Data breaches rarely happen the same way twice. Some are driven by malicious insiders, others by external hackers, careless employees, or even well-intentioned staff experimenting with new AI tools. What they all have in common: the cost to the business can be devastating.
Below are four real-world style scenarios that show how breaches often occur — and how Microsoft Purview, Defender, Entra, and Teams governance can stop them before damage is done.
1. Insider Theft
When an engineer at a global energy company resigned, he quietly downloaded thousands of proprietary design documents to a USB stick and personal Dropbox account. Months later, a competitor released a product suspiciously similar to their designs. The result? A $10M loss in R&D investment, damaged trust with partners, and regulatory investigations.
How Microsoft can help:
- Sensitivity Labels encrypt files so they can’t be opened outside the company.
- Purview DLP blocks USB exports and uploads to unsanctioned domains.
- Insider Risk Management correlates HR departure data with unusual downloads and create alerts about risky behaviours
2. External Hacker
At a global retailer, a finance manager clicked a phishing link. Attackers stole credentials, logged into SharePoint, and downloaded supplier contracts. Suppliers quickly lost confidence, and regulators flagged GDPR compliance risks.
How Microsoft can help:
- Defender for Office 365 blocks phishing with Safe Links and Safe Attachments.
- Entra ID Conditional Access and phishing-resistant MFA stop risky logins.
- Defender XDR + Sentinel detect abnormal sign-ins and disable compromised accounts automatically.
- Purview Information Protection with container labels restrict access to sensitive Teams/SharePoint sites to managed devices and limit the impact
- Purview Audit provides the forensic evidence needed to prove compliance.
3. GenAI Data Leakage
At a large financial services firm, an analyst pasted sensitive client records into ChatGPT to “summarize faster.” That data was now outside corporate boundaries — beyond the company’s control. Regulators demanded answers, and clients feared for their privacy.
How Microsoft can help:
- Defender for Cloud Apps blocks unsanctioned AI apps.
- Purview Information Protection with sensitivity labels classify sensitive files
- Purview DLP displays real-time warnings like “You are trying to share sensitive data externally.” or stop them from doing it
- Copilot for Microsoft 365 offers a secure alternative, ensuring AI only works with governed data.
- Purview Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) for AI continuously monitors and reports on AI-related data risks.
4. Negligent Employee
A sales manager created a new Microsoft Teams workspace and set it to Public to make it “easier to join.” Soon, the team stored customer contracts, pricing agreements, and product launch plans in that space.
What they didn’t realize: every employee in the 15,000-person company could access, download, and forward those files.
How Microsoft can help:
- SharePoint Advanced Management (SAM) requires approval for Public Teams.
- Purview Information Protection with container labels ensure sensitive workspaces cannot be set to Public
- Purview Information Protection with sensitivity labels with encryption may only make the files accessible for sales team members.
- DSPM and Sentinel detect oversharing and trigger remediation alerts.
Key Takeaway
Every breach is different, but most are preventable with the right mix of technology, governance, and awareness. Microsoft’s integrated security solutions — combined with training and clear communication — help organizations protect their most sensitive information from insiders, hackers, careless employees, and emerging AI risks.
Your employees want to collaborate and innovate. With Microsoft, they can do it securely, but success requires a good governance model, technology implementation, change management, and operating model.
Get Information Data Security as a Service to avoid data breaches.
How Infotechtion-ARM (i-ARM) Adds Value
While Microsoft Purview and Defender provide the foundation for strong security and compliance, many organizations struggle with cross-system visibility and advanced analytics. That’s where Infotechtion-ARM adds value: it extends Purview controls to non-Microsoft IT systems, provides unified governance dashboards, and delivers deeper analytics on data usage, oversharing, and compliance posture. With i-ARM, organizations not only secure data in Microsoft 365, but also gain a single, actionable view of risks and compliance across the entire IT landscape.
