How to Securely Implement Microsoft 365 Copilot

Microsoft 365 Copilot is revolutionizing productivity and is at the forefront of the Generative AI charge. It seamlessly interacts with programs like Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and others to improve productivity and insights. Additionally, Microsoft’s constant release of new features keeps it relevant through this turbulent period of AI advancement.

Adopting Copilot does, however, lead to potential issues with data security because it has access to all of the data in Microsoft 365. This blog discusses managing your sensitive data and getting your business ready for a secure M365 Copilot implementation.

What is Microsoft 365 Copilot?

Microsoft 365 Copilot is an advanced artificial intelligence assistant that works with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams, among other M365 applications. It uses your Microsoft Graph’s documents, chats, and emails as well as large language models (LLMs). Because of this, Copilot is able to offer helpful, intelligent, and context-aware support to boost user creativity and productivity.

Lepide Guide for Microsoft 365 CopilotThis guide will list the steps security teams can take to ensure organizational readiness for Copilot before and after deployment. Download Whitepaper

Let’s examine Microsoft’s native security model for Copilot, which is designed to safeguard your data and guarantee appropriate compliance. Microsoft’s model is built on two primary security concepts:

1. Tenant Isolation: Copilot solely utilizes information from the M365 tenant of the current user. The AI tool will not display information from any tenants that may have cross-tenant sync set up, nor will it display data from other tenants that the user may be a guest of.
2. Training Boundaries: Copilot trains its basic LLMs for all tenants without using any of your company’s data. You shouldn’t be concerned that responses from other users in other tenants will contain your proprietary data.

Adopting M365 Copilot without considering the security implications is risky at best. Below are the main things you should consider when thinking about risk:

1. Data Classification: To safeguard data, Copilot is subject to the sensitivity labels that are applied. Consequently, data is at risk if those labels are incorrect. If the source files are correctly labeled, Copilot-generated material will inherit the MPIP labels of the files from which Copilot sourced its response. Microsoft uses sensitivity labels extensively in order to implement encryption, enforce DLP regulations, and generally stop data leaks. But in reality, it can be challenging to make labels function, particularly if you depend on people to apply sensitivity labels. Sensitivity labels are digital stamps that are placed on business documents and emails to make them safe. Label-based data protection will undoubtedly lose its effectiveness when AI generates orders of magnitude more data, necessitating accurate and automatically updated labels. However, data classification is frequently unreliable and lacking. For instance, Microsoft labeling technology is restricted to particular file types, while manual labeling is extremely prone to human error.
2. Access Permissions: The permissions granted in Microsoft 365 are what Copilot depends on. Inappropriate access to content by persons or groups can cause sensitive data to rapidly get out of control, leading to data breaches and significant compliance penalties. With Microsoft Copilot, all organizational data that each user has the ability to view is shown. Businesses should look to implement zero trust or the principle of least privilege before Copilot rollouts to limit the risk of over-provisioned users.
3. Generated Content: Copilot’s answers aren’t always accurate or secure; humans should still be responsible for examining content produced by AI. People can also become lazy due to AI. The quality of the content produced by LLMs is exceptional. In many instances, the quality and speed are significantly superior to what a human could accomplish. People begin to naively rely on AI to produce accurate and safe responses. Copilot does not carry over any sensitivity labels from the original papers into newly created documents. This suggests that unauthorized users may receive fresh papers that contain sensitive information. Because Copilot can generate so much content, it might be difficult to ensure that these papers are appropriately classified.

1. Data Handling and Security: Copilot only accesses the data required to carry out its operations because it was built with data optimization in mind. In order to prevent unwanted access, all data—both in transit and at rest—is encrypted using industry-standard protocols including TLS/SSL, IPSec, and AES. Copilot protects your data using robust encryption mechanisms. The highly secure encryption technology known as Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with 256-bit keys is used to protect data while it is at rest. Copilot encrypts connections between users and Microsoft 365 services while the data is in transit using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS). Through stringent access control procedures, Copilot’s accessibility is strictly regulated. Enforce multi-factor authentication to make sure accounts and processes are secure before you start using Copilot. As you start implementing Copilot, this provides an additional layer of security, making it more difficult for unauthorized people to get in. Additionally, administrators can create fine-grained restrictions using conditional access policies according to variables like risk level, device compliance, and user location.
2. Data Access Control: Copilot uses the Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) infrastructure that is already in place in Microsoft 365. Because of this, only authorized individuals can interact with sensitive data because Copilot and the data it processes are controlled by the same permissions scheme you are already using. Copilot’s access to and usage of data can be controlled by fine-tuning its permissions. With the help of Copilot’s extensive admin dashboard, administrators can set up, keep an eye on, and oversee Copilot’s activities. With the ability to monitor usage trends, establish data sharing preferences, set access controls, and get security alerts, administrators have complete visibility and control over Copilot inside their company. Microsoft provides comprehensive user education and training materials to assist users in understanding how to use Copilot securely. These include secure collaboration, data protection, and best practices for working with AI.
3. Monitoring and Auditing: Copilot keeps thorough records of every action, including the data accessed and the steps performed. This makes complete auditability and traceability possible. To identify odd or suspicious activity related to Copilot, advanced analytics and machine learning techniques are used. Improving transparency, accountability, and security in AI deployment is made possible by the ability to audit Copilot usage in Microsoft 365. These features, which include thorough audit logs, detailed usage reports, and connection with current compliance tools, are being aggressively implemented by Microsoft. By planning ahead, companies can make sure they are prepared to take full use of these auditing features, preserving supervision and maximizing Copilot’s use to spur innovation and efficiency.
4. Compliance and Governance: Copilot and Microsoft 365 adhere to a number of important industry standards and laws, such as GDPR, HIPAA, ISO/IEC 27001, and others. Microsoft is dedicated to following strict data privacy guidelines. In accordance with international privacy laws and regulations, including GDPR and HIPAA, Copilot is built to handle user data. Microsoft gives users authority over their data and is open and honest about how it handles it. Copilot regularly participates in third-party audits to verify compliance with industry standards such as ISO/IEC 27001, SOC 1, and SOC 2. These audits confirm that Copilot complies with regulations and that its security controls are effective.
5. AI and Model Security: Since Copilot is an AI-powered assistant, its AI models must pass stringent security checks. To determine how resilient these models are to possible threats, Microsoft regularly tests them. This makes it easier to find and address any weaknesses that threat actors might exploit. The foundation of Copilot’s AI capabilities is Microsoft’s Ethical AI Framework, which guarantees accountability, transparency, equity, and ethical AI use. The framework directs Copilot’s creation and implementation to preserve confidence and reduce any hazards. Microsoft protects Copilot’s AI models from manipulation and hostile attacks, guaranteeing their integrity. The models need to be updated and refined on a regular basis to increase performance and handle emerging security issues.
6. Educate Users: For your company, launching Microsoft 365 Copilot might be a big step forward. It’s normal to worry about data security and the way Copilot will handle your data. The secret is to jump in and make sure your data is well selected so you can take advantage of all of Copilot’s features.The most potent feature of Copilot is its capacity to teach people new methods for performing their tasks. To get the most out of your team, you must train them. It’s important to be careful about sharing data when using Copilot. Steer clear of providing any extremely sensitive, private, or regulated information to reduce dangers and guarantee the security of your vital data. Before accepting any recommendations from Copilot, always check and confirm their authenticity. This guarantees that Copilot’s recommendations meet your company’s requirements and standards.

Lepide Data Security Platform gives users the ability to protect and manage the vast volumes of data they generate and access every day in Lepide Microsoft 365 Copilot solution allows  users to know who has what levels of access to Copilot and enable a rigorous least-privilege access policy. To help you embrace the power of AI while upholding security and compliance, it is used to evaluate the data security threats and offer practical suggestions for a successful Copilot deployment.

Are you ready for the deployment of Copilot? Download a Free Trial or schedule a demo with one of our engineers if you wish to securely install 365 Copilot.