Data Security in the Age of AI

It’s impossible not to notice the variety of ways in which people are using AI. The broad use of? Copilot for many of the wide variety of use cases is amazing to see and often it’s finding value in data in ways that was not previously possible. Just a few examples: sales and marketing teams are using Copilot to draft presentations or create content; HR may be using Copilot to aid in recruitment or analyze employee survey results; or your finance teams are leveraging Copilot for analyzing numbers or revising policy documents. In other words, “Copilot”ing is becoming a way of life, transforming the way people work. And it’s here to stay.

As AI adoption grows, we need to recognize the interconnected relationship between AI and data security. To protect your data, you need a well-designed architecture and the right guardrails in place – or you’re going to have problems. AI is about speed and accuracy of getting information, but it’s also quite adept at finding information you’re not supposed to have – the latter of which can inadvertently expose your organization’s most sensitive data.

Historically, we relied on security by obscurity. There was so much information, it was impossible for anyone to find what they were looking for, we reasoned. But with AI, that no longer works since AI is going to find everything. Because of AI, you need data security now more than ever. Otherwise, your most important, revenue-generating secrets are at risk for being spilled onto the streets by your unwitting employee who didn't realize what they were doing.

In the era of AI, you need to be proactive. You need to know what type of data exists, where it resides, and how people are interacting with it. Only then can you implement the right controls, combining data context and user context to create effective DLP policies. And with those policies in place, when an incident occurs, you can quickly investigate and remediate, and implement policies to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

All of this requires a suite of solutions that work together to ensure nothing gets missed. The Microsoft Purview suite of tools is ideal in this regard, helping you understand the hidden risks to your data, create effective protection and prevention policies, and then quickly respond to and remediate incidents. Used together these solutions can provide a protective barrier to help prevent data loss. The Information Protection and Data Loss Prevention solutions help you discover, auto-classify and protect data from unauthorized use; using Information Protection and Insider Risk Management solutions together gives you insights around user intent of your sensitive data wherever it may reside; using Insider Risk Management and the DLP solutions together enables Adaptive Protection to dynamically assign an insider risk level and reduce response times.

AI serves as an invaluable tool that can truly act as your Copilot. Understanding the interplay between AI and data security will go a long way in helping to protect your data from unintended exposure. Our Customer Success security team will be sharing additional insights on data security in the near future, be sure to stay tuned!