In today’s fast-paced, digitally driven business landscape, maintaining robust security and compliance within your Microsoft 365 environment is paramount. As data breaches and regulatory penalties become increasingly common, organisations must proactively fortify their defences to safeguard sensitive information, mitigate risks, and ensure adherence to industry standards.
Enter Microsoft Purview, a comprehensive suite of compliance and risk management tools that empowers IT professionals and security teams to take control of their Microsoft 365 environment. By leveraging the power of Microsoft Purview, you can elevate your communication compliance, enhance data protection, and streamline your compliance efforts – all from a centralised platform.
Microsoft Purview: Your Compliance Command Centre
Microsoft Purview is a rebranded and expanded version of Microsoft’s previous compliance and risk management solutions, consolidating tools like Office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft 365 Security Center, and Microsoft Compliance Manager under a single, unified platform.
From the Microsoft Purview portal, you can access a wealth of valuable functionality, including:
- Compliance Solutions: Identify, monitor, and automatically protect sensitive information across emails, documents, and cloud applications.
- Risk Management: Detect and mitigate insider threats, such as data exfiltration, unauthorised access, and improper data sharing.
- Auditing and Reporting: Review security-related events, identify trends, and generate compliance reports.
By leveraging the power of Microsoft Purview, you can establish a robust security and compliance strategy tailored to your organisation’s unique needs, ensuring your Microsoft 365 environment remains secure and compliant.
Elevating Communication Compliance with Microsoft Purview
One of the standout features within Microsoft Purview is the Communication Compliance solution, which helps organisations detect, capture, and remediate potential risks across a wide range of communication channels, including Microsoft Teams, Viva Engage, Exchange email, and even third-party platforms like Instant Bloomberg.
Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance uses advanced machine learning algorithms and customisable policies to identify a diverse range of inappropriate content, such as:
- Text-based concerns: Harassment, threats, and discrimination
- Visual elements: Adult and other prohibited imagery
- Sensitive information: Names, medical records, and passwords
- Potential instances of fraud: Gifts, entertainment, and money laundering
When the solution detects a potential policy violation, it raises a review flag for designated investigators within your organisation. These investigators can then review the communication and align it with your organisation’s message standards, enhancing consistency and accountability.
Privacy and compliance are at the forefront of Microsoft Purview Communication Compliance. By default, the solution adopts pseudonymised usernames and supports role-based access controls, ensuring that only authorised personnel can access and investigate sensitive communications. Comprehensive audit logs further strengthen privacy assurance and user-level accountability.
Empowering Your Compliance Efforts with Microsoft Purview Policies
At the heart of Microsoft Purview’s compliance capabilities are the customisable compliance policies that you can configure to meet your organisation’s specific requirements. These policies serve as the foundation for enforcing security and compliance measures across your Microsoft 365 environment.
Configuring Compliance Policies
Using the Microsoft Purview portal, you can easily create and manage a wide range of compliance policies, including:
- Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Identify, monitor, and automatically protect sensitive information across emails, documents, and cloud applications.
- Information Protection: Classify and apply encryption or rights management to sensitive data, ensuring that it remains protected even when shared outside your organisation.
- Insider Risk Management: Detect and mitigate insider threats, such as data exfiltration, unauthorised access, and improper data sharing.
During the policy configuration process, you can define custom rules, set triggers, and specify the appropriate actions to be taken when a potential violation is detected. This level of customisation allows you to align your compliance efforts with your organisation’s specific needs and regulatory requirements.
Enforcing Compliance Policies
Once your compliance policies are in place, Microsoft Purview ensures their consistent enforcement across your Microsoft 365 environment. This includes:
- Automated Data Protection: Sensitive information is automatically protected based on your DLP and information protection policies, preventing accidental or malicious data leaks.
- Proactive Risk Mitigation: Insider risk management policies continuously monitor user activities and communication patterns, alerting you to potential threats that require investigation and remediation.
- Centralised Reporting and Auditing: The Microsoft Purview portal provides comprehensive reporting and auditing capabilities, allowing you to track policy violations, generate compliance reports, and demonstrate adherence to regulatory requirements.
By empowering your organisation with customisable compliance policies and robust enforcement mechanisms, Microsoft Purview elevates your security and compliance posture, giving you the tools to mitigate risks and ensure the integrity of your Microsoft 365 environment.
Securing Your Microsoft 365 Environment
Alongside the compliance capabilities of Microsoft Purview, it’s essential to implement best practices for securing your overall Microsoft 365 environment. This includes leveraging the powerful security features within the Microsoft Defender suite of solutions.
Identity and Access Management
Effective identity and access management is a cornerstone of Microsoft 365 security. By implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) and conditional access policies, you can drastically reduce the risk of unauthorised access to your sensitive data and critical resources.
- Multi-Factor Authentication: Require users to provide additional verification, such as a code sent to their mobile device or a biometric scan, before granting access to Microsoft 365 services. This adds a crucial layer of protection against compromised credentials.
- Conditional Access: Enforce access policies based on user location, device type, network, and other contextual factors. This allows you to grant or deny access based on your organisation’s specific security requirements, ensuring that only authorised users can access sensitive information or perform critical actions.
Data Protection and Information Barriers
Alongside identity and access controls, robust data protection measures are essential for safeguarding your Microsoft 365 environment. Leverage the encryption and information barriers capabilities within Microsoft Purview to secure sensitive data at rest and in transit.
- Encryption: Ensure that your sensitive data, whether stored in Microsoft 365 or shared with external parties, remains protected through robust encryption mechanisms. This includes options like Microsoft Purview Information Protection and Microsoft Purview Customer Key.
- Information Barriers: Implement policies that restrict the flow of information between designated groups or individuals within your organisation, preventing the unintended or unauthorised sharing of sensitive data.
By combining these identity, access, and data protection measures, you can build a comprehensive security framework that safeguards your Microsoft 365 environment against a wide range of threats, from data breaches to insider threats.
Ensuring Compliance with Regulatory Requirements
In today’s highly regulated business landscape, maintaining compliance with industry-specific standards and governmental regulations is a critical priority. Microsoft Purview provides a robust set of tools and capabilities to help you address a wide range of compliance requirements, including:
Regulatory Frameworks
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): Leverage Microsoft Purview’s data classification, information protection, and data loss prevention capabilities to identify, protect, and control the flow of personal data within your Microsoft 365 environment.
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA): Utilise Microsoft Purview’s compliance features to secure and monitor the handling of protected health information (PHI) across your Microsoft 365 services.
Industry-Specific Regulations
Depending on your industry, you may need to adhere to additional compliance requirements. Microsoft Purview offers tailored solutions to help you address these specific regulations, such as:
- Financial Services: Leverage Microsoft Purview’s communication compliance and insider risk management features to monitor and mitigate the risks associated with financial regulations.
- Healthcare: Combine Microsoft Purview’s data protection and information barriers with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps to safeguard sensitive medical data and enforce access controls.
By leveraging the comprehensive capabilities of Microsoft Purview, you can streamline your compliance efforts, demonstrate adherence to regulatory standards, and protect your organisation from the potentially devastating consequences of non-compliance.
Unleashing the Power of Microsoft Purview
As you navigate the complex landscape of Microsoft 365 security and compliance, Microsoft Purview emerges as a powerful ally, offering a centralised platform to secure your data, mitigate risks, and maintain regulatory compliance.
By harnessing the capabilities of Microsoft Purview, you can elevate your communication compliance, enhance data protection, and streamline your compliance efforts – all while safeguarding your Microsoft 365 environment against a wide range of threats.
Remember, the key to success lies in proactive and strategic implementation. By working closely with your IT team and security experts, you can tailor Microsoft Purview’s features to your organisation’s unique needs and build a robust security and compliance framework that instils confidence and trust in your Microsoft 365 environment.
So, take the first step towards securing your Microsoft 365 environment and explore the transformative power of Microsoft Purview. Your organisation’s data, reputation, and future success depend on it.
