Using SharePoint Online for a public website

Question

Documentation states that SharePoint Online is an Intranet-based website application.

Can an organization use it for their External Public Internet site? Are there risks in doing so?

Is there documentation that assists in hardening such sites?

Answer 1

Hi @Ted Pichalski,

SharePoint Online uses claims-based authentication. SharePoint Online does not have a claim called or aliased as Anyone or Anonymous Access or something similar. So, there is no way to make a SharePoint Online site external public. Generally, we use external sharing to achieve external access in SharePoint Online. As per your description, I think SharePoint Online is not a good option in your scenario as SharePoint Online focus on team collaboration across an organization.

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