Information Protection: Keep the Most Vital Information Safe

Every day, businesses create, share, and store vast amounts of sensitive data, making protection more important than ever. Organizations face increasing challenges in safeguarding their information from cyber threats, accidental leaks, and unauthorized access, all while ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements. 

That’s why information protection is no longer a nice-to-have, it’s essential. 

Microsoft 365 offers a robust suite of tools to help organizations identify, classify, protect, and govern their data, all while staying compliant with standards like GDPR, HIPAA, and ISO 27001. Using these tools effectively requires more than flipping a switch; it takes strategy, planning, and a deep understanding of your organization’s data. 

Why Information Protection Matters 

From customer records and trade secrets to financial reports and contracts, the loss or leak of sensitive data can lead to reputational damage, regulatory fines, financial losses and legal consequences. 

Information protection is also about meeting compliance obligations.  Organizations need policies, processes, and technologies that secure sensitive data throughout their lifecycle.

Microsoft’s 4-Step Approach to Information Protection 

1. Know Your Data

You can’t protect what you don’t understand. Start by identifying and classifying the types of data your organization handles and involve business stakeholders early. 

• Define sensitivity levels (e.g., Confidential, Internal Only, Public) and apply labels to documents, folders, or entire Teams workspaces. 
• Microsoft Purview uses built-in AI to automatically detect patterns like credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, and more. 
• Before enforcing policies, test your configuration in audit mode to surface sensitive content without interrupting business workflows.
  

Once your data is classified, apply protection policies based on its sensitivity. 

• Automatically encrypt emails and files to protect content, even if it's accidentally shared. 
• Restrict copy/paste, printing, forwarding, and other risky behaviors with information rights management. 
• Use labels and watermarks to visually mark content to make sensitivity levels clear and consistent across users.

4. Prevent Data Loss

Data Loss Prevention (DLP) helps stop data from leaving your environment inappropriately. 

• Monitor and control how data is shared via email, chat, or file sharing. 
• Trigger alerts or block actions when sensitive info is detected. 
• Apply policies for specific users, groups, or locations like SharePoint or OneDrive.

5. Govern Your Data

Not all data should live forever. Microsoft’s retention and governance tools help manage data over time. 

• Automatically apply rules to keep or delete content after a specific period with retention labels. 
• Use records management to ensure certain files can't be modified or deleted. 
• Prompt owners to review data before deletion or archival.
  
  

Getting Started: Steps to Deploy Information Protection 

Rolling out information protection is more than a technical task, it’s an organizational change. Here's how to approach it:

Step 1: Assess Your Data

Conduct a comprehensive review of the types of data you handle and identify what needs protection. Include key stakeholders like HR, legal, compliance, and IT.

Step 2: Define Policies

Set clear information protection policies aligned with your business goals and regulatory responsibilities.

Step 3: Deploy Tools

Use Microsoft 365 tools such as Microsoft Purview, Azure Information Protection (AIP), and Data Loss Prevention (DLP) to enforce those policies.

Step 4: Monitor Usage

Review data activity regularly to detect anomalies, misconfigurations, or evolving risks.

Step 5: Train Your Team

Make sure employees understand why protection matters and how to work within new processes. Smooth onboarding prevents frustration and ensures adoption. 

Let's Improve Your Information Protection Strategy 

Whether you’re just getting started or refining your existing setup, Procise is here to help. We work with you to assess your environment, define the right policies, and deploy Microsoft 365 tools effectively, without disrupting your team’s productivity.