Microsoft 365 Shared Files: How to Improve Cloud Access Governance

Microsoft 365 collaboration tools offer unparalleled convenience. Millions of teams use Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive to share documents with colleagues, customers, and business partners. But as cloud sharing becomes easier, protecting sensitive data and controlling access becomes more difficult.

Cloud file sharing is now essential to the modern workplace. Employees can send files through one-on-one chats, share spreadsheets in Teams channels, or invite collaborators to SharePoint project folders. These features support remote work and long-distance collaboration, but they can also create security and governance challenges.

As cloud platforms have become more widely used, many organizations have lost visibility into who can access their data. Security teams may not know which users can access sensitive files or whether that access is still necessary.

Microsoft 365 file sharing happens quickly. How can you maintain security?

Unmanaged cloud sharing is a surprisingly common problem in enterprise environments. Whenever an organization uses Microsoft 365 to provide access to files and collaboration spaces, security teams can struggle to identify and remove risky or outdated permissions.

In a study by Wire, 61% of security leaders reported that access to shared files often remains active longer than intended. More than a third said it is difficult to determine who has access to sensitive shared files.

One reason cloud sharing is difficult to evaluate is that it is highly dependent on context. Employees typically share files for a specific purpose, such as coordinating with colleagues or getting client approval for a design mockup.

The problem is that shared access can remain active after the original purpose ends. A freelancer may be removed from a project without being removed from the associated SharePoint folder. Similarly, a member may invite new users to a Teams channel without realizing that those users can access all files hosted in the channel.

Because cloud sharing is so situational, the most reliable way to confirm whether access is still needed is to ask the person who originally granted it. Access reviews are an important safeguard, and involving file or channel owners in the review process can make audits faster and more accurate.

The challenge is implementing this process with the tools available in Microsoft 365.

Why Microsoft 365’s built-in governance tools may not be enough

The lack of control over shared data creates an often-underestimated security risk in enterprise environments. At the same time, teams cannot be faulted for using the collaboration features that are central to Microsoft 365. The problem is not necessarily user behavior; it is the limited governance and visibility available for managing shared content.

Microsoft 365 offers two reporting options that provide visibility into shared data, but both have significant limitations.

SharePoint Advanced Management can generate a global report on shared links. However, the report only shows the sites with the most new links created during the past 28 days. This information alone does not provide enough context to identify a security issue. A high number of new links could indicate misuse, or it could simply reflect a project involving external parties, such as onboarding a new supplier.

You can also create a site-level sharing report that generates a CSV file listing shared files and the users who can access them. However, running reports across all SharePoint and OneDrive sites in an organization can be time-consuming. Security teams must then manually review the data to identify problematic or outdated permissions.

Ideally, these reporting tools would do more of the analysis automatically. Organizations need a centralized access governance dashboard that provides a complete overview of shared content, highlights potential issues, and lets security teams investigate individual files, users, and sites without additional manual work.

This is where a purpose-built identity and access governance solution such as tenfold can help close the visibility gap left by native Microsoft 365 reporting tools.

tenfold provides centralized governance for shared Microsoft 365 files

Through its integration with the Microsoft cloud and on-premises ecosystem, tenfold provides reporting tools that give organizations visibility into shared files across Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint. Its governance of shared content capabilities include:

• Centralized visibility into shared content: Categorize shared files and review both high-level insights and object-level details in one place. Filter information by app, user, site, and other criteria to identify potential issues quickly. Files shared outside a team or channel are marked with icons to help distinguish them.
• Streamlined access reviews: Give data owners a straightforward way to confirm who can access shared files. Each reviewer receives a personalized dashboard showing shared items and the users with access. Reviewers can confirm or revoke permissions, making it easier to involve non-IT users in the access review process.

By combining visibility into cloud sharing with an effective access review process, tenfold helps organizations prevent permissions from remaining active beyond their intended purpose. This allows teams to use Microsoft 365 collaboration tools while reducing the risk to shared data.

Take back control of your shared files with a no-code identity and access governance solution. Book a personal demo and learn more from the tenfold team.

Sponsored and written by tenfold software.