Microsoft 365 Copilot key security features

Time to read

5 minutes

Author

Angela Pawar
Microsoft Copilot sales specialist

Date published

February 2025

In this article, our Microsoft 365 Copilot specialist, Angela Pawar, discusses the key security features and topics for Microsoft 365 Copilot, including data governance, and shares how to ensure your customers work smarter without worrying about their data security.

Ensuring Data Protection and Compliance in the Modern Workplace

Data governance has become a critical cornerstone for organisations in the digital age. With advanced tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot, businesses have an opportunity to harness the power of data to drive innovation and efficiency. However, with this opportunity comes the responsibility to manage, protect, and utilise data in a manner that ensures compliance and safeguards against potential risks.

The Importance of Data Governance

Data governance refers to the policies, procedures, and standards that ensure the effective management of an organisation’s information assets. It encompasses data quality, data management, data policies, business process management, and risk management. The primary goals are to ensure data integrity, security, and compliance with relevant regulations. Failure to adhere to these regulations can result in hefty fines and reputational damage.

The good news is that Microsoft 365 Copilot is compliant with existing privacy, security, and compliance commitments to Microsoft 365 commercial customers, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and European Union (EU) Data Boundary. So, you can be confident the product you’re supplying your customers is compliant and secure by design. Copilot also ensures corporate data protection by not training on your prompts or data for external use and offers enhanced security features to help safeguard organisational data, which we’ll touch on now…

Key Features of Microsoft 365 Copilot for Data Governance

The following features are designed to enhance data governance and security, not only helping businesses protect sensitive information but also streamlining compliance processes, making it easier to manage your data effectively.

Restricted SharePoint Search

Restricted SharePoint Search allows your business to control access to sensitive information by limiting search capabilities to authorised personnel. This ensures that only those with the necessary permissions can access critical data, reducing the risk of data breaches.

SharePoint Advanced Management

Starting January 2025, organisations with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license will receive SharePoint Advanced Management for free, including all SAM features. This feature provides advanced administrative controls for managing SharePoint environments, including monitoring user activities, configuring security settings, and managing content lifecycle policies. These tools empower organisations to maintain a secure and compliant SharePoint environment, ensuring data is managed efficiently and securely.

Other solutions you might consider:

Although not included in Microsoft 365 Copilot capabilities, it’s important for MSPs and resellers, like you, to consider the following before introducing Microsoft 365 Copilot to your customers. You may even find you have these features inherently available in the Microsoft 365 suite your customers currently use.

Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

DLP is a crucial component of data governance, aimed at preventing the unintended exposure of sensitive information.  With DLP you can apply protective actions like encryption, access restrictions, and visual markings to ensure that confidential information remains secure. This feature helps you mitigate the risk of data leaks and maintain compliance with data protection regulations within your organisation.

Microsoft Purview Information Protection

This tool enables you to classify, label, and protect your data based on its sensitivity. It helps businesses to apply consistent data protection policies across their information landscape, ensuring that sensitive data is adequately protected.

Implementing Effective Data Governance with M365 Copilot

Identifying and managing gaps in your customers’ security and compliance can be a daunting task, but Microsoft have made it easy with Solutions Assessments. These offer a comprehensive evaluation of your customer’s data governance practices, identifying gaps and recommending best practices, helping you to enhance your customers’ data governance frameworks and ensure optimal data management and protection. You can nominate your customer for a Solutions Assessment via our Microsoft Practice team here.

Once you’ve applied the necessary security and governance policies, it’s also essential to ensure your employees understand the importance of data governance and how to use the tools provided by Microsoft 365 Copilot. Providing regular training and education programmes help to foster a culture of data responsibility within the organisation and can be a revenue generating managed service for partners.

Another of which can be monitoring and improvement services. Data governance is not a one-time effort but an ongoing process. Continuous monitoring and regular assessments are necessary to ensure that data governance practices remain effective and up to date. Microsoft 365 Copilot’s advanced monitoring and reporting capabilities enable your organisation to track data governance performance and make necessary improvements.

For MSPs and resellers, preparing for the introduction of Microsoft 365 Copilot to customers involves more than just understanding the technical aspects of the tool. It requires a comprehensive approach to security and data governance, ensuring that all data is managed, protected, and utilised in a manner that ensures compliance and safeguards against potential risks. By leveraging the advanced features of Microsoft 365 Copilot, businesses can harness the power of AI to drive innovation and efficiency while maintaining the highest standards of data protection and compliance.

Luckily for you, this is something we’ve considered from the beginning. Our Microsoft Practice Specialists work as an extension of your team, across the Key Microsoft workloads, including security. They’re eager for you to get in touch and help with your security concerns, Microsoft business and much more.