Microsoft Purview | Data Loss Prevention | Microsoft Entra Global Secure Access
How do you protect sensitive information when users upload it to a website your organisation hasn’t explicitly identified or sanctioned?
It’s a challenge for information security teams. Organisations can build detailed Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies for known cloud applications, but users can interact with a much wider range of websites, file-sharing services and AI tools.
Microsoft Purview Roadmap 575285 aims to address part of that challenge by extending the scoping options for network data security DLP policies integrated with Microsoft Entra Global Secure Access (GSA) Internet Access.
👉 What is changing?
The roadmap describes a capability that will let administrators scope Purview network data security DLP policies to:
- All websites.
- All websites except specific cloud apps.
The stated goal is to extend protection to cloud apps and websites that aren’t listed in the Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps catalog.
The roadmap currently lists the feature as In development, with preview planned for November 2026 and General Availability planned for December 2026. These dates are estimates and may change.
👉 Why does this matter?
1. Less reliance on known application lists
Traditional governance approaches often start by identifying the cloud applications an organisation uses and creating policies around them.
But the web is much larger than an organisation’s approved application list. Employees may use unfamiliar services, new AI tools or websites that have never been assessed by IT.
Broader policy scoping offers another way to address this coverage gap, rather than relying entirely on a list of known destinations.
2. Extending protection to the network layer
Microsoft Entra Global Secure Access provides identity-aware controls for internet traffic. Combined with Microsoft Purview, network data security can inspect supported content and apply DLP decisions as information moves towards web destinations.
Depending on the configured policy and supported scenario, organisations can audit or block content based on sensitive information, sensitivity labels and other supported conditions.
This matters because protection shouldn’t stop at the boundary of Microsoft 365. Sensitive information can leave through browsers, applications, APIs and other routes to external services.
Microsoft Learn: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/global-secure-access/how-to-network-content-filtering
3. A stronger approach to unsanctioned AI and cloud services
Generative AI and file-sharing services introduce additional destinations for sensitive information. Users may have legitimate reasons to work with external services, but that doesn’t mean every upload should be permitted.
Broader DLP policy scope can help organisations apply protection to destinations beyond those explicitly catalogued, while still designing exceptions where business requirements justify them.
The objective isn’t necessarily to block everything. It’s to make decisions about sensitive data movement deliberate, consistent and enforceable.
👉 What should governance teams do now?
I’d use the lead time to prepare in five areas:
1. Review existing DLP policies. Understand which sensitive information types, sensitivity labels, activities and actions are already configured for network data security.
2. Map your current coverage. Identify which cloud apps and web destinations are protected today, where policies depend on known application lists, and where gaps may exist.
3. Define your exception strategy. If you consider an “all websites except specific cloud apps” approach, establish who can approve exceptions, how they are documented and how frequently they are reviewed.
4. Coordinate Purview and Entra teams. Network routing, identity-based policy scope and DLP enforcement need to work together. Review the relevant prerequisites, licensing, traffic forwarding and policy configuration in the Microsoft documentation.
5. Pilot before enforcing broadly. Test representative users, websites, file types and sensitive content. Start with audit and validation where appropriate, then introduce blocking deliberately. Check business workflows, false positives, alerts and user impact.
👉 A governance point worth remembering
Broader scope does not automatically mean complete protection. The capability still depends on supported traffic, inspection scenarios, correct configuration and policies that reflect the organisation’s requirements.
It’s also important to distinguish network data security DLP from basic web filtering. They are related controls, but they don’t perform the same job: inspecting sensitive content and applying a Purview DLP decision is different from allowing or blocking a destination based on a web-filtering rule.
The bigger picture
Data protection needs to follow the information, not just the application.
As cloud services and AI tools continue to multiply, organisations need a practical way to protect sensitive data even when the destination isn’t on a familiar list.
Roadmap 575285 is worth watching because it could give governance teams more flexibility in how they scope network DLP protection.
💡 The Jim Talks takeaway
Don’t build your DLP strategy around the assumption that you already know every destination your users will send data to. Build it around the sensitivity of the information, the risks of the activity and the controls you can reliably enforce.
Roadmap dates and functionality are subject to change. Check the current Microsoft roadmap and Learn documentation before making deployment decisions.
#MicrosoftPurview #MicrosoftEntra #DataLossPrevention #GlobalSecureAccess #NetworkDataSecurity #AI Governance #DataGovernance
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