How to prepare your tenant to M365 Copilot

With the growing adoption of Microsoft 365 and the introduction of Copilot, companies must strengthen their data protection and governance. To protect sensitive information and ensure controlled use of artificial intelligence tools, strict management of access, rights and sharing is essential.

How can you efficiently structure and secure your M365 tenant? What are the best practices to adopt to avoid overexposing your data?

 On the agenda:

• Microsoft M365 and data access governance: a strategic matter
• Why and how to reduce data volumes
• Secure access and control sharing: an absolute necessity
• Continuous monitoring and governance automation
  
  
  

Microsoft M365 and data access governance: a strategic matter

The M365 tenant is the center of digital activities for organizations: it centralizes communications, documents and collaborative tools. However, access governance is facing new challenges due to the ever-increasing volume of data and the introduction of Copilot.

Without refined management of permissions and sharing, the risk of drift is high: data overexposure and access to data that users should not have… To eliminate hazards, tracking the access is essential.

With MyDataSecurity, organizations have a complete and in real-time range of view on access, rights and shares in M365.

The solution enables you to :

• Monitor access and detect excessive or obsolete permissions.
• Analyze sensitive sharing to identify the risk of data overexposure.

Why and how to reduce data volumes

It is important to remove useless and obsolete data, to avoid having it indexed by Copilot. Known as garbage in-garbage out: the AI tool will use all accessible data. if it relies on obsolete ones, it will reproduce unreliable data or completely erroneous results.

An efficient approach consists of:

• Identifying and deleting unnecessary or non-compliant files.
• Setting up retention rule to automate the data lifecycle.
• Categorize and secure sensitive data by limiting access to those strictly concerned.

That optimization will facilitate the implementation of Copilot, ensuring that the AI only uses relevant and validated data

Secure access and control sharing: an absolute necessity

An overly permissive access to a document and an uncontrolled share with an external provider are breeding grounds for cyber-attacks and data breaches.

To prevent these risks, tracking access in real-time and detecting anomalies is needed. With IDECSI, IT teams and business managers benefit from:

• Live alerts in case of suspicious activities or changes in permissions.
• A clear visibility over data sharing to spot exposed sensitive files.
• immediate remedial action to rectify mistakes and reduce risks.

 The protection and governance of data access in the M365 tenant do not rely solely on technical tools but also on user awareness. Training employees on best practices, security risks (such as phishing, password management and so on) and the use of collaborative security tools is crucial.

It is also important to inform them about the impact of integrating Copilot, especially regarding AI’s interaction with data. A continuous training program and regular reminders will help reduce human errors and ensure proper use of the tools, while involving each employee in information security.

MyDataSecurity allows each employee, beyond the IT teams, to take an active role in the security by monitoring their own access and reporting anomalies.

Continuous monitoring and governance automation

Beyond best practices, the adoption of specialized tools allows you to automate the monitoring and strengthen governance over your M365 tenant.

Advanced protection solutions offer:

• A centralized view of access and sharing to detect anomalies.
• Alerts in case of suspicious behavior (data exfiltration, unusual access, etc.).
• Fast remedial mechanisms to immediately correct any drift.

By mixing strict governance, optimized data management and advanced monitoring tools, your organization can make the most of Copilot’s capabilities while minimizing risks.

Conclusion

The protection and governance of data access in your M365 tenant is a major challenge for companies. A proactive approach, based on refined access management, data rationalization and continuous monitoring ensures the efficient and secure use of collaborative tools.

With the introduction of Copilot, it is more important than ever to anticipate these challenges to avoid any risks of data leaks or misuse. By adopting the best practices and relying on advanced control solutions, companies can secure their M365 environment while promoting fluid and productive collaboration.