Maximizing Your Secure Score: A Guide for IT Professionals

Organizations with a Microsoft Secure Score above 80% experience 67% fewer security incidents, according to the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report. Most organizations sit between 30% and 45%. That gap is where breaches happen.

For mortgage IT professionals, Secure Score is more than a dashboard metric. Cyber insurers now factor it into premium calculations. Procurement teams request it during vendor evaluations. The OCC's 2025 Cybersecurity Report listed security posture visibility as a regulatory expectation for financial institutions.

This guide walks through how to raise your Secure Score from a starting point to a defensible position, using Guardian Security Insights from ABT to prioritize the actions that matter most.

Why Microsoft Secure Score Matters for Mortgage Companies in 2026

Microsoft Secure Score evaluates your tenant's security posture across four categories: Identity, Devices, Apps, and Data. A higher score means more recommended actions are implemented. A lower score means gaps exist.

Three forces make this score critical right now:

• Cyber insurance requirements. Insurers now request live EDR telemetry and posture data during renewals. A Secure Score below 60% signals risk that drives premiums up.
• Regulatory pressure. The FTC Safeguards Rule mandates MFA, encryption, and continuous monitoring for mortgage lenders. Each requirement maps directly to Secure Score recommendations.
• Vendor trust. Warehouse lenders and correspondent partners increasingly treat Secure Score as a prerequisite for doing business. A LevelBlue analysis predicted that Secure Score will become a minimum requirement for procurement and supply chain inclusion.

Going Beyond the Number With Guardian Security Insights

Secure Score tells you where you stand. Guardian Security Insights tells you what to do about it. Here is how they differ:

Actionable Recommendations

Secure Score lists hundreds of possible actions. Guardian filters those down to the ones with the highest risk reduction for your specific environment. A mortgage company running Business Premium gets different priorities than one on E5.

Secure Score Simulator

Before committing resources, simulate the impact of each change. "If we enable Conditional Access for all admin accounts, our score jumps 8 points." That specificity lets you build a business case before making changes.

Category-Level Reporting

Guardian breaks scores into Identity, Devices, Apps, and Data. If your Identity score is 85% but Devices sits at 40%, you know exactly where to focus. Generic dashboards hide this detail.

Nightly Updates

Your Secure Score changes as Microsoft adds recommendations and as your environment shifts. Guardian tracks these nightly, so you catch drift before it becomes an examiner finding.

Step-by-Step: Raising Your Secure Score

Step 1: Baseline Your Current Score

Log into Microsoft Defender and check your Secure Score. Note the total and the breakdown by category. Write it down. This is your "before" number.

Step 2: Fix MFA First

MFA is the single highest-impact action for most tenants. The FTC Safeguards Rule requires it. Microsoft recommends it. Cyber insurers expect it. If you are not at 100% MFA enrollment, start here.

Step 3: Kill Stale Accounts

Every inactive account is an attack surface. Scan Entra ID for accounts with no sign-in activity in 90 days. Disable or remove them. This step alone can raise your score by 10-15%.

Step 4: Address Unmanaged Devices

Devices accessing your tenant without Intune compliance policies are a blind spot. Require device enrollment. Block access from non-compliant endpoints. This tightens both your score and your actual security.

Step 5: Track Progress Weekly

Set a cadence. Every Friday, check the score. Guardian automates this with trend charts that show your trajectory over time. Show the trend line to leadership during quarterly reviews.

Real-World Secure Score Improvements

• 32% to 93% in six months. Mason-McDuffie Mortgage, a Bay Area retail lender with 350 employees across 40 states, partnered with ABT and raised their Secure Score from a concerning 32% to over 90% through Guardian's hardening and monitoring program.
• 100% MFA adoption in three months. A mortgage company identified significant MFA gaps across user accounts. Following Guardian's prioritized recommendations, they achieved full MFA compliance and cut unauthorized access risk by 99.9%.
• 50+ stale accounts removed. A mid-size lender discovered over 50 inactive accounts. Systematic cleanup through Guardian improved their score by 15% and closed attack vectors that had been open for years.

The Cyber Insurance Connection

Cyber insurance premiums for financial services firms have climbed steadily since 2023. Underwriters now request specific evidence of security controls before quoting coverage.

A strong Secure Score provides that evidence. It documents MFA enrollment, device compliance, data protection policies, and identity management. Guardian Security Insights generates the reports that underwriters want to see.

Higher scores mean lower premiums. It is that direct.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Articles

• Guardian Security Insights: Strengthening Cybersecurity Compliance in the Mortgage Industry

Start Raising Your Secure Score Today

Your Microsoft Secure Score is a living metric. It rises when you take action and drifts when you do not. Guardian Security Insights from ABT turns that number into a prioritized roadmap built for mortgage companies and regulated financial institutions.

Talk to a mortgage IT specialist to get a baseline assessment and a 90-day improvement plan.

Related reading: Mastering Cybersecurity Workflow Management | Transforming Your Secure Score Into a Cybersecurity Roadmap