5 Quick Tips for Microsoft 365 Compliance

Discover 5 quick tips to improve Microsoft 365 compliance, align with CIS benchmarks, and streamline m365 security audits.

Staying on top of Microsoft 365 compliance can feel weirdly overwhelming. There’s the CIS Benchmark for Microsoft 365, multiple admin portals, constant feature changes, and of course the pressure of the next m365 security audit. But with a few focused habits and the right automation, you can massively reduce risk without drowning in manual checks.

In this quick tip guide, we’ll walk through five practical ways to tighten Microsoft 365 compliance, make your environment more audit-ready, and start moving toward real microsoft 365 compliance automation instead of endless spreadsheets and screenshots.

Tip 1: Start with a Clear Baseline against CIS

If you don’t know where you stand, every “fix” is just guesswork. The CIS Benchmark Microsoft 365 Foundations is one of the best starting points for building a structured m365 security assessment.

Instead of jumping straight into random settings, anchor your efforts to the cis benchmark microsoft 365 guidance. It’s widely recognized, and many auditors and regulators like seeing that as your baseline.

Use the CIS Microsoft 365 Foundations as your roadmap

The CIS Microsoft 365 Foundations Benchmark defines 129 controls that cover:

Identity and access management
Authentication and MFA
SharePoint and OneDrive sharing
Email security and anti-phishing
Logging, monitoring, and alerting

Even if you don’t aim for full cis certified microsoft 365 alignment on day one, treating this benchmark as your "north star" gives you a defensible structure for your m365 security audit preparation.

To be honest, one common mistake I see is teams cherry-picking a few easy settings and calling it "good enough". Having the full cis benchmark microsoft 365 guide in front of you keeps you honest. It shows exactly what’s configured, what’s missing, and what’s intentionally accepted as risk.

Turn the benchmark into a working checklist

Don’t leave the CIS guidance as a PDF sitting in your downloads folder. Turn it into a living m365 compliance checklist.

At a minimum:

List each CIS control (ID, description)
Add columns for status, owner, last reviewed date
Capture notes about exceptions or business decisions

This doesn’t need to be fancy, but it should be something you actually update. Over time, this becomes your first line of defense when someone asks, "How are you preparing for our Microsoft 365 security audit?"

Tip 2: Lock Down Identity and MFA First

If you only have time to fix one area, make it identity. Compromised accounts are still the number one entry point in most environments, and auditors know it.

Enforce strong authentication everywhere

For solid microsoft 365 compliance, you should:

Require MFA for all users, including admins and service accounts where possible
Block legacy authentication protocols that bypass modern MFA
Use conditional access to enforce location, device, or risk-based controls

In my experience, when auditors run an m365 security assessment, weak MFA coverage is one of the first red flags. Even if you’re early in your compliance journey, showing that you’ve implemented MFA broadly and intentionally disabled legacy auth earns a lot of credibility.

Tighten admin roles and privileged access

Next, look at who actually has power:

Review all Global Admins and high-privilege roles
Remove standing access where it’s not needed
Use Privileged Identity Management (if available) for just-in-time elevation

Surprisingly, I still see production tenants where dozens of people have full admin rights "just in case". That’s exactly the kind of thing that hurts you in a microsoft 365 audit preparation review. Keep admin roles minimal, justified, and documented.

Tip 3: Standardize Sharing and External Access

File sharing and external collaboration are where security and productivity constantly collide. But you can absolutely find a sensible middle ground that supports users and still aligns with m365 compliance checklist expectations.

Define clear guardrails for sharing

For SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams:

Decide where external sharing is allowed (and where it’s not)
Set sensible defaults (e.g., "People in your organization" instead of "Anyone with the link")
Use expiration and review dates on external access where possible

From a CIS microsoft 365 foundations perspective, you don’t have to block everything. What matters is that your sharing posture is intentional, consistent, and monitored.

Document exceptions instead of silently allowing them

There will always be cases where a business unit needs broader access or more flexible sharing. That’s fine—just don’t let those happen in the shadows.

Track these exceptions:

Who requested them
Why they’re needed
Which controls they impact
When they’ll be reviewed again

This kind of lightweight documentation goes a long way during an m365 security audit, because you can show you’re managing risk, not ignoring it.

Tip 4: Move from Manual Checks to Automated Assessments

Manually validating every setting across Microsoft 365 is painful, and honestly, it just doesn’t scale. This is where microsoft 365 compliance automation really starts to pay off.

Schedule recurring, automated compliance checks

Instead of doing a one-off m365 security assessment once a year, aim for continuous verification:

Run automated scans against CIS controls
Detect configuration drift as soon as it happens
Generate repeatable, audit-ready reports

Automated m365 compliance assessment tools help you see when someone changes a critical setting, not six months later when an auditor finds it for you.

Example: Automating CIS Benchmark checks with ConfigCobra

A practical example here is ConfigCobra, which continuously checks Microsoft 365 against the CIS Benchmark.

ConfigCobra can:

Automatically assess all 129 CIS Microsoft 365 Foundations controls
Support Level 1 (essential) and Level 2 (enhanced) profiles
Run scheduled assessments daily, weekly, or monthly
Generate PDF reports with evidence and remediation steps
Detect configuration drift in near real time

It also maps CIS controls to other standards like SOC 2, ISO 27001, NIS2, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and NIST CSF, which is really handy if you’re juggling multiple frameworks.

That kind of microsoft 365 compliance automation turns your CIS benchmark microsoft 365 guide from a static document into a living control system you can actually rely on.

Tip 5: Prepare Evidence Before the Audit Arrives

One of the most stressful parts of any m365 security audit is scrambling for screenshots, exports, and proof that controls are in place. You’ll save yourself a lot of time (and anxiety) by collecting this evidence steadily instead of last-minute.

Build a lightweight evidence library

Start a central “audit ready” location where you store:

Copies of key policies related to Microsoft 365
Exported reports from security and compliance centers
CIS benchmark mapping showing which controls are implemented
Any automated assessment reports from your tools

The goal is simple: when someone asks, "How did you prepare for Microsoft 365 security audit requirements?", you can open one place and walk them through your story.

Reuse automated reports as primary audit artifacts

If you’re using microsoft 365 compliance automation tools like ConfigCobra, treat their reports as first-class evidence:

Provide the latest CIS assessment report
Highlight remediation work in progress
Show trends over time (improving scores, fewer gaps)

Auditors don’t just want to see that you’re compliant on one random Tuesday. They want to see consistency. Automated reports give you that narrative without creating a ton of manual work every quarter.

Microsoft 365 compliance doesn’t have to be a massive, one-time project that burns everyone out. With a clear baseline from the CIS Benchmark, strong identity controls, sensible sharing policies, automated assessments, and a small but organized evidence library, you’ll be in a much better position for any future m365 security audit.

If you’re ready to move beyond manual checks and spreadsheets, it’s worth exploring dedicated microsoft 365 compliance automation tools. ConfigCobra, for example, continuously assesses your tenant against the CIS Microsoft 365 Foundations Benchmark, detects configuration drift, and gives you audit-ready PDF reports you can share with security teams, leadership, or external auditors.

You can learn more and try it out here: https://configcobra.com/cis-benchmark

Start with one or two of these quick tips this week—tighten MFA, review admins, or run your first automated CIS assessment. Even small steps, done consistently, will make your Microsoft 365 environment much safer and much easier to defend during the next audit.