The sensitivity of data varies significantly from public information to highly confidential trade secrets. To ensure proper protection, organizations need to identify and classify data while defining standards and policies to handle each type of data properly<\/a>.<\/p>\n Data classification is the process an organization follows to develop an understanding of its information assets, categorize those assets to safeguard information, and comply with its information security policies, laws, regulations, and compliance obligations.<\/p>\n You can do this by applying sensitivity labels to documents either manually or automatically based on predefined policies.<\/strong><\/p>\n A typical data classification policy might define information at four levels:<\/p>\n Consistent use of data classification will facilitate more efficient business activities and lower the costs of ensuring adequate information security. By classifying data, your organization can prepare to identify the risk and impact<\/a> of an incident based on what type of data is involved.<\/strong><\/p>\n Getting started with data classification requires understanding your organization\u2019s data compliance and security needs. When you are ready to start classifying your data, keep these in mind:<\/p>\n A tool can help. Most recently, I have been working with Microsoft Purview Information Protection<\/a> (MIP) to classify and protect data in Microsoft 365<\/a>. MIP provides data discovery, classification, labeling, and protection for documents, emails, meetings, Teams, Microsoft 365 Groups, and SharePoint sites in your organization.<\/p>\n Azure Rights Management service (Azure RMS) is the protection technology for Azure Information Protection and for Microsoft 365 services that use this cloud-based Rights Management protection.<\/p>\n In MIP, a classification label is used to identify data based on its level of sensitivity and the impact on your business. Most common sensitivity levels are categorized as restricted, confidential, official use, and public.<\/p>\n MIP can apply labels to (classify) documents and emails. The current supported file types for classification according to Microsoft are listed below. Visit this page<\/a> for the latest information on supported file types:<\/strong><\/p>\n Let\u2019s look at how users and administrators can use Microsoft Purview Information Protection for data classification.<\/p>\n Users can assign predefined or customized labels manually, or you can configure MIP to automatically recommend or apply a default label, given that it\u2019s an AI-based platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n This image shows the default labels from MIP that users can apply to their documents from within Microsoft Word.<\/p>\n DefaultLabels From Microsoft Purview Information Protection.<\/p><\/div>\n I added a few customized sub-labels to the existing default ones. You can modify the preexisting ones as well.<\/p>\n Customized and sub-labels in MIP.<\/p><\/div>\n You can even configure the labels to display in different languages based on your Microsoft client. In the image below, I configured my labels to display in Spanish.<\/p>\n Labels in MIP displayed in Spanish.<\/p><\/div>\n From the Microsoft Purview Information Protection Portal, you can configure how labels are published to your users. You can scope or target labels for all or specific users and groups. These are the label policies I published.<\/p>\n Published label policies in Microsoft Purview Information Protection Portal.<\/p><\/div>\n Now that you have seen how users can interact with sensitivity labels and how you can target label policies, I\u2019ll introduce some additional features you can use to enhance and protect your data in Microsoft 365<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can use MIP labels for more than classification. They can further protect your data by applying any or all of these additional features to ensure confidentiality or restricted access:<\/p>\n In this example, I created a label called \u201cConfidential Finance\u201d and added \u201cConfidential Financial Data\u201d as its watermark. After the label is saved and published, when the user selects the above label, the document displays as shown in the following image:<\/p>\n A new document with \u201cConfidential \u2013 Finance\u201d label and \u201cConfidential Financial Data\u201d watermarked across the document diagonally.<\/p><\/div>\n Note that visual markings do not appear in documents when the label is applied using File Explorer and a right-click action, nor when a document is classified by using PowerShell.<\/p>\n Azure RMS is the protection technology used by Microsoft Purview Information Protection. Azure RMS allows you to set permissions and automatically protects documents and emails.<\/p>\n You can protect your data within MIP by encrypting and assigning permissions to restrict access to content.<\/p>\n You can select one of the following encryption settings:<\/p>\n When you select Assign permissions now<\/strong>, you can choose actions a user\/group can perform from a predefined permissions level or custom permissions.<\/p>\n You can configure Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) to automatically apply sensitivity labels to email messages or files with one of the following methods:<\/p>\n In this example, MIP detects sensitive information in the document and recommends a label to the user.<\/p>\n MIP detects data patterns and recommends a sensitivity label.<\/p><\/div>\n These are just a few examples of how you can use MIP and Azure RMS features to classify and protect your documents and email<\/a>.<\/p>\n Securing data is a growing challenge, but incremental steps are keys to an organized and classified data model. Data classification and protection provide a clear picture of the data within your organization\u2019s control, an understanding of where data is stored, how it\u2019s most easily accessed, and how data is best protected from potential security risks.<\/strong><\/p>\n Once you know that, everything from regulatory compliance to the user experience will be stronger throughout your organization.<\/p>\n \n What Is Data Classification?<\/h2>\n
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Benefits of Classifying Your Data<\/h2>\n
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Getting Started Using Microsoft Purview Information Protection<\/h2>\n
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What Are Labels in Data Classification?<\/h2>\n
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Classifying Your Documents<\/h2>\n
![\"DefaultLabels](\"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Picture1.png\")
<\/a>![\"Customized](\"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MIP-Customized-and-Sublabels-1024x322.png\")
<\/a>![\"Labels](\"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MIP-Available-Labels-Spanish-1024x275.png\")
<\/a>How Do You Publish Labels in MIP?<\/h3>\n
![\"Published](\"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MIP-Label-Policies.png\")
<\/a>Protect Labeled Items<\/h3>\n
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Apply Visual Markings<\/h3>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MIP-Watermark-1024x605.png\")
<\/a>Enforce Encryption and Permissions<\/h3>\n
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Automatic Labeling<\/h3>\n
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![\"MIP](\"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/MIP-Automatic-Labeling-1024x190.png\")
<\/a>Conclusion<\/h2>\n