Security and governance innovations for Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents from Ignite 2025
Microsoft 365 Copilot is built on a foundation of trust established through our commitments to protect customer data and the controls we make available directly to customers. We’re excited to share the latest updates to these security and governance tools, designed to help you: Gain a unified view of key security and governance features as a Copilot/IT admin Block sensitive data from Copilot processing or sent as web queries Address oversharing through automation and greater visibility The latest security and governance updates introduce the following tools and features: Purview value integrated in the Microsoft 365 admin center Purview Data Loss Prevention for Microsoft 365 Copilot to safeguard prompts Purview Data security posture management Data risk assessments: item-level investigation and remediation SharePoint Advanced Management (SAM) Content management assessment SAM Permission report for a given user SAM Agent insight report SAM Catalog management SAM Delegating control to site administrators allows site admins to manage Restricted access control (RAC) and Restricted content discovery (RCD) SharePoint Admin Agent Microsoft Baseline security mode Be sure to watch the Ignite session BRK 293 - From oversharing to oversight for more details and demos of many of these new capabilities! Unified view of key security features As a Copilot and IT admin managing the security and governance of Copilot, you need a unified view to see key security and governance features and take actions. At Ignite 2025, we announced that Microsoft Purview value is now integrated directly into the Microsoft 365 admin center (MAC). Now available in Public Preview. The Copilot overview page now offers a Security tab, where you can click on cards to prevent data leakage, manage data oversharing, and strengthen data compliance, directly in the MAC. Block sensitive data from processing Many of you have expressed concerns about sensitive data being processed by Copilot or sent as web queries through a web search. Last year, we announced Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) for Microsoft 365 Copilot (now Generally Available) to block Copilot from processing files and email with specific sensitivity label. This year, we are thrilled to extend the capability of DLP for Copilot to safeguard prompts that contain sensitive data. Now available in Public Preview. We are also excited to share that Purview DLP for Copilot prompt is available to all users of Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot chat! Purview DLP for Copilot prompt provides real-time control to help you mitigate data leakage and oversharing risks. It prevents Microsoft 365 Copilot, including pre-built agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, from returning a response when the prompt contains sensitive data. This feature helps to ensure sensitive data is not used for internal grounding or sent through web searches. Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention for Microsoft 365 Copilot to safeguard prompts blocking responses to questions around Project Wingtip, as Project Wingtip is on the organization’s sensitive information block list Automation and visibility to address oversharing As part of Microsoft’s commitments and controls, Copilot responses only contain data the user has permission to access, but oversharing can still happen regardless of Copilot use. Oversharing happens when an employee has been granted access to information and files that aren’t necessary for them to do their job. It’s generally an accidental oversight occurring when users share files too broadly, or when files aren’t protected in a way that persists regardless of location. To help customers address oversharing for a Microsoft 365 Copilot deployment, we published the Oversharing blueprint, powered by two powerful tools: Microsoft Purview, and SharePoint Advanced Management - included in your Microsoft 365 Copilot license. Last year we introduced Microsoft Purview Data security posture management for AI Data risk assessment to address oversharing concerns. This year, we expanded Data risk assessments to include item-level investigation and remediation. Now, in addition to identifying sharing links across SharePoint sites, this enhanced capability enables bulk remediation by allowing admins to remediate or disable overshared links at scale. This helps organizations proactively reduce data exposure, strengthen compliance posture, and ensure sensitive files are only accessible to the right people. Now available in Public preview. SharePoint Advanced Management (SAM), included in your Microsoft 365 Copilot license, concentrates on helping you manage content sprawl and clutter, control permissions and content access, and automate housecleaning chores like making sure all your sites have owners, content is attested on a continuous basis, and provides targeted audit capabilities by tracking changes in the tenant configurations. We’re excited to share these new SAM features: Content management assessment evaluates and improves content management with a single click to identify content risks, ensure compliance, and maintain data integrity. Generally Available. Permission report for a given user provides a detailed overview of all SharePoint and OneDrive access points, highlights oversharing risks, and enables admins to quickly identify and fix risky permissions across the organization for a given user. Generally Available. Agent insight report shows how agents interact and access SharePoint sites and OneDrive accounts, and allow admins take governance actions to manage these agents. Generally Available. Catalog management defines organizational content clusters for targeted actions and automatically groups SharePoint sites using existing sites and user properties to enable governance with precision and at scale. Available in Public Preview. Delegating control to site administrators allows site admins to manage Restricted access control (RAC) and Restricted content discovery (RCD). Available in Public Preview. We’ve also heard many of you request support in working with the breadth of admin tools, reports and capabilities available in SharePoint—so we were especially excited to announce SharePoint Admin Agent, designed for administrators that are tasked with the responsibility of insuring that their organizational content is governed properly in the AI era, with the help of AI. Now available in public preview. The SharePoint Admin Agent removes the need for you to know what SAM reports to trigger, how to read the reports, what actions to take. Now all you need to know is what problem you are trying to solve. The SharePoint Admin Agent will be equipped with skills to help you manage permissions, storage, lifecycle and access to start with, but we have much more planned for the future. Baseline security mode The adoption of AI can accelerate the ability for malicious actors to exploit configuration gaps, specifically legacy configurations that can be the most vulnerable, in your enterprise environment. To support security administrators with this challenge, we introduced Baseline security mode, which applies Microsoft-recommended security settings across Office, SharePoint, and Teams to standardize protections across your deployments, so you can more easily identify gaps and reduce risk. Baseline security mode, included with your existing Microsoft 365 license, is Generally Available for Microsoft 365 and Entra. It allows you to: Act on tailored recommendations with preconfigured defaults that protect against known vulnerabilities from legacy configurations and emerging AI risks exploiting them, helping you keep pace with the rapidly evolving threat landscape and helps to ensure that security protections are current. Adopt changes safely and test configurations safely in simulation mode before rollout, making adoption straightforward, mitigating the risk of misconfiguration and helping organizations stay ahead of evolving threats. Take advantage of built-in protection and benefit from purpose-built integration, as BSM is optimized for Microsoft 365, and updated regularly to help deliver ongoing security enhancements. To learn more on how to get started with Microsoft Baseline security mode, read our Insider Track blog and Learn doc. Closing As we continue to enhance security and governance capabilities, Microsoft is committed to building trust with you, our customers, by equipping you with robust tools to effectively manage Copilot and agents. By delivering security and governance capabilities in Microsoft 365 Admin Center, Microsoft Purview, and SharePoint Advanced Management, we empower administrators to maintain transparency, security, and compliance in your Microsoft 365 environments. These innovations ensure your most valuable data is protected and provide your organization with the confidence to collaborate securely in an AI-powered workplace. Related Copilot control system: aka.ms/CopilotControlSystem Ignite 2025: Copilot Control System and related updates for IT and Security Teams: aka.ms/CCSIgnite2025 Learn more about Copilot Control System’s Security and Governance pillar: aka.ms/CCS/SecureGovern Blueprint guidance to help you enable Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot: https://aka.ms/Copilot/Microsoft365AgentsBlueprint Microsoft Security for AI Ignite news: https://aka.ms/S4AI_IgniteNews2025 Copilot readiness and resiliency with Microsoft 365: Copilot readiness and resiliency with Microsoft 365: Ignite 2025 Edition | Microsoft Community Hub Microsoft Baseline security mode: https://aka.ms/MicrosoftBaselineSecurityModeBeyond the hype: turning Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents into real business outcomes
Microsoft Ignite 2025 in San Francisco was an electrifying gathering that brought together over 30,000 tech professionals, business leaders, and innovators from around the globe. This year’s event set a bold tone for the future, spotlighting the transformative role of Copilot and agents in modern workplaces and unveiling a wave of advancements across the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. The energy on the ground reflected both the excitement and the urgency of this new era, making it clear: Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents are not just the future—they are redefining the way companies get work done today. As I spoke with partners and customers, I was inspired by how organizations are embracing these tools to unlock new ways of working and developing rich business solutions. I want to take a moment to reflect on some of my highlights from the event. Extend familiar management infrastructure to agents with Microsoft Agent 365 Over the last week, I heard time and time again how business leaders are embracing the Frontier Firm wave, steering their organizations toward partnering people with agents across every workflow. Thousands of agents are already automating business processes, and by 2028 IDC projects there will be 1.3 billion in circulation.* For enterprise customers, this will bring a massive new digital workforce to manage. As agents get added to every workflow and become more capable, some business leaders have expressed concerns about how to accelerate AI innovation securely. Microsoft Agent 365 turns this challenge into an opportunity. Operating as a control plane for AI agents, Agent 365 extends the existing infrastructure used to manage people to also manage agents, equipping them with the same apps, protections, and context. For IT leaders, Agent 365 gives organizations a single platform to deploy, govern, and organize agents, transforming them from isolated actors into an integrated part of business operations. Agent 365 helps protect and manage agents across the organization by unifying Defender, Entra, and Purview, and provides a single view of their entire agent fleet with the Microsoft 365 admin center. To ensure agents have the context they need to provide the most accurate results, Agent 365 connects Microsoft 365 apps and Semantic Index through WorkIQ. For organizations ready to take advantage of this unified foundation, Agent 365 will offer a robust ecosystem. For example, Microsoft agents like the new, fully autonomous Sales Development Agent; partner agents from Adobe, Cognition, Databricks, Genspark, Glean, Kasisto, Manus, NVIDIA, n8n, SAP, ServiceNow, Workday, and more; and open-source agents from Anthropic, Cursor, LangChain, OpenAI, Perplexity, and Vercel. For developers looking to build their own Agent 365-compatible agents, they can start with Copilot Studio or Microsoft Foundry. For deeper integrations, Microsoft Agent Framework or Agent 365 SDK enable unified discovery, governance, and collaboration across Microsoft 365. Simplify HR and IT support with the Employee Self-Service agent Another impactful way businesses are integrating agents into operational workflows is by replacing fragmented employee-support systems for HR or IT tasks. At Ignite, we announced the general availability of the Employee Self Service (ESS) agent, which brings AI-powered service delivery directly into Microsoft 365 Copilot to improve HR and IT employee support scenarios. Within Copilot, employees can ask questions, submit requests, and complete routine tasks in one trusted place without disrupting workflow. Natively built into Copilot Studio, the ESS agent provides a customizable foundation for intelligent employee service. It works with HR and IT systems such as Workday, ServiceNow, and SAP SuccessFactors and can easily be expanded through low-code extensions, connectors, and integrations with enterprise systems. Employees can tailor workflows, embed organizational knowledge, and adapt the experience to match their organization’s systems, resulting in a faster and more connected support experience. Frontier Firms in action: Turning AI innovation into business outcomes On Thursday, I hosted a panel session with leaders from several enterprise customers who are well on the path to becoming Frontier Firms: Sean Alexander, SVP, Connected Ecosystem, Lumen Tim Holt, VP, Health Answers Tech Lead & Architect, Pfizer Mona Riemenschneider, Head of Global Communications, GenAI, BASF John Whittaker, Director, AI Platform & Products, Ernst & Young Two themes emerged from our panel discussion. First, the most successful organizations are moving from experimentation to operationalization, developing agent-specific KPIs, governance structures, and more. These are not science experiments, but production tools already embedded directly into some of the world’s most complex enterprises. For example, Pfizer is leveraging Copilot Studio at scale with over 300 agents deployed across their organization, including a specialized agent that provides continuous manufacturing improvement with prioritized opportunities across the supply chain. Second, leaders on the panel emphasized that the future of work is human-led and agent powered. At Lumen, they’ve developed a declarative agent that synthesizes internal data, external filings, and real-time insights to generate tailored executive briefings, reducing cognitive load and surfacing the context needed to prepare for partner and customer meetings. At BASF Agricultural Solutions, they’re using a Copilot agent to transform global corporate communication efficiency. The Copilot agent streamlines the compilation of internal and external communication messages, efficiently and securely, resulting in significant time savings. "If 2025 was the year of the agent, then 2026 will be the year of the agents," said EY’s John Whittaker. “That’s where I think we’re going to see the consolidation of processes into far faster, more real-time, improved outcomes.” Learn how partners and customers are already unlocking new value with AI agents It’s exciting to see how our rich ecosystem of customers and partners are using Microsoft technology to create their own agents to solve real-world challenges, accelerate transformation, and scale human-agent collaboration. Ignite 2025 featured several Microsoft partners and customers who are building innovative agents, designed to work with Microsoft 365 Copilot to help save time, boost productivity, and accelerate business transformation. ADP - The ADP Assist agent for Microsoft 365 Copilot is purpose-built to support HR and will simplify payroll tasks by bringing key workflows into Copilot Chat and Microsoft Teams. Employees will be able to check time-off balances, review pay statements, and confirm direct deposit settings, all without leaving their flow of work. Blue Yonder - Blue Yonder Inventory Ops for Microsoft 365 Copilot automates demand forecasting using advanced machine learning and generates optimized, constraint-based supply plans covering production, distribution, and procurement to meet business objectives and enhance planner productivity. Freshservice - Freddy AI Agent now integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Copilot, bringing instant IT and support assistance into Word, Outlook, Teams, and more. This deep integration boosts adoption, eliminates context switching, and empowers employees to resolve issues effortlessly inside their everyday Microsoft 365 tools. monday.com - monday.com has integrated its MCP server with Microsoft Copilot both as a ready-to-use agent in the Agent Store and as a "Tool" for users to build custom agents on Copilot Studio. Users can now directly access their monday.com data, surface boards and items, or even update statuses directly within their Teams app or Microsoft 365. Sophos - Sophos Intelix will integrate real-time threat intelligence into Microsoft 365 Copilot, empowering IT teams and business users to check links and files, and make faster, more informed security decisions while democratizing enterprise-grade cybersecurity insights within everyday Microsoft 365 workflows. Wipro – Wipro has implemented Copilot-powered agents across sales, procurement, finance, and talent functions, enhancing knowledge access and decision-making to drive faster, more accurate, and consistent business operations. These aren’t the only incredible agents helping businesses. Thousands more are available in Microsoft Marketplace, where partners like the ones below are already reaching customers at scale. Shape the future of work with AI agents What inspires me most coming out of Ignite 2025 is seeing how customers and partners are already building the foundation of their Frontier Firms—people and agents working together to transform productivity and decision-making. This shift is no longer theoretical, it’s happening now across industries, powered by Copilot. To learn more about agents in Copilot and gain access to Microsoft resources, follow the links below. Check out recorded sessions from Ignite and watch demonstrations of agentic solutions from leading software companies Read about the exciting AI innovations for software developers who are building agents Start building agents with Microsoft Copilot Studio and Microsoft Visual Studio Get resources for building and customizing agents from the Microsoft 365 Dev Center and the AI Agents Hub *IDC Info Snapshot, sponsored by Microsoft, 1.3 Billion AI Agents by 2028, #US53361825 and May 2025From Challenges to Triumph: The Judge Group's AI Transformation with Microsoft 365 Copilot
Learn how The Judge Group overcame challenges with data security, compliance, and human error by adopting Microsoft 365 Copilot. Their journey to enhanced productivity and streamlined operations with AI is a must-read!
