Sharepoint DLP & DSPM

Scan, Classify and Remediate PII or Sensitive Files - Sharepoint DLP (Data Loss Prevention)

Table of Contents

TL;DR: Strac addresses critical SharePoint concerns such as data breaches, insider threats, regulatory non-compliance, and operational visibility. The Strac SharePoint DLP Solution delivers comprehensive real-time monitoring, automated data categorization, advanced redaction, intelligent alerts, and streamlined compliance management, all through a user-friendly interface tailored for organizational needs.

The Significance of SharePoint DLP and Data Discovery (Sharepoint DSPM)

SharePoint, a premier collaboration and document management platform, is integral to modern business operations. However, its extensive use raises several security and compliance issues:

Inadvertent Data Exposure: With SharePoint's complex sharing and permissions settings, there's a heightened risk of accidentally exposing sensitive information. Strac's DLP solution minimizes this by ensuring only authorized access to sensitive content.
Insider Threats: SharePoint's broad access can be exploited by malicious insiders. Strac mitigates this through meticulous monitoring and control over data access and usage, preventing unauthorized sharing or alteration of sensitive documents.
Regulatory Compliance: SharePoint's role in storing and handling vast amounts of data makes compliance with laws like GDPR and HIPAA challenging. Strac simplifies this, automating data handling practices to meet regulatory standards effortlessly.
Visibility Gaps: SharePoint's native tools may not provide full visibility into data usage and user activity. Strac closes this gap, offering a comprehensive overview of data interactions across the platform, enabling proactive data security management.

Introducing Strac SharePoint DLP and Data Discovery (Sharepoint DSPM): Key Features and Advantages

Strac enhances SharePoint's capabilities with features designed to protect and manage your organization's critical data:

Real-time Monitoring

Continuously observe data movement and user actions within SharePoint to promptly identify and respond to unauthorized activities.

Automated Data Classification‍

Leverage Strac's intelligent classification to organize data by sensitivity levels, ensuring that protective measures align with compliance requirements and business policies. Strac has a comprehensive catalog of sensitive data elements: ‎https://www.strac.io/blog/strac-catalog-of-sensitive-data-elements

Advanced Redaction

Strac's redaction tools protect confidentiality by masking sensitive details in documents, reducing the risk of data leakage without hindering accessibility for authorized purposes.

Strac Inline Redacted Document - Masking SSN and EIN

Intelligent Alerting System: Utilize Strac's AI-driven alerts to detect potential security incidents without overwhelming administrators with false positives, enabling focused and efficient threat response.
Compliance Management: Strac not only aids in identifying regulated data but also enforces policies and generates detailed audit trails and reports, making compliance verification straightforward during audits.
User-friendly Customization: Strac's interface is built for ease of use without sacrificing depth, offering clear insights into data distribution, sharing activities, and temporal data flow trends within SharePoint.

Why SharePoint DLP and Data Discovery (Sharepoint DSPM) with Strac Stands Out

1. Comprehensive Data Discovery and DLP

Strac automatically scans and classifies sensitive data across SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams. Its intuitive dashboards show:

Who is accessing, downloading, or sharing sensitive files.
Classification charts highlighting the types of sensitive data stored.

Strac Sharepoint Data Discovery and Classification aka DSPM

2. Agentless Architecture

Unlike traditional agent-based solutions, Strac offers agentless deployment for seamless integration with your SharePoint environment.

3. Real-Time Monitoring and Remediation

With real-time insights, Strac enables:

Proactive alerts for suspicious activity.
Automatic remediation, such as revoking public links or restricting access.

Sharepoint DLP: Strac providing visibility on who shared/downloaded/printed what files

4. Streamlined Compliance

Strac simplifies compliance reporting with pre-built templates and custom reports aligned to regulatory standards.

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Strac also solves the DSPM problem for Sharepoint. Check out Strac Sharepoint DSPM.

Sensitive Data Types for Sharepoint DLP & DSPM

Checkout all the sensitive data elements and file formats supported by Strac: https://www.strac.io/blog/strac-catalog-of-sensitive-data-elements

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Sharepoint DLP Use Cases

Practical Scenario

A hospital’s billing and administrative teams use SharePoint Online to store patient invoices, medical reports, and insurance forms. While collaborating with external insurance providers, a staff member accidentally updates the permissions on a SharePoint document library to “Anyone with the link,” exposing potentially thousands of patient files containing PHI.

How Strac's Sharepoint DLP Helps

Continuous Data Discovery: Strac automatically scans existing and newly uploaded documents, identifying PHI (e.g., medical record numbers, Social Security Numbers).
Classification & Labeling: Once identified, files are labeled (e.g., “HIPAA Sensitive”), ensuring that administrators know which documents require the highest level of protection.
Visibility into Access: Strac provides real-time insight into who has access to these sensitive documents. Administrators can instantly see if unauthorized users or broad groups have viewing rights.
Revoke Public Links: If a file is publicly accessible, Strac immediately revokes those links and restores restricted access.
Alerts & Quarantines: When someone attempts to share PHI externally, Strac can alert admins, quarantine the file for review, or completely block the action.
Audit-Ready Reports: All actions are logged, enabling quick incident response and demonstrating HIPAA compliance for audits.

Practical Scenario

A mid-sized investment firm uses SharePoint to collaborate on various client files, including:

Credit card statements (subject to PCI-DSS)
ID documents (Driver’s Licenses, Passports, etc.) used for KYC (Know Your Customer) verification
Banking information such as account and routing numbers

An associate accidentally shares a SharePoint folder containing these files with a newly onboarded client who does not require access to all confidential documents. This folder is also accessible to several internal teams outside the immediate project, creating multiple potential exposure points.

How Strac's Sharepoint DLP Helps

Comprehensive Data Discovery: Strac scans both existing and newly uploaded documents in SharePoint for sensitive information such as credit card numbers, bank account details, and ID documents (Driver’s License, Passport formats).
Classification & Automated Labeling: Once identified, Strac applies meaningful labels (e.g., “PCI-DSS Sensitive,” “PII – ID Documents,” “Banking Info”) to ensure these files stand out and are subject to stricter security rules.
Visibility into Access: Strac provides an immediate view of who currently has access to these sensitive files. This allows admins to spot situations where external clients or internal teams unnecessarily have permissions.
Public Access Revocation: If a labeled document (e.g., containing card data or ID scans) is found to be publicly shared or too broadly accessible, Strac automatically revokes these links or permissions, aligning access with the principle of least privilege.
Alerts, Quarantines, and Blocks: When a user attempts to share a labeled document with outside domains—or with an entire department—Strac alerts administrators or quarantines/blocks the file share, depending on policy settings.
In cases where the share is intentional but needs review, admins can approve or deny the request within Strac’s dashboard.
Audit & Compliance: Every sharing event, label assignment, and access revocation is logged, creating a detailed audit trail. This helps demonstrate compliance with PCI-DSS, KYC, AML, and other regulatory requirements.
Automatic reporting simplifies any regulatory or internal compliance audit, reducing the administrative burden on security and compliance teams.

Practical Scenario

A software company keeps source code, product roadmaps, and design specs in SharePoint. Several teams—including external contractors—use the same SharePoint site. A developer accidentally grants a large group, including some non-disclosure–exempt contractors, access to a folder containing patent-pending code.

How Strac's Sharepoint DLP Helps

Holistic File Scanning: Strac inspects documents, PDFs, and archives for code snippets, system designs, and proprietary business terms to detect potential IP.
Intelligent Labeling: Documents identified as containing IP or trade secrets are automatically classified (e.g., “Proprietary IP”), reinforcing the need for restricted sharing.
Real-Time Access Insights: With Strac, administrators can instantly see who has access to IP-tagged files, enabling them to remove unauthorized users or reduce permission scopes.
Immediate Link Removal: If a contractor or external partner is mistakenly granted access to IP, Strac revokes public or unauthorized sharing before the files can be downloaded.
Alerts & Blocking: Strac’s policies can be configured to alert security teams or block external sharing attempts for files containing proprietary content.
Incident Response & Auditing: Detailed logs of every share request, label change, and access revocation aid in quick incident resolution and help prove due diligence if legal issues arise.