Microsoft White Paper: Security Features of Dynamics CRM Online

Businesses often express concerns about security when they consider the cloud services model for key communications and collaboration applications. Security when accessing, storing, and retrieving an organisation’s data is of paramount importance, as is the privacy of that data within the online service.

Microsoft takes a holistic approach to providing a highly secure environment for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online service and within the application itself, which helps to guarantee that only users with the appropriate rights can access sensitive data and personally identifiable information (PII) within the unique CRM deployment.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is based upon an end-to-end approach to security that begins with the development of the application through to the service’s operations and management. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online follows the Microsoft Security Development Lifecycle (SDL). This is the process by which we take services from the design through the build and implementation and release phases of its lifecycle, and consider security from all aspects.

Safeguards are applied on multiple fronts, including:

• Secure web application communication using SSL
• Customisable security roles governing user access and the actions they can perform
• Field-level security
• Full business data auditing
• Stringent physical security of Microsoft datacentre’s, including building and system/database access

Additionally, the application itself uses the standard security features of the Microsoft infrastructure on which Microsoft Dynamics CRM runs (e.g. Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server, and Microsoft Exchange Server).

After an overview of the inherent risks to four key areas of the service, the remaining sections of the paper describe how Trustworthy Computing, Microsoft’s core commitment to build software and services that better help protect customers and the industry, is reflected in the design and operation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.

To download the white paper, follow this link: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=15543

Regards, Ross

Twitter: @rossd_crm