🔐 New AI Transparency Policy in Microsoft 365

Posted on January 26, 2026 by Jo SNAI

Microsoft 365 will offer a policy to add visual or audio watermarks to AI-generated or altered video and audio content, available via Cloud Policy by February 2026. This enhances transparency but does not apply to images, which users can watermark through privacy settings separately.

To help provide additional transparency about what content has been generated or altered by using AI in Microsoft 365, Microsoft is providing you with a policy setting that visually designates when content, such as video or audio content, is generated or altered by using AI. This policy setting controls your organization’s option to add a visual or audio watermark to video and audio content that your users generate or alter by using AI in Microsoft 365.

To turn on watermarks for video and audio content that your users generate or alter by using AI in Microsoft 365, you need to use the “Include a watermark when content from Microsoft 365 is generated or altered by AI” policy. This policy is available only in Cloud Policy service for Microsoft 365.

Note: Watermarks are not turned on unless you set the policy to Enabled. Your organization is always responsible for following the Microsoft Enterprise AI Services Code of Conduct, including not generating or sharing deceptive AI content.

This change is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID: 547831.

When this will happen

General Availability (Worldwide): We anticipate that this policy will be available in Cloud Policy by the second half of February 2026.

How this will affect your organization

Who is affected

Users that generate or alter video and audio content by using AI in Microsoft 365

What will happen

If you set the “Include a watermark when content from Microsoft 365 is generated or altered by AI” policy to Enabled in Cloud Policy, a visual or audio watermark is added to video and audio content that is generated or altered by using AI in Microsoft 365. Here are two examples:

A visual watermark is added to a video generated with Clipchamp.
An audio watermark is added to an audio overview generated by Copilot from a Word document.

Notes:

This policy doesn’t affect images generated or altered by using AI in Microsoft 365.
Instead, your users will be able to turn on watermarks for images by going to Settings & Privacy > Privacy at https://myaccount.microsoft.com. We anticipate this capability will be available in the second half of February 2026.

What you need to do to prepare

Review the information in the following article: Add watermarks to content generated or altered by using AI in Microsoft 365. If you decide to set the “Include a watermark when content from Microsoft 365 is generated or altered by AI” policy to Enabled, inform your users that a visual or audio watermark will be added to video and audio content that they generate or alter by using AI in Microsoft 365.

🚨 Now Generally Available: Microsoft Purview Data Security Investigations 🚨

Posted on January 26, 2026 by Jo SNAI

Microsoft Purview Data Security Investigations is officially GA, and to mark the moment, Microsoft is hosting an Ask Microsoft Anything (AMA) – Part 2 with the team behind the solution.

This session will dive into:

🔍 New capabilities in Data Security Investigations
🧠 How investigations are evolving to meet modern insider risk and data misuse challenges
💼 A walkthrough of the refined business model
💬 Live Q&A with the product experts who built it

📅 Date: February 5, 2026
⏰ Time: 10:00 – 11:00 AM PST

If you’re working with Microsoft Purview, Insider Risk, Data Loss Prevention, or security investigations, this is one you don’t want to miss.

👉 Save your spot and bring your questions

🤖 Microsoft Purview Data Security Investigations is now generally available

🔐 Microsoft Purview | Enhanced Diagnostics for DLP & Information Protection

Posted on January 21, 2026 by Jo SNAI

Microsoft Purview is introducing new diagnostics for Data Loss Prevention and Information Protection, providing admins deeper insights into triggered policies for files and emails. Rolling out from January to May 2026, these tools require no action, cause no workflow impact, and are enabled by default.

To help administrators troubleshoot Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and Information Protection scenarios more effectively, Microsoft Purview is introducing a new set of enhanced diagnostics. These improvements provide deeper visibility into why specific DLP rules or sensitivity labeling policies are triggered on files and emails, making investigation and policy tuning more efficient.

This update corresponds to Roadmap ID 547833.

📅 Rollout Timeline

Public Preview

Start: Mid‑January 2026
Completion: Mid‑February 2026

General Availability (Worldwide)

Start: Early April 2026
Completion: Early May 2026

Impact on Your Organization

Who is Affected

Microsoft 365 admins managing:
- DLP policies
- Information Protection labels
- Purview compliance and security operations

What’s Changing

Administrators will gain expanded visibility into:

🔎 Sensitive Information Types detected within files and emails
🏷️ Labels applied to content
🚨 DLP policies triggered based on content inspection

New diagnostics experiences include:

DLP SharePoint Diagnostics
Insights into policy matches within SharePoint Online content.
DLP Exchange Online (EXO) Diagnostics
Validation of DLP triggers across email workflows.
Auto-Labeling Diagnostics for SharePoint & OneDrive
Visibility into label assignment, policy behavior, and alignment for stored files.

No Impact to User or Admin Workflows

No changes to policy enforcement
No changes to existing configurations
Diagnostics are enabled by default
No workflow disruptions

For additional learning and internal readiness, you may review:

🔐 Microsoft Purview: The New Data Security Posture Management Experience

Posted on January 17, 2026 by Jo SNAI

Microsoft is launching a new Purview Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) experience by early 2026, enhancing AI observability, posture reporting, and automation with Security Copilot.

Microsoft is introducing a major evolution of Purview Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) to help organizations strengthen data security and confidently embrace AI. The new DSPM experience unifies visibility and control across traditional data and AI-driven environments, delivering outcome-based guided workflows that turn insights into actionable steps—so teams can prioritize risks and remediate faster. It brings AI observability, enhanced posture reporting, and intelligent Security Copilot agents to automate tasks like triage and policy management.

Purview now also extends coverage beyond Microsoft data with third-party signals from partners like BigID, Cyera, OneTrust, and Varonis, giving security teams a single, streamlined view of sensitive data across clouds and platforms. Additionally, Data Risk Assessments are extended to Fabric and item-level analysis with new remediation actions like bulk disabling of overshared SharePoint links.

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 532728.

When this will happen:

Public Preview (Worldwide): Rollout begins early December 2025 and completes by early April 2026.
General Availability (Worldwide): Rollout begins early April 2026 and completes by early May 2026.

Compliance considerations:

Compliance Area	Explanation
AI/ML capabilities interacting with customer data	Security Copilot agents automate triage and policy management.
Integration with 3rd party software	Adds signals from BigID, Cyera, OneTrust, and Varonis.
Admin reporting and monitoring	Enhanced posture reporting and remediation actions introduced.