In May of 2018 the European Commission will implement the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to protect the privacy of individuals in the European Union (EU)

Microsoft deliver GDPR compliance solutions

When the General Data Protection Regulation takes effect in May 2018 the data governance will be one of the main tasks for organizations that reside in the EU or organizations based outside the European Union that collect or process personal data of EU residents.

The GDPR regulates the collection, storage, use, and sharing of “personal data.” Preparing for the GPDR is complex. These can be summarized within four vital areas: Discover, Manage, Protect, and Report.

Discover: Identify what personal data you have and where it resides

Manage: Govern how personal data is used and accessed

Protect: Establish security controls to prevent, detect, and respond to vulnerabilities and data breaches

Report: Execute on data requests, report data breaches, and keep required documentation

Microsoft offers two solutions for automated data discovery, classification and governance: Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) for on-premises and Microsoft Advanced Data Governance (ADG) for the cloud.

Microsoft Information Protection - MIP

The primary focus for Microsoft Information Protection is discovery and classification of data in the on-premises datastores, applications and or services. Microsoft Azure Information Protection helps organizations classify and label their data at the time of creation.

Microsoft Information Protection includes the following capabilities:

  • • Classification and labeling, classify data based on source, context, and content at the time of creation or modification, either automatically or manually. Once classified, a persistent label is embedded in the data and actions such as visual marking and encryption can be taken based on the classification and label.
  • • Protection and use rights, protect sensitive data by encrypting it and allowing only authorized users access to the data. The protection is persistent to ensure data is protected at all times, regardless of where it’s stored or with whom it’s shared.
  • • Tracking and reporting, users can track activities on shared files and revoke access if they encounter unexpected activities. The solution provides rich logs and reporting that can be leveraged for compliance and regulatory purposes.

     

Microsoft Office 365 Advanced Data Governance - ADG

Advanced Data Governance will help organizations to apply the right actions to preserve high value data and purge redundant or obsolete data that is stored in the Microsoft Cloud. It provides automatic classification of data in Office 365 Enterprise E5 that is done with labels and automatic label policies. This solution is designed to integrate with Microsoft cloud services such as Microsoft Exchange online, SharePoint online and One Drive for Business.

 

                                                                     

           

 

 Advanced Data Governance includes the following capabilities:

  • • Import—Intelligently import only the data you need from on-premises and third-party archives using classifications such as age, data type, user or groups, sensitivity or importance.
  • • Policies—Policy recommendations are provided, based on machine assisted insights of your data, classifications, tenant, organization, industry, geography and more. Recommendations may include delete, move, encrypt or share.
  • • Retention—Intelligently preserve only what’s important to you by using classifications such as keywords, age, data type, user or group, sensitivity, importance. Integration with line-of-business systems allows you to trigger retention based upon events, such as creation of a human resources record.

The Microsoft cloud is often more secure in many ways than on-premises computing environments. Its datacenters are certified to internationally recognized security standards; protected by 24-hour physical surveillance, and have strict access controls.

Choosing one or the other solution depends on the existing IT infrastructure and future plans around a possible transition to the Microsoft cloud. Customers that are all in the cloud will benefit from Microsoft Advanced Data Governance. Organizations in the process of moving to the cloud have two options: implement both solutions ADG & MIP or expedite migration by prioritizing personal data. Organizations that are not ready to move their data to the cloud will benefit from the implementation of Microsoft Information Protection to classify, label and protect their data.