Using Microsoft 365 Compliance Center for Enterprise Security

The Microsoft 365 Compliance Center is a single place where businesses can handle their compliance, data protection, insider risks, and governance needs. It offers a unified platform to classify data, monitor risk, enforce policies, and support regulatory compliance. For technical teams, the Compliance Centre gives them a lot of control and visibility to keep business environments safe.

‍

This article will show you the most important features of the Compliance Centre. It will also show you how to set them up to support enterprise-grade data protection and policy enforcement, and how to use Microsoft tools and APIs to automate common tasks.

‍

Understand the Core Areas of Microsoft 365 Compliance

‍

The Compliance Center is organized into several functional areas:

• Information Protection: Define sensitivity labels to classify and protect content.
• Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Create policies to prevent data leaks through email, SharePoint, Teams, and endpoints.
• Insider Risk Management: Monitor and act on risky user behavior.
• Information Governance: Apply retention policies and data lifecycle management.
• Audit and eDiscovery: Perform audits, investigations, and legal holds.

Each area plays a role in reducing security gaps and ensuring data handling aligns with internal and external policies.

‍

Set Up Sensitivity Labels and Policies

‍

Sensitivity labels allow you to classify data and enforce protection like encryption, watermarks, and access restrictions. These labels can be applied manually by users or automatically based on conditions.

‍

Example: Define a Sensitivity Label with Encryption (PowerShell)

‍

Connect-IPPSSession

New-Label -Name "Confidential-Finance" -DisplayName "Confidential - Finance" `
  -EncryptionEnabled $true -EncryptionRightsDefinitions "FinanceGroup:VIEW,EDIT" `
  -ContentMarkingEnabled $true -Watermark "Confidential"

‍

This creates a sensitivity label that encrypts the content and restricts it to the Finance group. Use the Microsoft Purview compliance portal or PowerShell to deploy labels.

‍

Tips:

• Always test labels with small user groups before a global rollout.
• Use auto-labeling policies to ensure sensitive content is classified even if users forget.

Configure Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Policies

‍

DLP policies help prevent the accidental or intentional sharing of sensitive data like credit card numbers or health records. These policies work across Microsoft 365 workloads like Exchange Online, OneDrive, Teams, and endpoints.

‍

DLP Policy Example (PowerShell)

‍

New-DlpCompliancePolicy -Name "PCI-DLP-Policy" -ExchangeLocation All `
  -OneDriveLocation All -SharePointLocation All

New-DlpComplianceRule -Policy "PCI-DLP-Policy" -Name "Block Credit Card Sharing" `
  -ContentContainsSensitiveInformation @("Credit Card Number") `
  -BlockAccess $true -UserNotificationEnabled $true

‍

This blocks the sharing of content that contains credit card numbers across all Microsoft 365 services and notifies the user.

‍

To configure through the portal, go to Compliance Center > Data Loss Prevention > Policies.

‍

Monitor and Manage Insider Risks

‍

Insider Risk Management uses signals such as file downloads, email behavior, and browser usage to detect risky behavior by users. You can define policies for use cases like data theft, security policy violations, or user departures.

‍

Setup Steps:

1. Go to Compliance Center > Insider Risk Management
2. Define policy triggers (e.g., resigned employees, privileged roles)
3. Configure conditions and thresholds
4. Assign reviewers for case investigation

‍

Alert policies in Office 365 Security help identify risky or unusual user activities and notify admins so they can quickly investigate and protect the organization. Insider risk alerts generate alerts with a risk score, activity timeline, and evidence. Technical teams can export these for investigation in SIEM or Defender.

‍

Apply Retention and Data Lifecycle Policies

‍

Information Governance features in the Compliance Center let you manage the data lifecycle—how long data is kept and when it's deleted. This reduces exposure and helps with compliance.

‍

Example: Auto-delete Data After 7 Years (PowerShell)

‍

New-RetentionCompliancePolicy -Name "7-Year-Email-Retention" -ExchangeLocation All

New-RetentionComplianceRule -Policy "7-Year-Email-Retention" -Name "Auto-Delete Emails" `
  -RetentionDuration 2555 -RetentionAction Delete

‍

This policy deletes email content after seven years. These settings can also be applied to Teams chats, OneDrive, and SharePoint. The best practice is to review regulatory requirements, consult legal teams, and apply minimal necessary retention.

‍

Run and Schedule Compliance Audits

‍

Audit logs record every user and admin action, including email reads, file access, label changes, and DLP policy matches. Audit data is searchable via the Audit feature in the Compliance Center or through APIs.

‍

Example: Search Audit Log (PowerShell)

‍

Search-UnifiedAuditLog -StartDate "2025-05-01" -EndDate "2025-05-27" -Operations "SendOnBehalf" `
  -ResultSize 50

‍

Audit logs are retained by default for 90 days (E3) and up to 1 year or more (E5 with extended retention). Use Advanced Audit for longer retention and granular access.

‍

Integrate with Microsoft Sentinel to centralize logs and build alerting rules.

‍

Use eDiscovery and Legal Hold for Investigations

‍

Advanced eDiscovery lets you search and export data related to legal cases or internal investigations. You can place content on legal hold to prevent deletion, even if retention policies exist.

‍

Key Features:

• Case-based management
• Search and export relevant content
• Track audit logs and hold the status

For technical teams, always configure role-based access control (RBAC) to limit access to case data. Monitor the size and volume of cases to avoid performance issues.

‍

Insight by
Dvir Shimon Sasson
Director of Security Research at Reco

Dvir is a Professional Mountains Mover, Dynamic and experienced cybersecurity specialist capable in technical cyber activities and strategic governance.

Expert Insights: Strategies for Advanced Microsoft 365 Compliance

Strong compliance in Microsoft 365 isn’t just about meeting standards—it’s about building resilience through intentional design and continuous oversight.

• Custom Audit Events: Use Microsoft Purview's custom audit log functionality to track specific admin or high-impact actions.
• Role-based Access Policies: Strictly assign least-privilege roles for eDiscovery, insider risk, and DLP policy creation.
• DLP Match Testing: Use DLP test mode to validate policy matches without enforcing blocks or restrictions.
• Label Analytics Reports: Use built-in analytics to see how sensitivity labels are applied across Microsoft 365 content.
• Adaptive Retention Policies: Apply retention based on user attributes like department or risk level using adaptive scopes in Microsoft Purview.

‍

Conclusion

‍

The Microsoft 365 Compliance Center gives technical teams the tools to control data, prevent leaks, detect insider threats, and meet regulatory requirements. It centralizes governance across all Microsoft 365 workloads and provides APIs and integrations for automation and reporting.

‍

Don't think of compliance as a one-time setup to get the most out of it. As your business grows, keep an eye on signals, check logs, change thresholds, and update policies. Take the time to set up proper access control, automation, and visibility so that the Compliance Centre is a useful part of your company's security program.