SharePoint: Syntex Optical Character Recognition (OCR) extends support for Microsoft Office files

🚨 The Signal: SharePoint Syntex OCR now extracts text from embedded images within Microsoft Office files (Word, PowerPoint, Excel). This expands data extraction capabilities, increasing the potential for sensitive information exposure if not properly governed.

The Impact

Data owners and security teams are affected by increased risk of sensitive data exposure through expanded OCR capabilities.

• Data Owners: Increased risk of sensitive information being extracted and stored without explicit classification.
• Security Teams: Broader attack surface for data exfiltration if extracted text is not properly secured.
• Compliance Officers: New considerations for data residency and privacy when text is extracted from embedded images.
• Information Architects: Need to re-evaluate existing data classification and retention policies for Office files.

The Action

1. Review and update Microsoft Purview Information Protection policies to include OCR-extracted content from Office files.
2. Configure Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies to detect sensitive information in OCR-extracted text.
3. Educate content creators on the implications of embedded images containing sensitive data within Office documents.
4. Audit existing SharePoint Syntex content processing rules to ensure they align with new OCR capabilities.
5. Implement or refine content classification labels for Office documents to ensure proper handling of extracted text.

Domain: SharePoint · Impact: high · Workload: SharePoint