Businesses today manage a lot of sensitive information, including financial records, customer information and intellectual property. It is essential to safeguard this information against unauthorized access to ensure that customers can continue trust the company with their personal data, and also to ensure that the data is legally accessible in the event of a dispute or regulatory action.
Without strong security procedures in place, unauthorised access to sensitive data could have serious consequences for the business including loss of sales, reputational damage and legal costs. Adopting a security policy that outlines procedures to safeguard sensitive information can help businesses reduce the risk of cyberattacks and shield itself from legal risks.
Information security is the broad class of software that helps businesses safeguard sensitive information whether they’re in the cloud or on devices such as laptops. Information protection includes everything from policies that define what information is considered sensitive and how it’s accessible to physical controls like password protection or encryption and processes that monitor access, identify potential threats, and respond to them.
Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) also referred to Azure Information Protection and Purview, permits the classification and discovery of sensitive information using labeling. You can protect content no matter where it is stored or traveled, track who has accessed it and revoke access when needed. MIP can be extended into other applications and systems via the SDK. For example Line-of-business applications could apply a sensitivity tag to documents when exporting them or CAD/CAM software can use MIP to automatically encrypt files prior to saving to a folder.