Kaspersky has expanded the protections it offers Office 365‘s Exchange Online to also include Microsoft’s storage service OneDrive, in a move designed to help businesses store and share files safely in the cloud, the security company revealed on Friday.

Users will now be better protected against the threat of malware infiltrating the storage service, spreading across their corporate networks and jeopardising sensitive data and overall workflow.

According to Kaspersky’s recent research, 66% of office workers struggle to remember what they have stored in shared folders, ultimately increasing the chances of missing suspicious files or infected emails.

The antimalware service’s multiple layers of protection have been designed to prevent this scenario, thanks to the inclusion of signature-based detection, heuristic and behavioural analysis, as well as the latest threat intelligence to help tackle both known and zero-day threats.

The freshly-bolstered security package detects suspicious content within the storage space and can immediately delete an infected file before it spreads any further, Kaspersky said.

«Shared storage options, such as OneDrive, are popular and widely used business tools. But if employees can have instant and easy access to shared files, then so too can malware,» said Sergey Martsynkyan, head of B2B product marketing at Kaspersky.

«Businesses need to understand this risk and ensure they are not compromising their productivity due to cyberthreats, by protecting their data and workflows. Our product provides such protection for Microsoft Office 365, allowing companies to use its collaborative features and focus on day-to-day operations, rather than worrying about the security of their data.»

Kaspersky also revealed that Security for SharePoint will be the next feature to be added to its Microsoft 365 security package, as it aims to better-protect content management and team workflows.

The addition will allow customers to leverage more benefits of the Microsoft solutions without the concern of threats to communications and business data, the company said.