Label and review external sharing
A person checks a proposed sharing decision and its evidence.
Coming
See every demonstrationAI-READY FOUNDATION
Close the oversharing before Copilot goes live.
Microsoft 365 Copilot respects existing permissions exactly, which turns every share-with-everyone link from years ago into a search result on the first day. The AI-Ready Foundation program assesses the tenant for oversharing with Microsoft Purview and SharePoint Advanced Management, remediates the high-risk findings with your content owners, labels what must never reach a Copilot answer, and writes the go-live readiness statement.
01 Source02 Boundary03 Human decision04 Evidence
HOW IT WORKS
The control path in practice.
- Assess every site, library and link with organization-wide or anonymous access, ranked by the sensitivity of what it holds.
- Remediate the high-risk findings with the content owners: site access reviews, restricted access control policies and expiry on anonymous links.
- Apply Microsoft Purview sensitivity labels to the content that must never reach a Copilot response, with DLP for the generative AI location.
- Switch on Copilot audit and reporting and write the go-live readiness statement your sponsor signs.
THE PROBLEM
Why is Copilot a data exposure program before it is an adoption program?
Because the assistant does exactly what the permissions allow, and the permissions were set by a decade of convenience. Most readiness offers are adoption and change management with a security paragraph; this one exists to close the exposure and runs before the licenses are assigned.
The program secures the data plane Copilot reads. Adoption, prompt training and change management are not in it, content outside Microsoft 365 is identified as risk rather than remediated, and ambiguous labeling decisions go to a named content owner in each business unit.
THE MICROSOFT INSIGHT
Which oversharing does Microsoft already measure?
Microsoft Purview Data Security Posture Management for AI runs a weekly data risk assessment of the 100 most used SharePoint sites without activation and reports AI interactions that touch sensitive data. That is the first report the assessment reads.
Microsoft Purview Data Security Posture Management for AI runs a weekly data risk assessment of the 100 most used SharePoint sites without activation and reports AI interactions that touch sensitive data. (Microsoft Learn, checked Oct 31, 2026)
Read the weekly assessment and the remediation list is ranked by sensitivity before anyone opens a site. Ignore it and the ranking is done by whoever complains first.
THE METHOD
How does the program run?
Assess, remediate, label, report, each with a content owner signing the decisions for their unit.
- Tenant-wide oversharing assessment: every site, library and link with organization-wide or anonymous access, ranked by sensitivity.
- Remediation of the high-risk findings: site access reviews, restricted access control policies, expiry on anonymous links, decided by the content owner for each business unit.
- Sensitivity labels on content that must never reach a Copilot response, with DLP scoped to the generative AI location.
- Copilot audit and reporting: Purview audit, a Communication Compliance policy where licensed, and a written go-live readiness statement.
THE CONTROL
What keeps a labeled file out of a Copilot response?
A Microsoft Purview DLP policy with the Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat location stops Copilot and Cowork from processing files and emails carrying the chosen labels; the item can still appear as a citation, and the location needs Microsoft 365 E5 or the Purview suite.
A Microsoft Purview DLP policy with the Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat location stops Copilot and Cowork from processing files and emails that carry chosen sensitivity labels; the item can still appear as a citation. This needs Microsoft 365 E5 or the Purview suite. (Microsoft Learn, checked Oct 31, 2026)
Label and police the content that must never be quoted and the readiness statement names the control. Leave it and the statement names a hope.
WHAT IT IS NOT
Does the program run adoption or cover other platforms?
No. It secures only the data plane Copilot reads inside Microsoft 365. On-premises shares and third-party platforms are identified as risk, not remediated, and the labeling decisions a scan cannot make go to your data owner.
Prerequisites are Microsoft 365 E5 or the E5 Compliance add-on and SharePoint Advanced Management. Access is through Global Administrator and Compliance Administrator consent for the assessment and remediation work, with a named content owner per business unit for the access review decisions.
AFTER TWO WEEKS
What will be working after two weeks?
- You hold a ranked oversharing inventory: every site, library and link with organization-wide or anonymous access, ordered by sensitivity.
- The high-risk findings are remediated with the content owners' decisions recorded.
- The content that must never reach a Copilot answer carries a label and a DLP policy for the generative AI location.
- Copilot audit and reporting are on, and your sponsor holds a written go-live readiness statement.
The work is delivered remotely inside your own Microsoft tenant, wherever your business is, and on site only when the work needs it.
HONEST ABOUT LIMITS
What this does not do yet
It does not keep a site out of answers while its review is unfinished unless you use the control for that. Restricted Content Discovery in SharePoint keeps a chosen site out of organization-wide search and Microsoft 365 Copilot answers while its permissions are reviewed, without changing who can open the files; Restricted SharePoint Search is retiring and new enablement has been blocked since July 31, 2026. (Microsoft Learn, checked Nov 1, 2026) Restricted Content Discovery keeps a chosen site out of organization-wide search and Copilot answers while its permissions are reviewed, without changing who can open the files, and the program applies it to the sites in review and lifts it when each review closes.
It does not run adoption, prompt training or change management; those are separate work.
It does not remediate content outside Microsoft 365; it names it as risk with an owner.
THE ONE THING TO REMEMBER
Copilot searches what the permissions allow; fix the permissions before the search begins.
Said another way: assess, remediate, label, report, then assign the seats.
Said a third way: the go-live statement names a control for every finding, or it is not a go-live statement.
SHOW YOUR WORK
See the control path on a fictional bank.
DIRECT ANSWERS
Questions before you decide.
What do we need to have?
Microsoft 365 E5 or the E5 Compliance add-on, and SharePoint Advanced Management. The assessment records any gap in licensing before remediation starts.
Who makes the labeling decisions?
A named content owner in each business unit, for the access review decisions and for the content the scan cannot classify on its own. Simplicity IT prepares the evidence; the owner decides.
Where is the program sold?
On Azure Marketplace, bought through the Azure portal and billed on your existing Microsoft agreement; private offers on request. The plans and terms are on the listing. No price appears on this site.
How is it different from the Copilot access review?
The review is two weeks on one cohort and ends in a go or no-go. The foundation is the tenant-wide assessment and the remediation that follows a go.
NEXT STEP
Start with a boundary you can explain.
Choose a focused check, or speak with the team about the workflow you need to improve.
Buy through Microsoft Marketplace Bought through the Azure portal and billed on your Microsoft agreement; plans and terms are on the listing.