Microsoft Purview: Data Lifecycle Management - Retention capabilities based on files Last Accessed in OneDrive and SharePoint

🚨 The Signal: Purview now supports retention policies based on 'last accessed' date for OneDrive and SharePoint files. This enhances data lifecycle management, allowing automatic deletion or archiving of stale data, reducing data sprawl and associated risks.

The Impact

Security teams and data owners are affected by improved data hygiene, reducing the risk of sensitive data exposure from unmanaged, stale files.

• Security Teams: Reduced attack surface from stale, unmanaged data.
• Data Owners: Automated compliance with data retention policies.
• Compliance Officers: Better adherence to data disposal regulations.
• IT Administrators: Streamlined data lifecycle management tasks.

The Action

1. Review existing data retention policies and identify data that can benefit from 'last accessed' based retention.
2. Navigate to Microsoft Purview compliance portal > Data lifecycle management > Microsoft 365 > Retention policies.
3. Create a new retention policy or modify an existing one, selecting 'OneDrive accounts' and/or 'SharePoint sites' as locations.
4. Configure retention settings to 'Retain items for a specific period' and choose 'When items were last modified or accessed'.
5. Test the policy on a small scope before broad deployment to ensure desired outcomes.

Domain: Purview · Impact: medium · Workload: Microsoft Purview