Build a Solid Security Foundation with Microsoft Purview

Data has always been one of an organisation’s most valuable assets, but as businesses adopt more cloud services, support increasingly flexible ways of working and begin introducing AI into everyday processes, understanding where that data lives, who can access it and how it is being used has become considerably more important.

Microsoft 365 Copilot is a good example. It can help employees find information, summarise conversations, create content and work with organisational knowledge far more efficiently, but making information easier to discover also brings data security and governance into much sharper focus. Organisations need to be confident that sensitive information is properly identified, appropriately protected and only available to the people who genuinely need access to it.

This is where Microsoft Purview can play an important role. Purview brings together capabilities for data governance, information protection, Data Loss Prevention, insider risk, records management and compliance, helping organisations understand and protect information throughout its lifecycle.

Start by Understanding Your Data

Most organisations have considerably more data than they realise. Emails, Teams conversations, documents, spreadsheets, customer records, contracts, HR information, financial data and intellectual property are constantly being created, copied and shared, with that information eventually becoming distributed across SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, Exchange, devices, cloud applications and sometimes older on-premises systems.

Microsoft research referenced in recent studies highlights just how difficult this can become, with 42% of organisations reporting that at least half of their data was "dark", meaning that the information had been collected but was effectively unused.

A strong data-security strategy therefore starts with visibility. Microsoft Purview Data Map can capture metadata across SaaS, analytics, operational, hybrid, on-premises and multicloud environments, while helping organisations automatically scan and classify information.

This provides a much stronger foundation for answering some fundamental questions:

What information do we have? Where is it stored? Who has access to it? Which information is sensitive, and what are we retaining that we no longer need?

Identify and Classify Sensitive Information

Once you understand where your information resides, the next challenge is understanding what it actually contains, because a publicly available product brochure clearly shouldn't receive the same protection as employee payroll information, customer records, financial information, an acquisition document or commercially sensitive intellectual property.

Microsoft Purview Information Protection helps organisations discover, classify and protect sensitive information across enterprise applications, services, devices and cloud and on-premises environments. Sensitivity labels can then provide employees with a straightforward way of understanding how different information should be handled, using classifications such as Public, General, Confidential and Highly Confidential.

The objective is not simply to introduce another administrative process. Classification works best when it becomes part of the way people naturally work with information, with research emphasising the importance of employees getting into the habit of recognising, labelling and protecting data whenever they handle it.

Reduce the Risk of Sensitive Information Leaving the Organisation

Knowing what information is sensitive is only part of the challenge. Organisations also need to consider what happens when somebody attempts to email a confidential spreadsheet externally, copy sensitive customer information onto an unmanaged device, share financial information with somebody who shouldn't have access or move data into an unapproved cloud application.

Many of these incidents aren't necessarily malicious. Employees can make mistakes, particularly when information is being shared quickly between departments, customers and external partners, which is why appropriate controls need to support rather than unnecessarily restrict the way people work.

Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention, commonly referred to as DLP, can identify and help prevent risky or unauthorised sharing and use of sensitive information across applications, services, endpoints and on-premises files.

Rather than simply blocking everything, a carefully designed DLP strategy can help employees understand why a particular action presents a risk and guide them towards a safer way of handling information, providing a better balance between security and productivity.

Consider the Human Side of Data Security

Cybersecurity conversations naturally tend to focus on attackers attempting to break into an organisation, but legitimate access to information can also create risk. Employees routinely need access to customer information, financial records, commercial documents and intellectual property to perform their jobs, which makes protecting against the accidental or deliberate misuse of authorised access particularly important.

Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management uses machine learning and organisational signals to help identify potentially risky activities involving legitimate access to information.

However, insider risk shouldn't simply be treated as an employee monitoring exercise. Microsoft's guidance recommends an approach that combines people, processes, technology and training, with appropriate privacy controls built into the programme.

The wider lesson is that good data security isn't purely a technical challenge. Technology can provide controls and visibility, but employees also need to understand how information should be handled and why those controls exist.

Put Some Order Around Data Retention

Another common problem is organisations simply keeping everything forever. Microsoft 365 environments naturally accumulate information as new Teams are created, employees join and leave, projects finish and documents are duplicated, meaning outdated information can remain available years after its original business purpose has disappeared.

Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management helps organisations automate information classification and governance at scale, while Purview Records Management provides additional controls for information that must be retained for legal, regulatory or business reasons.

This means the security conversation shouldn't always be about how to protect a particular piece of information. In many situations, the more appropriate question is whether the organisation still needs to retain that information at all.

Be Ready for Investigations and Audits

Even organisations with strong controls will occasionally need to understand exactly what happened following a suspected data breach, internal investigation, legal matter, regulatory request or inappropriate sharing of sensitive information.

Microsoft Purview eDiscovery provides workflows for preserving, collecting, reviewing and exporting relevant information, while Purview Audit can provide information about user activity and data access to support forensic and compliance investigations. Compliance Manager can also help organisations continually assess their compliance posture and identify potential improvements.

Having these capabilities properly configured before an incident takes place can be particularly valuable for organisations operating in highly regulated industries, where demonstrating how information has been managed can be almost as important as the controls themselves.

AI Makes Good Data Governance Even More Important

Good data governance was important long before generative AI arrived, but AI has made the potential consequences of poor governance much more visible. IDC highlights challenges including data leakage, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, regulatory concerns and unauthorised access among the risks organisations need to consider when adopting generative AI.

This becomes particularly relevant with Microsoft 365 Copilot because Copilot can make it significantly easier for employees to find and interact with information they are already permitted to access. If somebody still has historic access to a SharePoint site from a previous role, or a sensitive document has been shared more widely than intended, Copilot can potentially make that information easier to discover.

The underlying problem isn't necessarily Copilot. It is the historic permissions, oversharing and poorly governed information already present within the environment, which is why organisations preparing for wider Copilot adoption should consider their data-security foundations first.

Microsoft Purview Information Protection can help discover, label and protect sensitive information across enterprise services including Microsoft 365 Copilot, making Purview an increasingly important part of an organisation's wider approach to AI readiness.

Microsoft Purview Isn't a Set-and-Forget Technology

Implementing Purview policies is an important step, but maintaining a strong security posture requires considerably more than configuring the technology once and assuming the job is complete. Your environment continually changes as employees join and leave, permissions are updated, new SharePoint sites and Teams are created, applications are introduced and new sensitive information enters the organisation.

Microsoft's technologies are also continually evolving, while cyber threats and attacker techniques change equally quickly. Organisations therefore need to regularly review their Defender and Purview configurations, respond to alerts and incidents, assess Microsoft Secure Score recommendations, review DLP policies and identify configuration gaps against Microsoft security best practices.

For many organisations, the challenge eventually becomes less about whether the technology exists and more about having the specialist resources and time required to continually manage it.

Put Your Microsoft Security in Safe Hands with HybrIT

This is where the HybrIT Managed Microsoft Security service can help.

Rather than simply implementing Microsoft security technologies and leaving your internal IT team to manage them, HybrIT provides ongoing management of supported Microsoft Defender and Purview technologies, combining the Microsoft security platform with access to experienced cybersecurity professionals.

The service begins with an assessment of the Defender and Purview environment to identify risks, prioritise high-value improvements and establish a roadmap for strengthening the organisation's security posture. Once the service is operational, HybrIT manages the supported technologies, investigates and responds to Defender and Purview alerts and incidents, and continually reviews configurations against Microsoft security best practices.

This isn't only about reacting when something goes wrong. Each month, HybrIT performs gap analysis across the supported Microsoft Secure Scores and identifies improvement actions that can lead to configuration changes, remediation activity, larger project recommendations or documented risk acceptance where appropriate. Monthly SecOps reporting provides visibility of the current security posture and changes made, while quarterly service reporting provides wider governance around incidents, security improvements and outstanding projects.

These governance outputs can also contribute evidence towards recognised security accreditations including ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus, helping organisations demonstrate that security is being actively governed rather than simply relying on technology that was configured months or years previously.

Build the Foundation, Then Keep Improving It

Microsoft Purview gives organisations powerful capabilities to understand, classify, protect and govern their information, providing an increasingly important foundation as businesses adopt Microsoft 365 Copilot, AI and other cloud technologies.

However, technology alone doesn't maintain your security posture. Getting the most from Microsoft Security requires ongoing monitoring, configuration reviews, incident management, remediation and governance as your business and the threats around it continue to change.

HybrIT Managed Microsoft Security combines Microsoft Defender and Purview with the expertise needed to continually manage and improve your Microsoft security environment, helping you get more from the technology you already own while reducing the pressure on your internal IT team. 

If you're considering Microsoft Purview, preparing for Microsoft 365 Copilot or simply want to understand whether you're getting the most from your existing Microsoft security investment, talk to HybrIT about Managed Microsoft Security and how we can help assess, manage and continually improve your security posture.