In an era where cyber threats are becoming more sophisticated and frequent, traditional isolated data security measures are struggling to keep up. Organisations are facing an uphill battle to balance data security, user productivity, and the costs and resources required to manage and monitor data risks.
Fortunately for Microsoft clients, the evolving threat landscape has been met with equally impressive development in data security and governance functionality. Microsoft Purview is at the forefront of this evolution, offering comprehensive tools to protect, manage, and govern data across your organization.
Each separate element of Microsoft Purview already provides functionality to protect, manage and govern data. However, the suite is increasingly harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to unify its capabilities, enabling insights from one component to enhance the functionality of others.
While still under development, this new, integrated approach promises to not only enhance data protection but also streamline governance through intelligent automation. Organisations eager to embrace this new horizon are encouraged to lay the groundwork now, readying their environments to take full advantage when the functionality is officially released.
In the meantime, let’s take a look at how adaptive protection works, and how it stands to revolutionise the future of enterprise data protection.
What is Adaptive Protection?
Adaptive protection is a feature within Microsoft Purview that revolutionizes how data protection policies are implemented. By integrating AI and machine learning, this feature dynamically adjusts protection measures based on context, sensitivity level of the data, location and device of the user, the user’s behaviour and their implied intent.
Whether it’s adjusting access permissions, modifying encryption settings, auditing options, or adjusting classification labels based on real-time risk assessments, adaptive protection ensures that data security is both responsive and precise.
Real-world applications
If you’re wondering how adaptive protection actually works in the real world, here are a few scenarios in which its capabilities can significantly mitigate risks:
Device and location risks
Event: A user attempts to access sensitive information from an unsecured device or a high-risk location.
Response: Adaptive protection can either block access entirely, or require additional authentication steps tailored to the risk level of the device and location.
Secure data sharing
Event: A user attempts to share a confidential document with an external recipient via email or cloud storage.
Response: Adaptive protection can detect the sensitivity level of the document and the identity of the recipient and apply appropriate encryptions and/or watermarks to protect the data in transit and at rest.
Anomaly detection
Event: A user behaves in an unusual or suspicious manner, such as downloading a large amount of data, accessing unusual resources or logging in at odd hours.
Response: Adaptive protection can recognise the anomaly, monitor the user’s activity, and generate alerts or take remediation actions based on the severity of the risk.
Why Adaptive Protection Matters
One of the biggest benefits of adaptive protection is that, by applying context-sensitive policies, it reduces the load on administrators while preserving productivity by ensuring legitimate data access remains unhindered.
Adaptive protection’s simplified policy management also benefits administrators by enabling them to create flexible, granular policies that adapt to various scenarios and use cases. This eliminates the need to create and maintain static policies to suit each and every situation – a previously time-consuming resource drain.
It’s not just administrators who stand to benefit from adaption protection, either. Users gain the ability to access and share data securely and seamlessly, without compromising their productivity or collaboration.
Adaptive protection’s ability to provide feedback and guidance on handling sensitive data appropriately (by suggesting labels or encryption options, for example) also improves user confidence and fosters a more security conscious environment – a win for everyone involved.
Implementing Adaptive Protection
As with all complex technology, deploying adaptive protection within Microsoft Purview involves more than just flipping a switch. To fully unlock its benefits, you’ll need to get the following well in hand.
- Data Classification: Define and apply sensitivity labels to your data sources, files and emails based on their level of confidentiality and the potential impact of their unauthorised disclosure. (Sensitivity labels help to classify and protect your data across different platforms and applications.)
- Monitoring: Configure alert rules to monitor and respond to risky events or activities involving sensitive data, such as unauthorised access, sharing, and/or exfiltration attempts. (Alert rules help to detect and mitigate data loss, leakage, or misuse incidents.)
- Incident Analysis: Use investigation reports to analyse and understand the underlying causes, impacts and trends of data protection issues within your organisation. (Investigation reports help to identify and address gaps and/or weaknesses in your data protection strategies and policies.)
- User Education: Empower users with the knowledge to handle sensitive data appropriately and securely. Provide them with feedback and guidance on how to apply sensitivity labels, encryption options and sharing permissions to their data, and encourage them to report suspicious or anomalous activity involving their data.
Get Started with Adaptive Protection
If you’re feeling apprehensive at the extent of preparations necessary to tap into adaption protection’s benefits, we don’t blame you. We know full well how challenging deploying Microsoft Purview’s various elements can be. From getting the right stakeholders together to make decisions, to helping everyone understand the requirements, technical capabilities and combination of people, process and technology necessary for success, it takes a careful and experienced hand to run a Purview deployment smoothly.
Let’s also not forget the complications caused by the fact that it’s really difficult to quantify data risk, while the cost of resources required to monitor and act on Purview reporting is all too obvious. This can make it tough to secure the necessary buy-in and budget.
Fortunately, adaptive protection offers tangible relief in this area, alleviating the administrative burden by enabling administrators to home in on areas of greatest risk and/or particular interest. Not having to create, apply and monitor a thousand different policies (that often restrict more than they protect) can reduce overheads significantly and create a more obvious value proposition to those holding the purse strings.
The fact is, when it comes to adaptive protection, the value really is undeniable. To such an extent that we struggle to see a future where this agile approach to data security isn’t front and centre. Data threats have evolved. Our methods need to follow suit. Microsoft Purview – with its dynamic, intelligent security solutions designed to keep pace with the changing digital landscape – represents a significant and inevitable step forward.
Ready to take the next step? Talk to us about our strategic, risk-based approach to Purview deployment that will expedite your journey to reducing data risk and ready your environment to make the most of adaptive protection when it hits the market. Get in touch.
