Maybe you’re already using it, maybe you can’t see the point of it, or maybe this is your first time even hearing about it – whatever your position on Microsoft Copilot, there’s no denying it’s changing the way businesses around Essex operate.
However, with these powerful new capabilities come new security considerations that users need to address. So, we’ve created this guide, in the hope it’ll both educate you about the potential AI cyber security risks associated with Microsoft Copilot, and provide practical strategies you can use to protect your organisation.
First, What Is Microsoft Copilot?
If you’re unfamiliar, Microsoft Copilot is an AI assistant that integrates across the Microsoft 365 suite. It’s designed to help users draft emails, summarise meetings, analyse data, and generate content more quickly by searching through available business data and picking out any relevant content, so you don’t have to do it manually.
This translates into productivity benefits, cutting down on the time employees spend doing traditionally arduous tasks like:
- Document creation
- Data analysis
- Email management
- Meeting enhancement (creating agendas, taking notes, and identifying action items and so on)
By automating these tasks, Copilot enables your team to focus on higher-value activities – putting those documents, spreadsheets, and meeting notes to use, instead of getting bogged down creating them.
To realise these benefits safely, though, it’s important to understand the possible Microsoft Copilot security risks.
Is Your Sensitive Business Data at Risk with Copilot?
Deploying Copilot will revolutionise your organisation, but it also raises security concerns. We’re not talking about outsiders attempting to hack into your Copilot – although account compromise certainly happens, and you should be taking precautions to prevent it, Microsoft’s scale makes it a pretty undesirable target for cybercriminals.
Sounds counterintuitive, right? Surely you’d want to go for a company with millions of users on their platforms. But millions of users also means millions of dollars are being spent on cyber defences. From the average cyber criminal’s perspective, it’s not worth wasting the time and effort trying to attack a business that’s so well defended.
The real AI cyber security risks that Copilot amplifies are already inside your business – in fact, you greet them with a smile every morning.
The Copilot Security Mistakes Your Staff Don’t Know They’re Making
Even well-intentioned employees can inadvertently create security vulnerabilities when using Microsoft Copilot. When your staff interact with this tool, they’re potentially exposing sensitive information to an AI system that learns from and processes this data.
It happens more than 8% of the time, according to a recent Harmonic Security study, but it isn’t often done on purpose. If you’re using a company-approved application on your company-designed network, it’s natural to assume anything you share in that application is only going to be visible within your company – and therefore, it’s safe from unpermitted eyes.
But not every piece of information is supposed to be accessible to every employee, and when Copilot has access to all your business data, so does everybody who’s using it.
Common mistakes include:
- Data oversharing: Employees might paste sensitive information into Copilot prompts without realising this data could be processed by Microsoft’s systems
- Confidentiality breaches: Generating content based on restricted information that shouldn’t be shared beyond specific teams
- Intellectual property exposure: Using proprietary information in ways that might compromise its security
- Compliance violations: Inadvertently processing regulated data (like personal information) in ways that violate GDPR or industry regulations
These issues rarely stem from deliberate employee actions. Rather, they highlight your organisation’s responsibility to implement appropriate controls that regulate how sensitive data is used with AI tools.
Three Ways to Minimise AI Cyber Security Risks and Regulate Copilot Use
1. Run a Risk Assessment
Before fully deploying Copilot, conduct a comprehensive security assessment:
- Identify what types of data will potentially be processed by Copilot
- Determine which data categories should be restricted from AI processing
- Evaluate your current Microsoft 365 security settings and identify gaps
- Assess employee awareness of AI cyber security risks and set up a plan to improve this
Microsoft providers in Essex can help with this. Even if you’re already using Copilot, it’s a good idea to get the experts in for an assessment – it’s never too late to establish appropriate guardrails.
2. Clean Up Your Permissions
Microsoft Copilot inherits the permissions of the user operating it, which sounds harmless enough. But let’s say your business uses Copilot to streamline financial reporting, and a junior accountant asks it to summarise financial statements from the company’s OneDrive for their next report.
Because they were mistakenly granted broad permissions when onboarded, the accountant accidentally gains access to sensitive executive financial documents – confidential reports meant only for senior management.
The accountant didn’t intend to access this information, but because Copilot follows their permissions, it still retrieves and processes it. Worse, if they share the Copilot-generated summary, that classified financial data spreads, violating data protection policies and increasing the risk of regulatory non-compliance.
All that to say, when you’re using Copilot you need to pay close attention to who in your organisation has access to what information:
- Review and refine access controls across your Microsoft 365 environment
- Implement the principle of least privilege, ensuring users only have access to what they absolutely need
- Create clearly defined user groups with appropriate permission levels
- Regularly audit and update permissions as roles change
This process should include reviewing both your Microsoft 365 and Azure Active Directory permissions.
3. Automate Policies to Minimise Risk
In addition to providing users with proper cyber security education, you should also take advantage of Microsoft’s built-in security tools to create automated safeguards:
- Implement Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies to prevent sensitive information from being processed by Copilot
- Use sensitivity labels to classify documents and control their accessibility to AI tools
- Configure Microsoft Purview to monitor and protect regulated information
- Establish clear governance policies for AI tool usage
Automating these policies means you’re consistently protected against Microsoft Copilot security risks without requiring constant manual oversight (and any manual intervention that is needed – like updating your policies when your data protection demands change – will be handled by your IT service provider).
Our Approach to Deploying AI
At Outbound Group, we know that secure AI deployment requires a holistic approach. We prepare your organisation for Copilot by:
- Conducting security audits: We assess your current Microsoft 365 environment to identify potential vulnerabilities before they can be exploited
- Implementing data protection controls: We help configure appropriate security measures tailored to your specific business needs
- Providing staff training: We educate your team about safe usage practices to mitigate AI cyber security risks
- Ensuring compliance: We help ensure your Copilot deployment meets all regulatory requirements applicable to your industry
As experienced Microsoft providers in Essex, we provide the insights you need to not just identify, but address vulnerabilities within your Microsoft environment. When you partner with us, we’ll equip you with everything you need to protect your sensitive data and ensure a successful and secure Copilot deployment.
Let’s Shield Your Business from AI Security Risks
Microsoft Copilot offers tremendous potential for increasing productivity within your business. By approaching its deployment with appropriate security considerations, you can harness these benefits without inheriting the risks.
The key to success lies in balancing technological advancement with comprehensive cyber security for Essex businesses. With proper planning, clear policies, and expert guidance, your organisation can confidently embrace AI tools like Microsoft Copilot without compromising on security.
Want even more practical advice on using Microsoft Copilot securely in your organisation? Speak to our team!
Outbound Group: Trusted IT Support and Microsoft Azure Providers in Essex
Technology should enable your business, not complicate it. As your trusted adviser, we ensure that every technological decision and investment serves your business objectives.
Whether you’re planning a cloud migration, implementing new security measures, or looking to optimise your current IT infrastructure, our team provides the guidance and support you need to succeed.
Let’s talk about building your pathway to technical excellence. Reach out today.