Tag Archives: Information Protection

Removing pay-as-you-go requirements for Edge for Business DLP unmanaged app protections

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Good news for Microsoft Purview administrators. Microsoft is removing the pay-as-you-go (PAYG) billing requirement for Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and collection policies that protect unmanaged cloud app interactions in Microsoft Edge for Business. This change, rolling out starting in mid-October 2026, simplifies deployment and management by eliminating the need to connect an Azure subscription specifically for this Edge for Business protection scenario.

 

What’s Changing?

Until now, organizations that wanted to use Microsoft Purview’s inline protection capabilities for unmanaged cloud apps in Edge for Business needed to configure pay-as-you-go billing. Microsoft previously announced this requirement, but it has now decided to remove it.

Once the rollout is complete, administrators will no longer need:

  • An Azure subscription for this specific protection scenario
  • Pay-as-you-go billing configuration
  • Billing prerequisite validation checks when creating or editing applicable policies

The actual protection capabilities are not changing. This is purely a licensing and billing simplification.

 

What Stays the Same?

If you’re already using Purview DLP or collection policies in Edge for Business, there’s nothing you need to change.

Microsoft has confirmed that:

  • Existing policies will continue to work as they do today
  • No migration or policy recreation is required
  • Enforcement behavior remains unchanged
  • Supported inline browser protection activities will continue to be protected

In other words, the protection experience remains exactly the same while the administrative overhead is reduced.

 

Billing Impact

One of the biggest benefits of this update is the removal of charges associated with these protected interactions.

After rollout:

  • Requests related to supported unmanaged cloud app interactions in Edge for Business will no longer generate charges through the In Transit Protection meter.
  • Billing checks and related guidance will disappear from the Purview portal and policy cmdlets for this scenario.

For organizations that hesitated to deploy browser-based DLP because of PAYG requirements, this change removes a significant barrier.

 

Important: This Doesn’t Apply to Everything

It’s worth noting that this update is limited to Edge for Business unmanaged app protections.

Microsoft is not expanding:

  • Supported applications
  • Browsers
  • Activities
  • Licensing requirements
  • Devices
  • Cloud environments

Additionally, other Microsoft Purview capabilities that rely on pay-as-you-go billing, such as Microsoft Purview Network Data Security, are not affected by this announcement. If your organization uses other PAYG-enabled Purview services, those Azure billing configurations may still be required.

 

Rollout Timeline

The update is scheduled to roll out worldwide:

  • Start: Mid-October 2026
  • Expected completion: Late October 2026

Because the deployment is gradual, some tenants may continue to see PAYG requirements in the Purview portal until the update reaches their environment.

 

What Should Administrators Do?

The short answer: nothing.

Microsoft has stated that no action is required.

However, I recommend administrators:

  1. Continue using existing DLP and collection policies as configured.
  2. Avoid removing Azure billing configurations that support other PAYG-based Purview workloads.
  3. Monitor Microsoft documentation during the rollout for updated guidance.

 

This is a welcome change that makes Microsoft Purview easier to adopt and manage. Security teams can continue protecting sensitive data flowing to unmanaged cloud applications through Edge for Business without having to worry about additional billing configuration or consumption-based charges for this use case.

While the underlying DLP capabilities remain unchanged, reducing administrative complexity is always a step in the right direction. For organizations looking to strengthen browser-based data protection, this removes one more obstacle and makes deployment a little more straightforward.

 

Microsoft Purview Autolabeling Gets a Major Scale Upgrade: From 4 Million to 20 Million Items

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Microsoft is expanding the capabilities of Microsoft Purview Information Protection, making it easier for organizations to deploy and validate autolabeling policies across significantly larger data environments.  The headline enhancement is a substantial increase in autolabeling simulation capacity, growing from 4 million to 20 million items. For organizations managing large volumes of content across Microsoft 365, this change removes a major limitation when testing and validating labeling strategies before production deployment.

What’s Changing?

With this update, administrators will be able to simulate autolabeling policies against much larger datasets, helping them better understand potential policy impact and identify issues before enabling automatic labeling.

Microsoft is also introducing several improvements aimed at simplifying policy management and providing deeper visibility into how labeling policies perform.

Key Enhancements

Autolabeling simulations now support up to 20 million items

The previous simulation limit of 4 million items has been increased fivefold, allowing organizations to assess policy effectiveness across significantly larger data estates.

Expanded SharePoint targeting

Administrators will now be able to:

  • Select up to 1,000 individual SharePoint sites when configuring an autolabeling policy.
  • Use adaptive scopes that support up to 50,000 SharePoint sites per policy.
  • Filter SharePoint sites using the SiteTemplate property during policy creation, providing more granular control over policy targeting.

Improved reporting and visibility

Microsoft is enhancing the audit and reporting experience with new insights, including:

  • Summaries of the Sensitive Information Types (SITs) detected when labels are applied.
  • A new 30-day processing chart that shows the number of files processed each day, helping administrators track policy throughput and identify trends over time.

These reporting enhancements should make it much easier to understand why labels are being applied and monitor the effectiveness of information protection policies.

Rollout Timeline

Microsoft plans to release these capabilities according to the following schedule:

  • Public Preview: Early September 2026 through mid-September 2026
  • General Availability: Beginning in late October 2026

The features will be enabled automatically as they become available in each tenant.

What Does This Mean for Organizations?

For most organizations, no action is required. Existing autolabeling policies will continue to function exactly as they do today.

However, security and compliance teams may want to revisit policies that were previously constrained by simulation limits or SharePoint scope restrictions. The increased scale opens opportunities to include additional repositories and validate policies against much larger datasets before deployment. Organizations should also consider updating their operational and reporting processes to take advantage of the new SIT visibility and processing metrics.

Compliance Impact

The update does not change how labels work, how Sensitive Information Types are defined, or how customer data is handled.

Instead, Microsoft is increasing the scale at which policies can be evaluated while improving monitoring and reporting capabilities. The added visibility into detected Sensitive Information Types and policy processing activity should help compliance teams better demonstrate and validate their information protection efforts.

Final Thoughts

This is a welcome enhancement for enterprises managing large-scale Microsoft 365 environments. The jump from 4 million to 20 million simulated items, combined with expanded SharePoint coverage and richer reporting, makes Microsoft Purview’s autolabeling capabilities more practical for organizations with complex compliance requirements and large volumes of content. For many Purview administrators, the real value will come from being able to test policies more thoroughly, target more content locations, and gain better insight into exactly how their information protection strategy is performing.

Main Improvements Made

  • Converted formal release-note language into a conversational blog style.
  • Added clear section headings and narrative flow.
  • Focused on business value and real-world impact rather than feature descriptions alone.
  • Reduced repetitive compliance wording while preserving all key technical details.
  • Added a concise conclusion with practical takeaways for administrators and compliance teams.

Microsoft Purview Expands DLP and AutoLabeling to Third-Party Apps

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Microsoft is taking another major step toward unified data protection by extending Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and autolabeling capabilities beyond the Microsoft ecosystem. Organisations will soon be able to protect and classify data stored in popular third-party applications such as Google Workspace, Box, Salesforce, Dropbox, ServiceNow, AWS, and Cisco Webex, all from within Microsoft Purview.

A Single Compliance Hub for More Applications

Traditionally, organisations managing data across multiple cloud platforms had to rely on separate security and compliance controls for each application. With this update, Microsoft Purview becomes a more centralised compliance solution by allowing administrators to create and manage DLP and autolabeling policies for supported non-Microsoft applications directly from the Purview portal.

The integration is made possible through Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps connectors, which securely connect these third-party services to Microsoft Purview.

Once the feature is rolled out, dedicated application locations for supported non-Microsoft services will appear in Microsoft Purview. Administrators will be able to:

  • Create and manage Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies for supported applications.
  • Create and manage Information Protection autolabeling policies.
  • Apply compliance controls from a single management interface.
  • Extend sensitivity labels and data protection policies beyond Microsoft 365 workloads.

Supported Applications

DLP Support

Microsoft Purview DLP will support the following applications:

  • Google Workspace
  • Box
  • Dropbox
  • Salesforce
  • ServiceNow
  • AWS
  • Cisco Webex

AutoLabeling Support

Autolabeling will initially be available for:

  • Google Workspace
  • Box

Available policy actions and conditions will vary depending on the application and may include content inspection, sensitivity labelling, notifications, quarantine actions, and access controls.

Rollout Timeline

Microsoft plans to release the feature according to the following schedule:

  • Public Preview: Mid-August 2026 to early September 2026
  • General Availability: Early September 2026 through late October 2026

Important Considerations

Organisations currently using Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps file policies for the same third-party locations should take note: Microsoft recommends disabling or removing those existing file policies before creating equivalent policies in Microsoft Purview. Running both simultaneously could result in unexpected policy enforcement behaviour.

Licensing and Pricing

To use these new capabilities, organisations will need:

  • An eligible Microsoft Purview Enterprise license
  • Connected applications via Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

Additionally, customers should review the pricing implications associated with Microsoft Purview At Rest Protection. Usage is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis, with 1,000 files counted as one data asset for billing purposes.

Why This Matters

As organisations continue adopting multi-cloud and multi-platform environments, data often resides well beyond Microsoft 365. This update allows security and compliance teams to apply consistent protection, classification, and governance policies across a broader range of business-critical applications without requiring separate management tools.

By bringing DLP and autolabeling capabilities to leading third-party services, Microsoft is helping organisation simplify compliance operations while strengthening data security wherever sensitive information resides.

This enhancement significantly expands Microsoft Purview’s reach, making it a stronger centralised platform for information protection and compliance. For organisations using a mix of Microsoft and non-Microsoft cloud services, the ability to manage DLP and labeling policies from a single console could reduce complexity, improve governance consistency, and strengthen overall data protection strategies.

🎙️ Broadcast Episode: Microsoft Purview Expands Beyond Microsoft 365! | Pip & Mara

🎧 Tune in for all the details!
🎥 Watch the full episode ➡️ here

Microsoft 365 Copilot Gets Clearer DLP Notifications

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Have you ever wondered why Copilot couldn’t access, process, or return certain content?
Microsoft is making that experience much easier to understand. Previously, users could see different messages depending on how a Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policy was triggered, which sometimes made it unclear why content wasn’t available.

With this update, Microsoft 365 Copilot will now display a consistent notification whenever organisational DLP policies prevent access to content. The goal is simple: improve transparency, reduce confusion, and help users understand that Copilot is respecting their organisation’s data protection policies.

What’s Covered?

The new standardized message applies to Microsoft Purview DLP protections across Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat, including:

  • Grounding DLP
  • Prompt DLP
  • External Email DLP

Where Will Users See It?

The unified notification can appear across Microsoft 365 Copilot experiences powered by Microsoft 365 Chat orchestration, including:

  • Microsoft 365 Copilot
  • Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat
  • Microsoft Teams Copilot experiences
  • Outlook on the web Copilot experiences
  • Microsoft Edge Copilot experiences
  • Other Microsoft 365 Copilot chat experiences that rely on Microsoft 365 Chat orchestration

Whenever a DLP policy restricts Copilot from using specific content, users will see the same clear message indicating that access to some content has been restricted by an organisational policy.

Rollout Timeline

The feature is now rolling out across all environments:

  • Worldwide: Available from July 15, 2026
  • GCC: Available from July 20, 2026
  • GCC High and DoD: Available from July 23, 2026

What This Means for Your Organisation

Organizations already using Microsoft Purview DLP with Microsoft 365 Copilot or Copilot Chat don’t need to take any action. The update does not change how DLP policies work. Instead, it improves the user experience by providing a clearer and more consistent explanation when content is blocked.

For IT administrators, this is a good opportunity to review existing training materials, user documentation, and support resources to ensure they reflect the new messaging experience.

Bottom line: the protection remains the same, but the explanation gets better. Users gain more clarity on why content is unavailable, while organisations continue to benefit from the same trusted data protection controls.

Microsoft Purview DLP: Instances Policy Location Retiring in January 2027

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Microsoft has announced the retirement of the Instances policy location in Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP), with the change taking effect on January 6, 2027.

Today, organizations using the Instances location rely on the Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps file policy infrastructure to enforce DLP and auto-labeling policies across supported third-party applications. To simplify policy management and provide a more consistent compliance experience, Microsoft is moving away from this approach and introducing dedicated application-specific policy locations directly within Microsoft Purview.

Supported applications include:

  • Google Workspace
  • Box
  • Dropbox
  • Salesforce
  • ServiceNow
  • AWS
  • Cisco Webex
What’s Changing?

Instead of creating policies under a generic Instances location, administrators will use dedicated locations for each supported application.

For example:

Current LocationNew Location
Instances (Google Workspace)Google Workspace
Instances (Box)Box
Instances (Dropbox)Dropbox
Instances (Salesforce)Salesforce
Instances (ServiceNow)ServiceNow
Instances (AWS)AWS
Instances (Cisco Webex)Cisco Webex

This change aligns non-Microsoft application protection more closely with the broader Microsoft Purview compliance framework.

Microsoft is introducing these new application locations ahead of the retirement date to allow organizations time to migrate.

Key dates:

  • Dedicated application locations will be rolled out before retirement.
  • January 6, 2027: Instances policy location officially retires.
  • Retirement rollout begins in early January 2027 and is expected to complete by mid-January 2027.
What Happens After January 6, 2027?

Once the retirement takes place:

  • New policies can no longer be created using the Instances location.
  • Existing policies configured with the Instances location will no longer be supported.
  • Organizations should use the new dedicated application locations for all future DLP and auto-labeling policies.
  • Policies that continue to rely on the retired Instances location may no longer be enforced as expected.

If your organization currently uses the Instances location, Microsoft strongly recommends recreating those policies in the new application-specific locations before the retirement deadline.

Recommended Next Steps

To avoid any disruption to DLP enforcement, organizations should begin preparing well before the 2027 deadline.

1. Review Existing Policies

Identify any DLP or auto-labeling policies currently configured through the Instances location.

2. Identify Affected Applications

Determine which non-Microsoft platforms are involved and map them to their new dedicated policy locations.

3. Recreate Policies

Build equivalent policies using the new application-specific locations within Microsoft Purview.

4. Test and Validate

Before retiring legacy policies, verify that policy enforcement, labeling, and user experiences behave as expected.

5. Update Documentation

Review operational procedures, internal documentation, and administrator guidance to reflect the new management model.

6. Notify Stakeholders

Make sure compliance, security, and support teams are aware of the upcoming change and migration timeline.

While the retirement is still several months away, organizations using third-party cloud platforms for collaboration and data storage should start planning their migration strategy now. Moving to dedicated application locations will ensure continued DLP and auto-labeling protection while providing a more streamlined and unified compliance experience within Microsoft Purview.

The bottom line: If you’re using the Instances location today, plan your migration before January 6, 2027. If you’re not, you can safely continue using Microsoft Purview as normal and take advantage of the new dedicated application locations as they become available.

Microsoft Purview Tightens Rules for Custom Sensitive Information Types

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Organizations using Microsoft Purview custom Sensitive Information Types (SITs) should be aware of an upcoming change that may require updates to existing regex patterns.

Microsoft is moving forward with enforcing a long-documented rule that allows only one capturing group per regular expression in custom SIT definitions. The goal is to improve the consistency, reliability, and predictability of how sensitive data is identified and classified across Microsoft Purview and Data Loss Prevention (DLP) workloads.

When is this happening?

The rollout is expected to be completed by early July 2026 across all Microsoft cloud environments, including:

  • Worldwide
  • GCC
  • GCC High
  • DoD
Who is affected?

This change primarily impacts:

  • Microsoft Purview administrators
  • Compliance teams managing custom Sensitive Information Types
  • Organizations using custom SITs in DLP, data classification, and compliance solutions

The enforcement applies whether SITs are managed through:

  • The Microsoft Purview portal
  • PowerShell, including:
    • New-DlpSensitiveInformationTypeRulePackage
    • Set-DlpSensitiveInformationTypeRulePackage
What changes?

Once enforcement is in place:

✅ New custom SITs must contain only one capturing group in each regular expression.

❌ Creating a new SIT with multiple capturing groups will be blocked.

❌ Updating an existing SIT that contains multiple capturing groups will fail validation.

❌ Administrators will not be able to save changes to existing SITs until non-compliant regex patterns are updated.

What about existing SITs?

Existing custom SITs that contain multiple capturing groups will continue to work in their current state. However, they become a potential issue the moment you need to modify, update, or re-save them.

In other words, if an existing SIT contains a regex pattern with multiple capturing groups, you’ll need to redesign that pattern to comply with the one-capturing-group rule before any future changes can be saved.

Many organizations rely on custom SITs to identify sensitive business information and power key compliance capabilities such as:

Why does this matter?
  • Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
  • Data classification
  • Compliance monitoring
  • Information protection policies

If a custom SIT cannot be updated because it fails validation, it could delay policy changes, compliance updates, or new data protection initiatives.

What should you do now?

To avoid surprises, Microsoft Purview administrators should proactively:

  1. Audit existing custom SITs
  2. Identify regex patterns that use multiple capturing groups
  3. Redesign patterns to use a single capturing group
  4. Test and validate updated SITs before future modifications are required

Microsoft Purview Adds Time-Limited Role Assignments to Strengthen Security

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Microsoft is enhancing Microsoft Purview with a new capability that allows administrators to assign expiration dates to role group memberships. This update makes it easier to grant temporary administrative access while supporting the principle of least privilege, helping organizations reduce the risk associated with long-term privileged accounts.

With this new feature, administrators can specify how long a user or security group should remain in a Purview role group, choosing a duration anywhere from one day up to two years. Once the assigned period expires, access is automatically removed, helping security and compliance teams maintain tighter control over administrative permissions.

When Will It Be Available?

Microsoft plans to roll out the feature according to the following schedule:

  • Worldwide General Availability: Starting in late July 2026 and expected to complete by late August 2026.
  • GCC, GCC High, and DoD: Starting in late August 2026 and expected to complete by late September 2026.
What Does This Mean for Organizations?

This enhancement primarily benefits:

  • Microsoft Purview administrators
  • Security administrators
  • Compliance teams
  • Organizations managing role-based access through Microsoft Purview

The feature will be available through:

  • Microsoft Purview Compliance Portal
  • Microsoft Purview Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
Key Benefits

Once the rollout is complete, administrators will be able to:

✅ Assign users or security groups to role groups with a predefined expiration date.

✅ Set assignment durations ranging from 1 day to 2 years.

✅ Apply the capability to both new and existing role assignments.

✅ Reduce the likelihood of forgotten or unnecessary privileged access.

✅ Improve governance, compliance, and security posture with minimal administrative effort.

Importantly, existing role assignments will not be automatically modified, and end-user workflows will remain unchanged.

What Do You Need to Do?

The good news is that no action is required to enable this feature. It will be available by default once deployed, with no additional configuration or policy changes needed.

However, organizations may want to take advantage of the new functionality by:

  • Reviewing privileged access management processes.
  • Using expiration-based assignments for temporary projects, audits, or administrative tasks.
  • Updating internal documentation and operational procedures.
  • Informing Purview administrators about the new capability.

From a compliance perspective, time-limited role assignments help organizations demonstrate stronger control over privileged access.

Many regulatory frameworks and security standards—including ISO 27001, NIST, SOC 2, GDPR accountability requirements, and Zero Trust security principles—expect organizations to follow the principle of least privilege, ensuring users only have access to the resources they need and only for as long as they need it.

Smarter Insider Risk Coverage with Microsoft Purview

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Microsoft is making Insider Risk Management in Purview even more useful with the introduction of a Policy Recommendation panel, a feature designed to help admins quickly spot gaps in their current risk coverage and strengthen their defenses.

Let’s face it: even with policies in place, it’s not always easy to know what you might be missing. That’s where this new capability comes in. It analyzes your existing setup and highlights missing or high-impact policies, offering clear, actionable suggestions to improve your security posture.

What’s new?

The Policy Recommendation panel lives directly on the Policies page and automatically reviews your current configuration. Using built-in analytics, it identifies areas where you could increase protection and recommends policies to cover common insider risk scenarios like:

  • Data leakage
  • Data theft
  • IP theft
  • Risky AI usage
  • Other security violations

It’s essentially a built-in advisor that helps you get more value from Insider Risk Management without needing to manually audit everything.

A quick reminder: what Insider Risk Management does

Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management works by correlating signals across your environment to detect potentially risky behavior, whether intentional or accidental.

It’s also designed with privacy in mind, including:

  • Pseudonymization by default
  • Role-based access controls
  • Audit logs for transparency

So you can investigate risks while still protecting user privacy.

Rollout timeline
  • Public Preview: Mid–June 2026 → Late June 2026
  • General Availability: Mid–July 2026 → Late July 2026

This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 560600.

Data Security Investigations: Investigation templates for common data security scenarios

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Microsoft just made investigations in Purview Data Security a lot simpler and faster. You can now use ready‑made search templates designed for common data security scenarios, so you don’t have to start from scratch every time.

These built‑in templates help standardize the way investigations are run and reduce the amount of manual setup, meaning security analysts can jump straight into the work with minimal input.

The best part? This feature is already available worldwide, requires no administrative setup, and is ready to use out of the box saving valuable time and streamlining the overall investigation process.

What’s new and why it matters

Microsoft is making investigations in Purview Data Security much more approachable by introducing built‑in search templates. These templates are designed for the scenarios analysts deal with most often—like data exfiltration, compromised mailboxes, exposure of personal data, or even risky AI interactions.

Instead of building queries from scratch every time, investigators can now choose a ready‑made template, enter a few basic details (such as a user or site), and get started immediately. This not only speeds things up but also ensures investigations are more consistent across teams. It’s especially helpful for less-experienced analysts, lowering the learning curve and reducing the time needed to get value from the solution.

(This update is tracked under Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 560326.)

Rollout timeline

  • General Availability (Worldwide): Available now

What this means for your organization

Who it impacts

  • Security analysts and investigators working with Microsoft Purview Data Security Investigations

Where you’ll see it

  • Microsoft Purview (web portal)
  • Data Security Investigations solution

In short, this update removes a lot of the friction from starting an investigation helping teams move faster, stay consistent, and focus on what actually matters: understanding and responding to risks.

Microsoft Purview DSI Gets Smarter with OCR

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Microsoft is continuing to strengthen Purview Data Security Investigations (DSI) by adding AI‑powered Optical Character Recognition (OCR) capabilities. This new enhancement allows DSI to read and analyze text that appears inside images, something traditional investigations often miss.

With OCR built in, DSI can now surface sensitive information hidden in screenshots, scanned documents, and embedded visuals within files. The result? Deeper investigations, better context, and more accurate risk detection across your organization.

This update is tracked under Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 561489.

When is this rolling out?
  • Public Preview (Worldwide):
    Rolling out in late May 2026, with completion expected by early June 2026
  • General Availability (Worldwide):
    Rolling out in mid‑July 2026, with completion expected by late July 2026
Who is impacted?

This update is relevant for:

  • Admins and security analysts using Microsoft Purview Data Security Investigations
  • Organizations investigating data security risks with Purview
What’s changing?

Once OCR is enabled (and it will be on by default), DSI will automatically:

  • Extract text from image‑based content, including:
    • Images
    • Screenshots
    • Visuals embedded in documents
  • Add the extracted text to investigation datasets
  • Improve search, analysis, and risk detection using this newly visible content

The good news?
No workflow changes are required. Existing investigations will continue to work as they do today—just with richer insights.

Even better, all existing Purview controls and protections still apply. Sensitivity labels, DLP policies, and other compliance settings continue to be fully respected.

Why this matters

Sensitive information doesn’t always live in plain text. Credentials, personal data, or confidential details often end up in screenshots or images—especially in collaboration tools. OCR helps close that gap and gives security teams greater visibility into data risks that were previously hard to detect.

What do you need to do?

No action is required before rollout. However, you may want to:

  • Inform your security and compliance teams about the improved image‑based detection
  • Update internal investigation procedures to account for OCR‑driven findings
  • Refresh training materials or documentation that reference DSI capabilities