishing and malware attacks
  
  
• Meeting compliance and regulatory obligations
  
  
• Demonstrating due diligence to clients and partners
  
  
• Supporting internal cybersecurity awareness initiatives
  
  

For Irish SMEs and enterprises, staying secure is not optional. With cybercrime on the rise, every gap matters.

How Irish Businesses Compare

Recent trends show many Irish businesses have moderate Secure Scores, often because of:

• Misconfigured policies
  
  
• Lack of multi-factor authentication
  
  
• Outdated security awareness training
  
  
• Inconsistent monitoring
  
  

A moderate score is common, but improving it can prevent costly breaches and downtime.

How to Improve Your Secure Score

Improving your Secure Score is more than checking boxes. Practical steps include:

1. Enable multi-factor authentication for all users – This is one of the highest impact improvements.
   
   
2. Review user permissions – Limit admin privileges and remove inactive accounts.
   
   
3. Apply security policies consistently – Enforce device compliance, email protections, and data loss prevention.
   
   
4. Train staff regularly – Security awareness reduces human error.
   
   
5. Monitor and report – Regularly review your score and progress.
   
   

A proactive approach ensures your business stays ahead of threats.

VBT’s Expertise

At VBT IT Solutions, we help Irish businesses:

• Audit their Microsoft 365 environment
  
  
• Prioritise actions to improve Secure Score efficiently
  
  
• Implement changes while maintaining productivity
  
  
• Continuously monitor to maintain high security standards
  
  

Our approach simplifies Microsoft’s recommendations and ensures practical results.

Practical Tip: Set a Secure Score target and review progress quarterly. Small improvements over time lead to strong, sustainable security.