If broad sharing links or loose site permissions let too many people open a piece of Microsoft 365 content, that is oversharing. Copilot respects what each person can already open, which means it can surface the problem. To remedy it, look to SharePoint Advanced Management and Microsoft Purview.
Read more: Microsoft Learn
In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains Oversharing in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- LSDOU
The sequence in which Group Policy is processed: the local policy first, followed by site, domain and organisational unit policies. The nearest, last-processed setting takes effect unless Enforced or Block Inheritance alters that.
- AGDLP
Nesting pattern: users go into global groups, which go into domain local groups, which receive the permissions. AGUDLP adds universal groups for forests with several domains.
- Microsoft 365
Formerly Office 365, Microsoft's software-as-a-service productivity suite. A Microsoft Entra tenant provides its identity, and its data is not governed by Azure RBAC.
- SharePoint Advanced Management
An add-on for SharePoint governance, bundled with Microsoft 365 Copilot, that helps detect and cut oversharing via site access reviews, restricted content discovery, restricted access control and data access governance reports.
- Microsoft Purview
Family of Microsoft products for data governance, security and compliance. Its Data Map stores only metadata, such as lineage, schema and classification, never the data itself.
Related terms
- Copilot security dashboard
Collects Purview signals about Copilot in one Microsoft 365 admin center page (Copilot > Overview > Security), offering shortcuts to set up DLP, deal with oversharing and tighten compliance. Global Readers may view it; an AI Administrator is needed to change anything.
- Data access governance reports
Oversharing reports found in the SharePoint admin center with SharePoint Advanced Management. Snapshot reports list site permissions and content shared with Everyone or EEEU, while activity reports track sharing links and EEEU sharing across the previous 28 days.
- Data security objectives
Step-by-step goals in DSPM, for example stopping oversharing or Copilot data exposure. Each comes with its own remediation plan, Security Copilot agents and policies you can create in one click.
- Data Security Posture Management
Brings together DLP, Insider Risk Management and sensitivity-label insights in Microsoft Purview to surface risks to sensitive data, and adds data risk assessments plus remediation for oversharing.
- Site access review
Admins choose sites from a data access governance report and email the owners, asking them to check for oversharing (for example through sharing links or EEEU access) and put it right. Owners then mark the review complete and can leave comments. Part of SharePoint Advanced Management.