Data protection - RGPD, DLP and information security

Personal (customers, employees), financial, strategic and intellectual property data. These are the most sensitive and the most targeted by cyberattacks, and they are subject to strict legal requirements such as the RGPD.

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DLP is a technology that prevents sensitive data from leaving your organization unchecked. For example, it blocks critical information from being emailed, printed or copied to USB sticks. It's a key tool for preventing human error and malicious leaks.

A backup involves copying your files or databases so that they can be restored in the event of loss or corruption. It is essential, but does not guarantee business continuity.

The DRP (Disaster Recovery Plan) goes a step further: it provides for the restoration of critical systems after a major incident (cyber-attack, disaster, breakdown). The aim is to resume activity within a defined timeframe (e.g. 24 or 48 hours).

The BCP (Business Continuity Plan) is even more demanding: it aims to maintain business activity without interruption, even in the event of a crisis. In concrete terms, this means setting up redundant infrastructures or automatic failover systems.

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The RGPD does not explicitly require encryption in all cases, but it does consider it a strongly recommended security measure. Article 32 of the regulation requires companies to implement "appropriate technical and organizational measures" to protect personal data. Encryption is cited as an example of good practice, along with pseudonymization.

In practice, this means that if you handle sensitive data (health, financial, customer IDs, etc.), you need to be able to demonstrate that you have put in place effective means to protect it. Encryption is often the most appropriate solution, as it renders data unusable in the event of loss, theft or leakage.

What's more, in the event of a data breach notified to the CNIL, the fact that the compromised information is encrypted can considerably reduce the legal impact and penalties, as it is deemed inaccessible without a key.

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The majority of data leaks are not caused by cybercriminals, but by human error: an attachment sent to the wrong recipient, a file inadvertently shared publicly, or a misplaced USB stick. The first step in preventing these incidents is to raise employee awareness. Regularly training your teams in best practices - password management, vigilance against phishing, secure use of collaborative tools - considerably reduces the risk of accidental leaks.

Secondly, technical solutions such as Data Loss Prevention (DLP) are essential. These tools monitor data flows (e-mails, downloads, printouts, USB transfers) in real time and automatically block accidental or deliberate leakage attempts. For example, they can prevent confidential documents from being sent outside the company's domain without prior authorization.

Microsoft Purview DLP, integrated with Microsoft 365, Exchange, SharePoint and Teams, does just that. Thanks to automatic classification and sensitivity tagging, Purview identifies files containing personal, financial or strategic information, applies appropriate policies and notifies users before any risky sharing takes place. Administrators can monitor alerts and adjust rules according to team behavior, while ensuring RGPD compliance.

It's also crucial to apply the principle of least privilege via an IAM (Identity and Access Management) solution: each employee should only have access to the data required for his or her activity. By limiting excessive rights, you automatically reduce the likelihood of an internal leak.

Last but not least, a clear governance policy - data classification, sharing procedures, access traceability - both empowers your teams and proves your compliance in the event of an audit or a request from your cyber insurer. Microsoft Purview integration provides centralized visibility of these actions, guaranteeing continuous supervision and automated reporting for your security teams.

No, data stored in the cloud is not protected by default. Cloud providers (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, etc.) apply a shared responsibility model: they secure the infrastructure (datacenters, service availability), but data protection is your responsibility.

It is also important to distinguish between two concepts that are often confused:

• Retention: cloud solutions keep your files and e-mails for a limited period (e.g. 30 or 90 days after deletion). This allows you to recover data deleted by mistake, but it's no real protection. Once the period has expired, the data is lost for good.
• Backup: this involves creating an independent, secure copy of your data, stored on another medium or environment. Unlike retention, a backup can be restored even months or years after the loss or corruption of files.

In the event of a ransomware attack, malicious deletion or human error, only a dedicated cloud backup (complementary to native retention) guarantees that you can recover your information and ensure business continuity.

Microsoft Purview plays a central role in enterprise data governance, classification and compliance. It's not just a monitoring tool, but a complete data protection and lifecycle management platform, covering Microsoft 365, Azure, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams environments and even external systems via connectors.

In concrete terms, Purview automatically maps all your organization's data, whether stored in the cloud, on site or in third-party applications. It identifies files containing sensitive information (personal, financial, strategic data), classifies them according to confidentiality levels and applies appropriate protection labels (encryption, access restriction, blocking of external sharing).

Thanks to its DLP (Data Loss Prevention) and Insider Risk Management features, Purview detects risky behavior in real time: unauthorized sharing, massive downloading, transfer to external media, or sending sensitive files outside the domain. Administrators can receive instant alerts, investigate and apply corrective measures.

Purview also integrates an audit and compliance module to track all data accesses, modifications and shares. These detailed logs facilitate internal controls, RGPD, ISO 27001 or NIS2 audits, and serve as evidence in the event of an incident or request from a cyber insurer.

In short, Microsoft Purview is the backbone of data protection in Microsoft environments:

• It automatically classifies and protects sensitive information.
• It prevents internal and external leaks via DLP and access governance.
• It ensures traceability and regulatory compliance thanks to its auditing and reporting capabilities.
• It enhances security teams' global visibility of data location, sensitivity and usage.

With Purview, companies move from reactive security to proactive data governance, where every piece of information is protected, tracked and valued according to its value and legal obligations.