Session Abstract

AI has changed the value of enterprise data overnight. Documents that disappeared into SharePoint years ago suddenly matter again. Teams conversations become organizational knowledge. Emails, presentations, policies and project files can all become context for Copilots and AI agents. That's incredibly powerful. It's also a data security wake-up call. Because before asking what AI can do with our data, perhaps we should be asking a different question: Are we comfortable with the data that AI can find? In this session, I'll approach AI security from the perspective I regularly encounter during customer innovation conversations: organizations want to move quickly with Copilot and AI agents, while security teams need to understand what happens to their data. We'll explore what changes when AI becomes another consumer of enterprise information and why familiar problems such as oversharing, sensitive information, excessive access and poorly governed content become much more visible in an AI-powered organization. From there, we'll look at the role of Microsoft Purview and how capabilities around data discovery, classification, sensitivity, Data Loss Prevention and Data Security Posture Management can help organizations understand and reduce data risk while still enabling AI innovation. But this won't be a 45-minute tour through the Purview portal. We'll follow a practical scenario from AI ambition to data risk to protection, looking at the questions architects, Microsoft 365 professionals and security teams should be asking before and during their AI journey. We'll also explore how the conversation changes as organizations move from Copilots toward AI agents that can increasingly interact with enterprise information and business processes. The goal isn't to lock down your data until AI becomes useless. The goal is to understand your data well enough that you can confidently let AI use it. Welcome to the new intersection between AI innovation and data security.

Albert Hoitingh

My name is Albert Hoitingh and I'm from The Hague in The Netherlands. I love working in IT and have been doing so for quite some time. From on-premises environments, including Lotus Notes and SharePoint Server, via BPOS to Microsoft 365 - I've worked with them all. Right now, I'm a Technical Architect for the Microsoft Innovation Hub. I've been a Microsoft MVP for Microsoft 365 and Security for more than eight years and (international) speaker on Microsoft 365, compliance, security and risk. I love to have discussions on compliance, security and risk in the cloud security officers, business users, architects and management. Besides my work and (former) MVP endeavors, I love to ride my bike and be with my family. I also love to read, delve into history, and much more. I also blog at https://alberthoitingh.com.