Microsoft Purview | DLP & Compliance

Information protection, in under a minute.

Cameron Weymouth, Solutions Architect, on how information protection works, and how it integrates with DLP.

What we implement

Set up end to end. Not just switched on.

Purview's defaults classify nothing, block nothing and alert no one. A proper engagement covers four things, from the labels themselves through to the hardening that stops people working around them.

Classify & protect

Sensitivity labels: aligned to NIST guidance (Public, Internal, Confidential and Restricted), each carrying encryption and access controls that stay with the document wherever it ends up
Data Loss Prevention: policies that block sensitive documents from being shared outside the business, with alerts routed to your nominated contact so someone sees them

Detect & monitor

Insider Risk Management: built on the data-leaks template, tuned to flag and stop exfiltration patterns such as a mass download in the fortnight before a resignation letter lands
Data Security Posture Management: includes DSPM for AI, so you can see how Copilot and other AI tools are touching sensitive data and catch oversharing before it becomes an incident

Training & adoption

Training and rollout: material written for your environment, a delivered session with your staff, and hands-on time with your team, because a label taxonomy nobody applies protects nothing

The hardening that makes it stick

Conditional access: Entra ID device join with MFA enforced, sign-ins geo-restricted to Australia, legacy authentication blocked, and unmanaged devices limited to browser-only access with downloads disabled
Intune security baselines: applied to managed devices, with USB mass-storage blocked so the labelled data can't walk out on a thumb drive
SharePoint and OneDrive sharing: locked down to what the business genuinely needs
Mobile app protection: policies for iOS and Android, so company data on BYOD phones stays inside managed apps
Microsoft Defender: Endpoint and Office 365 configured to Microsoft baselines, with audit logging confirmed so there's a record when you need one

Built on a tenant we already manage well

Purview works best on a tidy Microsoft 365 foundation. If your tenant needs work first, our Microsoft 365 management service gets the basics right before we layer the data controls on top.

Purview complements the Essential Eight rather than replacing it. The Eight hardens your systems; Purview protects the data that moves between them.

New

Purview Suite add-on for Microsoft 365 Business Premium

Until recently, most of the capability on this page sat behind Microsoft 365 E5 licensing, which priced it out for the businesses that needed it most. Microsoft's new Purview Suite add-on changes that: it bolts enterprise-grade Purview onto Business Premium without re-licensing your whole tenant. If you're on Business Premium, this is the practical path to everything described above. The add-on includes:

Insider Risk Management
Information Protection
Advanced Data Loss Prevention
Message Encryption
Customer Key
Communication Compliance

DSPM for AI
Records & Data Lifecycle Management
eDiscovery Premium
Audit Premium
Compliance Manager

We covered what Business Premium already gives you in our guide to Business Premium security for Australian businesses. The Purview Suite add-on is the next step up from that baseline, and we've written a full breakdown of what the add-on means for Australian businesses.

Frequently Asked Questions

Got questions? We have answers.

What is Microsoft Purview?

Microsoft Purview is Microsoft's data security and governance platform for Microsoft 365. It lets you classify documents and emails with sensitivity labels, enforce Data Loss Prevention policies that stop sensitive content leaving the business, detect risky behaviour by departing staff through Insider Risk Management, and monitor how AI tools like Copilot interact with your data. The protections attach to the data itself, so a Confidential document stays controlled even after it's downloaded, forwarded or copied somewhere else.

Do we need Microsoft 365 E5 for Purview?

No. Until recently the advanced Purview features were locked behind E5 licensing, which put them out of reach for most SMBs. Microsoft now offers the Purview Suite add-on for Microsoft 365 Business Premium, which brings Insider Risk Management, advanced DLP, DSPM for AI, eDiscovery Premium and the rest of the suite to Business Premium tenants. If you're already on Business Premium, the add-on is the practical path: you get the capability without re-licensing the whole organisation.

What are sensitivity labels and how do they work?

A sensitivity label is a classification stamped on a document or email, such as Public, Internal, Confidential or Restricted. The label carries protections with it: encryption, access restrictions, watermarks and sharing controls that stay attached to the file wherever it goes. If a Restricted document is emailed outside the business or copied to a personal device, the controls still apply because they live in the file, not in the folder it came from. Labels can be applied by users, applied automatically based on content detection, or both.

How long does a Purview implementation take?

It depends on scope: how many label tiers you need, how much existing data needs classifying, and how much of the supporting hardening is already in place. A typical SMB engagement runs a few weeks from kickoff to handover, including the user training session. We deliver the work time-and-materials, so you pay for the actual effort rather than a padded fixed price, and we agree the scope up front so there are no surprises.