With increasing cybersecurity threats and growing regulatory pressure, organizations must adopt modern tools to manage security and compliance effectively. Microsoft offers two essential portals—Microsoft 365 Security Center and Microsoft 365 Compliance Center—to help IT and compliance teams safeguard their environments and stay compliant with industry standards.
This article explores the key features of both platforms and shows how you can elevate your security and governance efforts by integrating Infowise Ultimate Forms with your Microsoft 365 environment.
What Is Microsoft 365 Security Center?
The Microsoft 365 Security Center is a centralized dashboard that empowers IT and security professionals to monitor, detect, and respond to threats across Microsoft 365 services, including Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams.
🔐 Key Features of Security Center:
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Secure Score: Monitor your organization’s security posture and follow recommended actions to strengthen it.
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Threat Protection: Detect real-time malware, phishing, and identity threats using Microsoft Defender for Office 365.
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Incident Response Tools: Manage and investigate threats using audit logs, threat analytics, and built-in automation.
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Advanced Hunting: Use KQL-based queries to proactively search for suspicious behavior across endpoints and identities.
Security Center plays a crucial role in Microsoft 365 tenant security, especially when managing large-scale SharePoint deployments or cloud-based intranets.
💡 Related: Learn how to secure public data entry forms in SharePoint using Ultimate Forms.
What Is Microsoft 365 Compliance Center?
The Microsoft 365 Compliance Center is the hub for data protection, risk management, and regulatory compliance. It provides tools to classify, govern, and audit your organization's information, ensuring adherence to global standards like GDPR, HIPAA, and ISO 27001.
📋 Key Features of Compliance Center:
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Compliance Score: View how well your organization aligns with compliance requirements and receive suggestions for improvement.
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Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Prevent unauthorized sharing of sensitive content via policies for email, documents, and cloud apps.
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Information Governance: Apply retention labels, data lifecycle policies, and records management to your SharePoint lists and libraries.
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Insider Risk Management: Detect and manage potential insider threats using behavior analytics and risk indicators.
For SharePoint administrators, Compliance Center can integrate directly with SharePoint Online policies, enabling seamless governance of document libraries and lists.
💡 See also: Document versioning in SharePoint and how to control sensitive data visibility with permissions-based forms.
Security Center vs. Compliance Center: A Quick Comparison
| Feature Category | Security Center | Compliance Center |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Focus | Threat management | Data protection and compliance |
| Core Users | Security teams, IT admins | Compliance officers, legal teams |
| Key Tools | Secure Score, Microsoft Defender, advanced hunting | DLP, retention policies, Insider Risk, sensitivity labels |
| Integrations | Microsoft Defender, Endpoint, Intune | SharePoint, OneDrive, Exchange, Teams |
While they serve different purposes, the Security and Compliance Centers work best in tandem, offering a unified approach to protecting users, data, and organizational integrity.
Getting Started with Security & Compliance Tools
You can access both tools directly:
Both interfaces include guided setup wizards, dashboards, and recommendations tailored to your Microsoft 365 configuration.
To deepen your knowledge, Microsoft also offers:
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In-product tutorials and quick-start guides
Take Security and Compliance Further with Infowise
Microsoft gives you the infrastructure—Infowise gives you the flexibility and automation to build real-world business solutions. Infowise Ultimate Forms for Microsoft 365 enhances SharePoint security, data integrity, and automation through a no-code toolkit that’s 100% browser-based.
🔒 Infowise for SharePoint Security
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Set conditional permissions on forms and fields
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Create approval workflows for sensitive data changes
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Prevent unauthorized access using role-based form logic
💡 Related: Build secure SharePoint onboarding solutions with sensitive document handling and progress tracking.
📊 Infowise for Compliance Management
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Automatically apply retention policies based on form entries
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Store encrypted data and enable audit trails
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Use alerts to notify compliance teams of expiring certifications or policy violations
💡 Related: Try our HR management solution for SharePoint to maintain compliance and streamline employee lifecycle management.
🧩 Prebuilt Solutions for Education, HR, and More
Explore ready-to-use templates that help organizations maintain compliance:
Final Thoughts
Microsoft 365 Security Center and Compliance Center provide vital tools to safeguard your environment, monitor threats, and meet compliance mandates. But when it comes to translating those capabilities into automated, real-world SharePoint solutions, Infowise is your strategic partner.
From conditional logic and form-based permissions to policy-driven workflows and secure data handling, Infowise Ultimate Forms empowers organizations to take full advantage of their Microsoft 365 investment.
✅ Ready to take your Microsoft 365 governance to the next level?
👉 Start your free Infowise Ultimate Forms trial
