Unified Labeling Version of Information Protection Client Now Generally Available

Microsoft has released the GA version of the Azure Information Protection client, which reads information about Office 365 sensitivity labels and policies from the Security and Compliance Center. It’s one more step along the path to making it easy for Office 365 tenants to protect their data. Work still has to be done, but at least we can see light at the end of the encryption tunnel.

Office 365 Sensitivity Labels: Auto-Label and Updated Client

Microsoft released an update for the unified labeling version of the Azure Information Protection client needed for Office 365 sensitivity labels, which now boast auto-label support. Solid progress is being made to move sensitivity labels to the point where they are considered to be generally available, probably later this year. In the meantime, pay attention to the premium features like auto-label which require more expensive licenses.

Exchange Online Transport Rule to Encrypt Sensitive Email

Microsoft has released details of an Exchange Online transport rule to encrypt outbound email containing sensitive data types like credit card numbers. The rule works (after fixing the PowerShell), but needs to be reviewed and possibly adjusted to meet the needs of Office 365 tenants.

Applying Autosignatures with Transport Rules

Office 365 tenants can use Exchange transport rules to apply autosignatures to outbound email, including messages protected with encryption. You can even include some properties of the sender extracted from Azure Active Directory, and you can add an exception so that the autosignature isn’t applied to replies.

Sending Protected Email to Teams, Yammer, Groups, and Shared Mailboxes

Encrypted email is becoming more common within Office 365. Things usually flow smoothly when sending protected messages to email recipients, but other Office 365 recipient types like Teams and Yammer might not be able to handle protected email.

Searching for Encrypted Office 365 Information

Making it easy to protect Office 365 content with encryption is great, but it has some downsides too. One of the obvious problems that we have is that encrypted documents in SharePoint and OneDrive for Business libraries can’t be found unless their metadata holds the search phrase.

Protected PDFs Now Generally Available with Microsoft Information Protection

The Microsoft-Adobe initiative to support Azure Information Protection for PDF files has reached general availability. Things look good and the issues encountered in the preview are removed. You can store protected PDFs inside Office 365, but be prepared to download the files to be able to view them.

Report for Email Encryption in the Security and Compliance Center

The Office 365 Security and Compliance Center includes a report to detail encrypted email. The report is in preview. It’s a nice insight into user activity, even if it has some glitches that need to be sorted out before it becomes generally available.

Using S/MIME with the Azure Information Protection Client

The latest version of the Azure Information Protection (AIP) client supports the ability to associate S/MIME protection with an AIP label. Although interesting, it’s a feature unlikely to be of much practical use to the majority of Office 365 tenants.

Sensitivity Labels Bring Rights Management to the Masses

Azure Information Protection and Office 365

Rights management and encryption are likely to be a much more common Office 365 feature in the future. Sensitivity labels makes protection easy for users to apply through Office apps. The downside is that protection makes content harder to access for some Office 365 and ISV functionality.

Office 365 Data Governance at the European SharePoint Conference 2018

On Wednesday, November 28, Tony’s speaking about Office 365 Data Governance at the European SharePoint Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. The topic is interesting, if only because its source material changes all the time.

How to Report Files Protected by Sensitivity Labels

The availability of Azure Information Protection and Office 365 sensitivity labels allow tenants to protect important and confidential files. That’s nice, but it’s even better when you know what files are protected. Here’s how to use PowerShell to create a report about those files.

Any Authenticated Users Permission Now Generally Available for Sensitivity Labels

Azure Information Protection rights management templates now support the Any Authenticated Users permission to allow Office 365 users to share email and documents with anyone who can authenticate with Azure Active Directory or has an MSA account or uses a federated service.

How to Apply Encryption to Exchange Online Email Containing Sensitive Data

Office 365 offers different ways to apply encryption to important messages. When those messages hold sensitive data known to Office 365, like credit cards or passport numbers, we can define a transport rule or DLP policy to protect outbound email automatically. And while you can define rules and policies through the GUI, PowerShell is available too.

Protecting PDFs the Native Way

On October 12, Microsoft and Adobe launched the public preview of the native integration of Azure Information Protection for PDF files. Knowledge about protection is built into the latest version of the Acrobat reader, meaning that third-party tools are no longer needed to process protected PDFs.