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Securing Data with Microsoft Purview IRM + Defender: A Hands-On Lab
Hi everyone
I recently explored how Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management (IRM) integrates with Microsoft Defender to secure sensitive data. This lab demonstrates how these tools work together to identify, investigate, and mitigate insider risks.
What I covered in this lab:
- Set up Insider Risk Management policies in Microsoft Purview
- Connected Microsoft Defender to monitor risky activities
- Walkthrough of alerts triggered → triaged → escalated into cases
- Key governance and compliance insights
Key learnings from the lab:
- Purview IRM policies detect both accidental risks (like data spillage) and malicious ones (IP theft, fraud, insider trading)
- IRM principles include transparency (balancing privacy vs. protection), configurable policies, integrations across Microsoft 365 apps, and actionable alerts
- IRM workflow follows: Define policies → Trigger alerts → Triage by severity → Investigate cases (dashboards, Content Explorer, Activity Explorer) → Take action (training, legal escalation, or SIEM integration)
- Defender + Purview together provide unified coverage: Defender detects and responds to threats, while Purview governs compliance and insider risk
This was part of my ongoing series of security labs.
Curious to hear from others — how are you approaching Insider Risk Management in your organizations or labs?
3 Replies
Where do I find this lab and other labs?
Thanks so much, Ankit! Really appreciate the thoughtful breakdown.
You nailed it—the lab was designed to show how Purview and Defender complement each other across governance and response. We started with accidental leakage scenarios (like mass downloads or external sharing) and gradually introduced more complex insider threat patterns.
For thresholds, I focused on simulating:
- Unusual download spikes within short time windows
- Access from risky or non-corporate domains
- Time-based anomalies, such as logins outside working hours
Alerts were linked to Defender via the Microsoft 365 Defender portal, using incident correlation to unify the view. That way, Purview triage flows into Defender’s automated response and can escalate to SIEM/SOAR if needed.
I especially liked your point about awareness training—we’re exploring how low-level alerts can trigger adaptive messaging or training modules before escalation. Would be great to hear how others are handling that balance between detection and privacy.
That sounds like a solid lab and an excellent way to show how the compliance and security sides of Microsoft 365 connect. What you described is precisely the value proposition: Purview Insider Risk Management gives the governance and investigative layer, while Defender provides the telemetry and active response layer. In practice, many organizations begin with accidental data leakage cases, such as sensitive files being shared externally or downloaded en masse before an employee leaves, and then mature to address intentional insider threats, including IP theft or fraud.
In real-world environments, the primary challenges often involve balancing privacy concerns with effective detection and securing stakeholder buy-in. Most companies need to collaborate with legal and HR to define what “insider risk” means in their specific context and ensure that policies are transparent to employees. Another critical area is tuning. Out-of-the-box policies can be noisy, so refining risk indicators and thresholds is crucial before rolling out broadly.
Some organizations also tie Insider Risk Management to awareness training, so that users who trigger low-level alerts are automatically guided toward corrective behavior rather than being escalated immediately. And when incidents are more severe, integrating with SIEM/SOAR systems or Defender’s automated response capabilities helps ensure a consistent response process.
Your lab shows the full lifecycle well: policy → alert → triage → case → action. I would be curious to know how you configured thresholds in Purview (for example, volume of downloads, risky domains, or unusual access times) and how you linked those alerts to Defender for a unified incident view. That is usually where teams struggle in moving from theory to practice...
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