In financial services, trust isn’t granted. It’s earned, verified, and continually renewed. As communication and collaboration of many financial services firms move deeper into Microsoft 365, compliance recording providers play a vital role in ensuring that regulated conversations remain secure, auditable, and compliant.
This is just one of the reasons why we’re proud to say that Luware Recording has once again achieved Microsoft 365 Certification for Compliance Recording. This reafirms that our recording solution meets Microsoft’s rigorous technical, security, and operational standards. But beyond the badge, this recertification represents something far more significant: A continued commitment to operational excellence, customer protection, and regulatory confidence.
In this article, we’ll discuss the best practices to align with Microsoft’s compliance framework and what this means specifically for Luware Recording. Before you dive into it, make sure to download our handy overview sheet of all the requirements and the value they bring to financial services firms.
For banks, insurers, and investment firms, vendor certifications should mean more than paperwork. They’re a reflection of the controls and discipline underpinning your compliance posture.
With regulators increasing scrutiny on third-party risk management, financial services organizations now need to demonstrate that every vendor handling sensitive data meets stringent security and governance standards. Failing to do so can lead to severe consequences, including reputational damage and financial penalties.
Luware Recording’s M365 recertification is therefore more than an internal milestone. It’s an assurance that our recording platform aligns with the latest Microsoft compliance framework and industry best practices across three key areas with over 50 controls. The following paragraphs break down what this means in more detail.
Compliance recording solutions must be built on resilient foundations. Microsoft’s certification requires vendors to apply secure-by-design principles, conduct regular penetration testing, and demonstrate the remediation of identified risks.
In the case of Luware Recording, penetration testing is performed regularly by independent specialists, covering both internal and external attack surfaces. Findings are tracked and resolved through our established risk management workflow. This ensures vulnerabilities are identified early and addressed effectively before they can impact production environments.
Operational security governs how the recording service is maintained and protected day to day. Microsoft’s framework sets expectations across thirty control areas under 12 categories. Below, we summarize the most relevant ones.
Security starts with people. The M365 certification mandates ongoing security awareness training for all users, from engineers to executives.
For us, this meant designing and operating a training program that ensures every new joiner completes awareness training within their onboarding window, followed by refresher courses whenever systems change. Training covers password hygiene, physical security, and evolving threats such as social engineering and phishing. We also maintain audit-ready records of completion.
The result: A workforce aligned with modern threats and a company culture that treats security as everyone’s responsibility.
With cyber-threats evolving constantly, the Microsoft certification framework requires active malware protection and strict application control. This includes an approved list of software or applications with business justification and deploying technology to enforce allowed applications only.
In practical terms, we ensured all endpoints and servers (whether on-premise, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), or Platform as a service (PaaS)) are protected by our advanced AV/EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) technologies that block and log malicious behaviors.
We also maintain a strictly controlled software catalogue: Every application is formally approved before deployment, and our application control technology enforces that only authorized apps run. This means fewer opportunities for unwanted or malicious software to slip in.
For customers, this results in a recording infrastructure that remains continuously monitored and hardened against new threats.
Unpatched software remains one of the most common causes of breaches. The M365 certification defines clear expectations around patch management and vulnerability scanning. This includes a documented patch management policy, the retirement of unsupported software, quarterly vulnerability scanning, and timely remediation of vulnerabilities.
In our instance, we implemented a robust vulnerability management program, which includes:
This ensures the underlying environment for compliance recording remains secure, up to date, and resilient.
In line with Microsoft’s requirement, we operate strict change governance: Every production release, configuration change, or infrastructure update is logged, reviewed, tested, and approved by an authorized person.
Our environments are segregated: Development and test teams have no access to production datasets, and roles differ per environment. This minimizes risk of accidental or malicious changes impacting production, which is critical when managing compliance recording in M365.
Financial data is among the most sensitive information any organization manages. Microsoft’s certification requires vendors to demonstrate robust data protection and privacy controls, including encryption in transit and at rest, data retention policies, and privacy governance.
In the case of Luware Recording, all customer data is encrypted throughout its lifecycle. We apply strict access controls, monitor data flows, and ensure data retention aligns with both regulatory requirements and customer expectations. Detailed audit logs provide traceability and transparency, which are key principles for compliant communication recording.
Achieving M365 recertification is a reflection of our ongoing commitment to safeguarding customer data, maintaining operational excellence, and enabling financial services firms to meet their compliance obligations confidently. In doing so, we don’t simply rely on feature-rich capabilities; we ensure those features rest on a resilient, audited, and well-governed environment.
For organizations using our M365-certified recording offering, this means:
As financial services organizations evolve their communication ecosystems, vendor assurance remains a critical foundation of compliance. Luware Recording’s M365 recertification ensures that this foundation is not only strong but continually reinforced.
Threats evolve, regulatory regimes shift, and recording solutions must keep pace. By recertifying, we affirm our commitment to staying ahead. But certification isn’t a finish line—it’s a milestone. Going forward, we will continue to:
In an era where data, communications, and compliance recordings are increasingly central to business operations and regulatory scrutiny is rising, the foundations matter. By virtue of achieving recertification under the M365 certification, we’ve demonstrated those foundations are solid with Luware Recording.
We thank our teams, partners, and customers who made this achievement possible. We’re proud of this achievement. And more importantly, we’re committed to keeping it real and sustained.