The data privacy regulatory landscape is becoming increasingly complex. With new laws emerging in countries like China and India, shifts in Europe and the United Kingdom, and 26 different laws in the United States, keeping up with ever-changing regulations is quite a challenge.
However, it's crucial to protecting users and the tools they use to stay connected, get work done, and thrive in today's hybrid environment.
We have worked closely with our customers to help. Today, I'm excited to share some of the new investments we've made to simplify complex data privacy regulations.
Introducing Privacy Management for Microsoft 365
With the latest regulations coming into effect in China soon, the personal data of the vast majority of the world's population will soon be protected with modern privacy regulations.
However, how organizations manage their regulatory responsibilities under all these laws is often still done manually, making it time consuming and expensive.
Starting October 19, Privacy Management for Microsoft 365 is available to help customers secure personal data and build privacy-resilient workplaces.
With role-based access control and de-identified data by default, Privacy Management for Microsoft 365 helps organizations to have overall privacy risk visibility at scale automatically.
1.Identify important privacy risks and conflicts : One of the biggest challenges in managing privacy is finding out where personal data is stored, especially in unstructured environments. Most companies still use manual processes to maintain inventory and mapping data, especially via email, spreadsheets, and direct communications, which are often expensive and ineffective. Privacy Management automatically and persistently helps discover where and how much personal data is stored in Microsoft 365 environments by leveraging data classification and user mapping intelligence. Organizations can view an aggregated view of their privacy, including the amount, category and location of personal data, as well as relevant privacy risks and trends over time.
2.Automate privacy operations and respond to subject rights requests : Privacy Management connects data signals across a suite of Microsoft 365 solutions to provide actionable insights. This allows privacy administrators to automate privacy policies using built-in templates—data transfer, data minimization, data overexposure, and subject rights request management—or create custom policies to meet specific organization needs.
3.Empower employees to make smart data handling decisions: To build a culture that is resilient to privacy, companies need to educate their employees so they know how to handle data properly. Privacy Management provides administrators with insights and context, enabling them to automate privacy policies and protect sensitive data. Additionally, data owners are provided with training and tips to make smart data handling decisions, eliminating the need to choose between privacy and productivity.
You can learn more about Novartis' experience with Privacy Management for Microsoft 365 in their case study .
Partner to give customers greater visibility outside of Microsoft 365
Because data lives in so many clouds, systems, and applications, solving data privacy challenges requires powerful insights and partnerships.
To meet you wherever you are on your privacy journey, we have built an API that allows you to integrate with existing processes and solutions, to automatically create and manage subject rights requests in Privacy Management.
We're also excited to partner with leading privacy software companies—OneTrust, Securiti.ai, and WireWheel—to extend subject rights management capabilities to personal data stored outside of Microsoft 365 environments, enabling customers to have a unified and efficient response to subject requests.
“OUR MISSION AT ONETRUST IS TO EMPOWER BUSINESSES TO BUILD TRUST INTO THEIR ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES. OUR COLLABORATION WITH MICROSOFT SUPPORTS THIS,” SAID ADAM RYKOWSKI, ONETRUST VICE PRESIDENT OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT. “BY AUTOMATING AND SYNCHRONIZING THE FULFILLMENT OF DATA SUBJECT ACCESS REQUESTS (DSAR) FROM ONETRUST PRIVACY MANAGEMENT SOLUTION WITH PRIVACY MANAGEMENT FOR MICROSOFT 365 AVAILABLE IN THE MICROSOFT 365 COMPLIANCE CENTER, WE WERE ABLE TO SEAMLESSLY INCORPORATE IT ADMINS INTO THE PRIVACY OPERATIONS OF THE ONETRUST PLATFORM.”
New regulatory assessment in Microsoft Compliance Manager
Keeping up with data privacy regulations and understanding the technical actions you can take to address compliance can be daunting.
To help, Microsoft Compliance Manager currently has more than 200 regulatory assessment templates covering global, industry, and regional Data Protection and Privacy regulations, making it easier for customers to interpret, assess, and improve their compliance with regulatory requirements. We recently added three privacy-specific assessments for the Colorado Privacy Act, the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (CDPA), and the Egypt Privacy Law.
Additionally, we've mapped privacy-specific controls across these assessment templates to a Privacy Management solution to help you improve your compliance efforts.
You can learn more about Compliance Manager, our list of assessments, and how to use them in our documentation.
You can also use the 90-day Compliance Manager trial which will give you access to 25 assessments.
Privacy is a journey
We recognize that navigating the complexities of data privacy regulations is a journey, and we are delighted to partner with you, our customers and others in an ecosystem that can help alleviate some of the complexities; make the world a safer place for all.
Privacy Management for Microsoft 365 is generally available as an add-on for Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscribers. To get started with Privacy Management, you can take advantage of a free 90-day trial.
You can learn more about Privacy Management on the Tech Community blog or watch a new Microsoft Mechanics video.
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