Microsoft 365 Usage Analytics is Anonymized by Default
It’s only September 1st and Microsoft is already announcing updates to the Microsoft 365 product suite. Beginning today, Microsoft is making an important privacy change for Microsoft 365 usage analytics, anonymizing user-level information by default.
This change was driven by Microsoft wanting to help companies more easily comply with local privacy laws. A users’ data is put through a pseudonymization de-identification procedure where identifiable record fields are replaced with artificial data to remove identifying details. Pseudonymization is a data management process recommended by the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to enhance users’ privacy.
Microsoft stated that the change affects data from various sources; Microsoft 365 Reports in the Microsoft 365 admin center, Microsoft 365 usage reports in Microsoft Graph , Microsoft Teams analytics and reporting in the Microsoft Teams admin center, and The reportRoot: getSharePointSiteUsageDetail API (1.0 and beta) for SharePoint site detail.
As privacy within an organization continues to be a huge focus area, you can expect to see Microsoft and other large software companies keep adapting to help their clients meet their compliance obligations.
2W Tech is a technology service provider specializing in solutions for the manufacturing industry. We are a Microsoft Gold Partner and have IT Consultants on staff that can help your organization apply and understand these newest security settings. Give us a call today to learn more about how Microsoft 365 can best be deployed in your organization.
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