Cloud and storage security vendor Barracuda Networks released of a new suite of security services for Office 365. While aimed at enterprises considering a move to the Microsoft cloud, it may also have utility for companies generally concerned about data protection in Office 365.

In fairness, Office 365 already offers substantial security, including advanced data protection and data loss protection. But companies still worry about the safety of the cloud.

In a survey carried out for Barracuda by TechValidate, only 28 were not concerned about security, compliance and backup features in Office 365. Admittedly, the company only sampled 148 IT professionals, but it underscores overall unease about the cloud.

Essential Barracuda

For enterprises that want to put sensitive data into the cloud, the native security may not offer enough peace of mind. Knowing this, Microsoft even provides API’s for Office 365 to enable users to connect to third-party offerings like Barracuda.

Learning Opportunities

Campbell, Calif.-based Barracuda offers security and storage offerings to some 150,000 organizations worldwide, including Fortune 500 giants like Coca Cola and IBM.

Its products include security software for email, cloud archiving and cloud back-ups. With this new release — Barracuda Essentials — it combines all three products in a suite of cloud services that enhances the security in Office 365 by:

  • Extending security to Exchange Online with encryption, data loss protection and content inspection of emails
  • Productivity features that enable end users to access, search and retrieve email from any device, any time
  • Enabling organizations to recovery data in the even of an accident or disaster

Essentials is priced at $5 a user per month.