It’s a fair question, and most business owners have never thought to ask it: does your IT provider actively monitor your Microsoft 365 environment for the signs of a security breach — and if they do, are they charging you extra for the privilege?
At BOOM I.T., the answer is simple. We built a tool to do exactly that, we run it for every client, and we don’t charge a penny for it. We call it Project Hal.
Meet Project Hal
Project Hal — a nod to the watchful computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey, minus the sinister streak — is an internally built Microsoft 365 security monitoring tool. It watches your 365 environment all day, every day.
While you and your team get on with your work, Hal quietly keeps an eye on your data, documents and emails, watching for the early warning signs that an account has been compromised. The moment it spots something suspicious, we’re alerted instantly — so we can step in and act before a warning sign becomes a full-blown breach.
What Hal watches for
Most Microsoft 365 account compromises follow recognisable patterns. Hal is tuned to catch them the moment they appear, including:
- Risky sign-ins — multiple failed login attempts followed by a sudden success, the classic signature of a password being guessed or brute-forced.
- Logins from unfamiliar or high-risk locations — unexpected VPNs, foreign IP addresses, or sign-ins from two countries minutes apart.
- Changes to authentication methods — an attacker quietly adding their own phone number or app to sidestep multi-factor authentication.
- Suspicious mailbox rules — emails being auto-forwarded to an outside address, or sent straight to Deleted Items. A well-known sign of a hijacked account, and a hallmark of business email compromise.
- …and much more — the list of behaviours Hal tracks keeps growing as attack techniques evolve.
Why early detection is everything: most attacks don’t kick the door down. They slip in quietly and go unnoticed for weeks — reading emails, learning your invoicing habits, waiting for the right moment to strike. Hal closes that gap, so a compromised account is caught in hours, not discovered after the damage is done.
What this means for your business
Round-the-clock monitoring changes the maths of security. Your Microsoft 365 environment is being actively watched 24/7, threats are caught early, and you get the peace of mind of knowing someone is always on it — without your team lifting a finger, or spending a penny.
For a small or medium-sized business, that’s the difference between a minor incident quietly shut down behind the scenes and a data breach that hits your finances, your reputation, and your clients’ trust all at once.
Why we include it free — for every client, forever
Here’s the part that surprises people: we include Hal for every single client. No add-on. No upsell. No extra line on your invoice.
Why? Because we believe your security sits at the very centre of our job as your IT provider — not something to bolt on and bill you for. Monitoring your 365 environment for compromise isn’t a premium extra in our book. It’s the baseline: the minimum standard of care any managed IT provider should be delivering as standard.
Are you actively monitoring our Microsoft 365 environment for compromised accounts? How quickly would you know if one of our accounts was breached? And — crucially — is this included, or is it a paid add-on? If the answers are vague, or the monitoring comes with a price tag, you may be carrying a security risk you don’t even know about.
Is your provider doing this?
If your current IT provider isn’t offering this kind of monitoring — or is charging you a premium for it — it’s worth a conversation. Baseline Microsoft 365 security shouldn’t be an expensive optional extra, and it certainly shouldn’t be missing altogether. If it is, you’re carrying a risk that a good provider would already have covered.
Project Hal is free for every BOOM I.T. client, forever — part of the managed IT support we provide to businesses across Wakefield, Pontefract and the wider Yorkshire region. If you’d like to know more, or you just want a straight answer about whether your current setup is properly protected, call us on 03333 660 005 or drop us a message. We’ll tell you exactly where you stand.
Frequently asked questions
What is Microsoft 365 security monitoring?
It’s the continuous observation of your Microsoft 365 environment — sign-ins, mailbox rules, authentication changes and more — to detect the early signs of a compromised account. Done well, it catches a breach in progress before an attacker can cause harm.
How do I know if my Microsoft 365 account has been hacked?
Common warning signs include emails you didn’t send, mailbox rules that auto-forward or delete messages, sign-ins from unfamiliar locations, and contacts receiving spam from your address. Continuous monitoring like Project Hal spots these patterns automatically, often before you’d notice anything yourself.
Should my IT provider include Microsoft 365 security monitoring for free?
We think so. At BOOM I.T. we treat it as baseline security — included for every client at no extra cost. If your provider doesn’t monitor your 365 environment, or charges a premium for it, it’s worth questioning why.
Is Project Hal available to businesses that aren’t BOOM I.T. clients yet?
Hal is included as standard for BOOM I.T. clients. If you’re not with us yet and want this level of monitoring, the simplest route is to talk to us about taking on your IT support — call 03333 660 005.