9 Reasons Why Microsoft Purview is Crucial for Business Data Security

What is Microsoft Purview? 

Microsoft Purview, formerly Microsoft Azure Purview, stands out as a comprehensive suite of tools designed to streamline data governance within organizations. Positioned as a centralized control center, Purview facilitates automated scanning and classification of data on a large scale through its dedicated governance portal. This portal acts as a dynamic tool for creating and maintaining an up-to-date map of the entire data landscape. By incorporating automated data discovery, sensitive data classification, and end-to-end lineage tracking, Purview empowers data curators and security administrators to efficiently oversee and fortify the entirety of the data estate. 

Reasons to choose Microsoft Purview for your business

1. Comprehensive Data Catalog 

A comprehensive data catalog serves as the backbone of effective data governance for businesses. It provides a centralized repository that not only consolidates but also organizes the vast array of data within an organization. This catalog, exemplified by Microsoft Purview, acts as a dynamic map, offering a holistic view of the data environment. Through automated scanning and cataloging, it ensures that every data asset is identified, categorized, and understood. This organized approach allows businesses to implement precise data governance policies, define and apply classifications based on sensitivity and compliance requirements, and ultimately fortify their data security measures. The Comprehensive Data Catalog becomes the compass, guiding businesses in their journey to maintain data integrity, enforce regulatory compliance, and proactively address potential vulnerabilities, thereby establishing a robust foundation for effective data governance. 

2.Integration with Information Protection: 

Microsoft Purview collaborates seamlessly with Azure Information Protection (AIP) and Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) solutions, ensuring that businesses can consistently and precisely protect their data across all platforms. In practical terms, this integration acts like a meticulous guardian for your information, ensuring that only authorized individuals can access specific documents. It simplifies how companies manage sensitive data, ensuring compliance with important rules and regulations governing data usage and sharing. This unified approach under ‘Microsoft Purview Information Protection’ serves as a crucial tool for businesses, offering a secure and organized approach to data governance. By integrating seamlessly with AIP and MIP, Microsoft Purview Information Protection becomes an invaluable asset in fortifying data security and maintaining a meticulous data governance strategy. 

3.Compliance Management

Businesses need to manage regulatory compliance well, especially if they operate in sectors with strict privacy and data governance laws. This process is streamlined by Microsoft Purview Compliance Portal, a comprehensive solution that manages compliance across multicloud setups. At the core of this feature is Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager, which offers automated compliance assessments and management. By assisting with everything from identifying data protection issues to putting controls in place, staying up to date on regulations, and giving reports to auditors, Compliance Manager helps firms manage their compliance journey. This integrated approach not only provides a thorough grasp of compliance needs but also ensures a proactive and well-organized response, empowering businesses to effectively and confidently navigate the complicated world of regulatory standards. 

4. Data Lineage 

Microsoft Purview’s data lineage capability serves as a foundational element in reinforcing robust data governance and security protocols. It acts like a narrator, documenting the entire lifecycle of data within an organization—tracing its origin, movements, transformations, and dependencies throughout the data pipeline. This comprehensive representation provides an in-depth overview of the procedures involved in data extraction, transformation, loading, and integration into various systems, providing an extensive outline of the data journey. 

This capability delivers invaluable benefits for data governance and security: 

• Proactive Vulnerability Identification: 

By meticulously tracing the data’s journey, Purview’s data lineage enables the swift identification of potential vulnerabilities. This proactive approach ensures that organizations can address security concerns before they escalate. 

• Improved Accuracy and Efficiency: 

Understanding the history, context, and relationships of data empowers data professionals to analyze, monitor, and optimize data flow, resulting in heightened accuracy and efficiency in data processes. 

• Enhanced Impact Analysis: 

Swiftly identifying data assets affected by modifications is critical for effective impact analysis. Purview’s data lineage provides a clear view of data dependencies and interrelationships, mitigating inadvertent disruptions and ensuring seamless operations. 

5. Sensitive Data Detection

Microsoft Purview rises to this challenge with its Sensitive Data Detection feature, leveraging advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms. These algorithms  analyze data patterns, automatically identifying sensitive information such as personally identifiable information (PII), credit card numbers, and intellectual property. Purview’s proactive approach not only enhances security against unauthorized access but also safeguards against inadvertent exposure of sensitive data. 

By automatically pinpointing such critical data, Purview empowers IT professionals to implement targeted security controls and encryption measures swiftly, including advanced features like Microsoft Purview Message Encryption. This proactive stance ensures that sensitive information remains protected from potential threats, reinforcing the organization’s resilience against data-related vulnerabilities. The integration of Microsoft Purview Message Encryption adds an extra layer of security, allowing IT professionals to secure sensitive messages and communications effectively. This comprehensive approach not only addresses the challenge of data sprawl but also establishes a robust defense mechanism, aligning with the organization’s commitment to safeguarding sensitive information through advanced encryption and security controls. 

6.Automated Data Discovery  

Data discovery enhances business insight, providing a comprehensive view of organizational data streams within the enterprise. They empower stakeholders across various business levels, irrespective of their data literacy, to comprehend and leverage data for informed decision-making. Beyond facilitating business understanding, data discovery serves as a proactive tool for risk management and data security, aligning seamlessly with advanced features such as Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management. This integration enables businesses to identify potential threats within their data, allowing for real-time actions to ensure storage and analysis adhere to organizational and legal guidelines. 

The benefits of data discovery tools, including empowering self-service discovery and leveraging machine learning for scalable data understanding, extend to Microsoft Purview eDiscovery. These tools facilitate dynamic discovery and reliability across diverse data storage domains, from data warehouses to lakes and various sources. Whether through manual processes or advanced software assistance, the data discovery process involves understanding required data, locating relevant sources, setting up search queries, refining searches, and evaluating result quality. This systematic approach ensures organizations extract meaningful insights while upholding secure and compliant data governance practices. The integration of Microsoft Purview eDiscovery adds an extra layer of capability to this process, enhancing the toolset available for efficient and comprehensive data discovery within diverse data landscapes. 

7. Efficient Data Classification 

In Microsoft Purview, data classification works by organizing data assets using special labels or categories based on their business context. This tailored classification system encompasses diverse data elements such as passport number, driver’s license number, credit card number, SWIFT code, person’s name, and more. Robust implementation of data classification processes not only enhances organizations’ ability to safeguard sensitive information but also establishes a systematic framework for managing and controlling access to critical data assets. This precision in classification ensures that sensitive data is handled with the utmost accuracy. 

8. Providing Unintentional Data Loss 

Microsoft Purview data loss prevention capabilities are designed to address the intricate challenge of safeguarding data from inadvertent leaks. By establishing and enforcing robust policies, Purview empowers organizations to monitor and control the movement of sensitive data seamlessly. This proactive approach involves creating customized protocols that identify and mitigate potential risks associated with data handling, reducing the likelihood of unintentional disclosures. 

Through advanced monitoring mechanisms, Purview continuously scans and analyzes data flows within the organizational ecosystem. This vigilant oversight allows for real-time identification of sensitive information, enabling swift intervention to prevent data loss incidents. By integrating seamlessly into the workflow, Microsoft Purview DLP features instill confidence in data management practices, fostering a secure environment where sensitive information is handled with precision and care. 

9. Efficient Data Lifecycle Control

The comprehensive Microsoft Purview Data Lifecycle Management ensures efficient control from the inception of data to its secure disposal. With built-in information governance, Purview seamlessly integrates into the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, offering a centralized platform for classifying, retaining, reviewing, and disposing of content. Leveraging intelligent machine learning capabilities, Purview automates the content classification process, applying relevant policies to uphold data security. The defensible policies embedded in Purview provide organizations with disposition reviews, proof of disposal, and meticulously documented audit trails. This end-to-end approach not only streamlines data management but also fortifies data security by implementing intelligent and defensible policies throughout the entire data lifecycle.  

Conclusion   

In the era of escalating digital complexities, prioritizing data governance is imperative for businesses. Microsoft Purview emerges as a transformative force, placing a strategic emphasis on business data governance. Offering a centralized hub through its Comprehensive Data Catalog, Purview orchestrates the organized identification and categorization of data assets. Its seamless Integration with Information Protection fortifies security, while Efficient Data Classification ensures precision in handling sensitive information. This, coupled with Compliance Management and robust Data Lineage capabilities, elevates the overall governance framework. Microsoft Purview acts as a pivotal tool, not just for securing data but for establishing a cohesive and compliant data governance strategy, essential for navigating the intricacies of the digital landscape and ensuring sustained business resilience.