Discover the 3 Hidden Risks Microsoft Purview Can Help You Uncover in Your Microsoft 365 Tenant

Do you think your Microsoft 365 tenant is secure?

You’ve got MFA. Role-based access. A few Data Loss Prevention rules.
So your data’s safe… right?

Think again.
Three silent risks are slipping past your security settings — exposing sensitive data without a trace.
Attackers know where the blind spots are. Do you?

Native Microsoft 365 controls miss what Microsoft Purview catches.
It uncovers the hidden vulnerabilities that have quietly put your organization at risk — and gives you the visibility to stop them.

With Purview, organizations are seeing their data exposure clearly — often for the first time.

⚠️ Risk #1: Shadow Data in SharePoint and OneDrive

Let’s say an employee shares a spreadsheet containing client SSNs via an anonymous link. They intended to delete it later but forgot. Now, that sensitive document is potentially accessible to anyone who stumbles upon the link.

This is the essence of shadow data — files that are stored or shared in ways that evade your control and monitoring.

Shadow data includes:

Files shared externally via public links
Unindexed documents stored in nested folders
Forgotten legacy data migrated from other platforms

Why it matters: Shadow data is hard to detect, let alone protect. These files are often left out of regular audits and can remain exposed for months or even years.

How Purview helps: Microsoft Purview scans your entire M365 environment to identify:

Sensitive files shared externally
Public links containing regulated data
Locations where DLP policies are not being enforced

Real-world impact: In one engagement, our team identified over 12,000 externally shared files, including tax records, legal contracts, and unencrypted HR documents. These were invisible to the client’s current compliance dashboards.

Read the full case study.

⚠️ Risk #2: Misclassified Emails in Exchange Online

A major healthcare provider thought their email encryption policies were airtight. But a routine audit revealed that hundreds of sensitive messages had been labeled as “General” instead of “Confidential.”

How did this happen?

End users skipped labeling
The label priority order was misconfigured
Auto-labeling conditions weren’t specific enough

Why it matters: Incorrect labeling means sensitive data leaves your environment unencrypted and untracked. In regulated industries like healthcare or finance, this can trigger hefty penalties.

How Purview helps: Purview enables:

Auto-labeling based on content inspection (e.g., SSNs, PHI, financial data)
Analytics to identify which users are mislabeling or skipping labels
Policy simulation tools to test label enforcement before deployment

Pro tip: Use trainable classifiers in Purview to detect context-specific data types such as EHR terminology or internal deal codes.

⚠️ Risk #3: Orphaned Sensitive Content in Teams and OneDrive

Former employees leave. But their files? Not so fast.

Orphaned content includes:

Teams chat logs with confidential discussions
OneDrive files from ex-staff still accessible via links
Meeting recordings stored indefinitely with no access control review

Why it matters: This data may contain PII, financial info, or proprietary IP. Without an owner, no one is accountable for its security.

How Purview helps:

Automates the identification of orphaned data
Flags files with sensitive info and no active owner
Enables governance actions like encryption, labeling, or deletion

Example: One SaaS provider discovered that over 40 GB of customer data was still accessible in a former employee’s OneDrive folder—six months after they had left the company.

Why You Need More Than Native Microsoft 365 Tools

Microsoft 365 offers a great foundation, but its default configurations aren’t tailored for every business need. Without deeper inspection and automation, most companies:

Miss edge-case exposures
Rely on user-driven labeling
React to risks instead of preventing them

Microsoft Purview was built to close that gap.

With Purview, you get:

Full visibility into where sensitive data lives
Alerts on policy violations in real-time
Automation to enforce controls without user input

It’s not just compliance. It’s proactive defense.

What You Can Do Today

Step 1: Schedule a Purview Risk Assessment We’ll scan your tenant, identify blind spots, and show you where you’re vulnerable.

Step 2: Map Data Policies to Business Units Build tailored rules to finance, HR, R&D, and more—not one-size-fits-all.

Step 3: Implement Auto-Remediation Workflows Use Purview to encrypt, quarantine, or notify based on policy triggers.

Step 4: Monitor & Tune Set up dashboards for ongoing oversight. Use behavior analytics to refine risk scoring over time.

Ebook: 4 ways Microsoft Purview can help you identify and mitigate insider threats

This eBook provides authoritative guidance on identifying potential insider threats, investigating insider incidents, remediating their impact, and preventing future occurrences.

Get the eBook