As more and more of our information is stored online, the importance of safeguarding data has become even more pronounced. DLP policies in M365 offer a robust additional layer of security to monitor, manage, and protect data from unauthorised access and dissemination.
Understanding DLP Policies and Their Components
DLP policies in M365 are rules set up to identify, monitor, and automatically protect sensitive information across Office 365 services, including Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Teams. These policies help ensure that sensitive information such as financial data, personally identifiable information (PII), health records, and intellectual property is not shared with unauthorised users or leaked outside the organisation, or if it is, then key people are informed.
Key components of DLP policies include conditions, actions, and exceptions. Conditions define the type of information to be protected, such as credit card numbers or National Insurance numbers. Actions specify what happens when the conditions are met, ranging from notifying the user to blocking access or encrypting the data. Exceptions define any circumstances under which the policy does not apply, reducing false positives and ensuring legitimate business processes are not hindered.
Benefits of DLP Policies for Companies
The implementation of DLP policies in M365 brings numerous benefits, enhancing security and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards, your own internal company policies, or even just your own peace of mind.
Improved Data Security: DLP policies significantly enhance data security by providing continuous monitoring and protection of sensitive information. By identifying and mitigating risks in real-time, companies can help to prevent data breaches and avoid potential financial and reputational damage.
Regulatory Compliance: Many industries must adhere to stringent regulatory requirements concerning data protection. DLP policies in M365 aid companies in complying with regulations such as GDPR and PCI-DSS by ensuring that sensitive data is handled and protected according to legal standards. Automated compliance reports also facilitate audits and demonstrate due diligence in data protection.
Policy Compliance: If your company is going for certification against standards such as IASME Cyber Assurance or ISO 27001, you may choose to – or have to – define policies that prevent leakage of sensitive data, or at least implement a mechanism to show that you are aware of what information is being shared externally. DLP policies can also help to categorise information according to their content and sensitivity.
Operational Efficiency: DLP policies can automate the identification and protection of sensitive information, reducing the administrative burden on IT staff. This allows IT departments to focus on other critical tasks while ensuring consistent data security measures across the organisation.
Risk Mitigation: By proactively identifying potential data leaks and mitigating them before they occur, DLP policies help reduce the risk of data breaches. The ability to block or encrypt data in real-time prevents unauthorised access or sharing, ensuring that sensitive information remains secure.
The Importance of Knowing What Data is Being Shared
Understanding what data is being shared within and outside the organisation is of paramount importance. Knowing the nature and sensitivity of the data allows companies to take appropriate measures to protect it. This knowledge helps in:
Preventing Data Breaches: By identifying sensitive data that is being shared, companies can implement controls to prevent unauthorised access, thereby reducing the risk of data breaches.
Ensuring Compliance: Companies must comply with various data protection regulations. Knowing what data is being shared ensures compliance with these regulations, helping to avoid legal penalties and reputational damage.
Enhancing Data Security: Awareness of shared data enables companies to apply targeted security measures, such as encryption and access controls, to protect sensitive information.
Improving Decision Making: Understanding data flow helps in making informed decisions about data management and security policies, ensuring that resources are allocated effectively to protect critical information.
Educating Employees: Knowledge of what data is being shared can be used to educate employees about data handling best practices, fostering a culture of security within the organisation.
Implementing DLP Policies in M365
Setting up DLP policies in M365 involves several steps. First, it is crucial to identify what constitutes sensitive information for the organisation, such as financial data, customer information, and intellectual property. M365 provides templates for common types of sensitive information, which can be customised to suit specific needs.
Next, policies can be created and configured by setting the conditions, actions, and exceptions for each policy. Before full implementation, it is advisable to test the policies in a controlled environment or in ‘audit only’ mode to identify any false positives or negatives, allowing for refinement without disrupting business operations, especially if you are intending on applying an action rather than just a notification to the alerts.
Continuous monitoring and reporting are essential to ensure the effectiveness of DLP policies. M365 provides detailed reports and dashboards that give insights into policy enforcement, data incidents, and potential risks. These reports can be used to fine-tune policies and improve data protection strategies.
Conclusion
Data Loss Prevention policies in M365 are an incredibly useful component of the toolkit for protecting sensitive information from unauthorised access and leakage, but also to monitor legitimate sharing events to gain better oversight of the activities being carried out by employees. By maintaining robust security measures, ensuring regulatory compliance, and enhancing operational efficiency, DLP policies contribute significantly to a company’s overall data protection strategy.
Implementing and maintaining effective DLP policies remains crucial in safeguarding your most valuable asset: your data.
If you’re interested in learning more about how to implement Data Labelling or Data Loss Prevention Policies in Microsoft 365, get in touch.
