SharePoint Security Best Practices

SharePoint is a cornerstone of collaboration in Microsoft 365, powering intranets, document storage, and team sites across organizations. But with its expansive capabilities comes increased security responsibility. Mismanaged permissions, unrestricted sharing, and weak governance can expose your sensitive data to risk.

This blog outlines the most effective SharePoint security best practices to help you protect information, enforce compliance, and maintain secure collaboration in 2025.

What is SharePoint?

SharePoint is Microsoft’s collaborative platform that centralizes documents, internal communication, workflows, and team knowledge. Organizations use SharePoint to store files, manage permissions, automate business processes, and control how information moves across teams. Because SharePoint holds structured and unstructured data in one place, understanding SharePoint is essential for designing security programs that protect sensitive files consistently. Strac helps organizations strengthen SharePoint security by discovering sensitive files, classifying exposure risk, and automating remediation actions across shared folders and document libraries.

At its core, SharePoint acts as a secure digital workspace that integrates with Microsoft 365 applications like OneDrive, Teams, Outlook, and Azure AD. Teams rely on it for document collaboration, versioning, and centralized storage that scales with organizational growth. This makes it a powerful productivity engine that reduces siloed information and improves operational transparency.

SharePoint also supports business process automation through lists, workflows, and custom portals. Companies use it to manage HR records, contracts, project documentation, financial documents, and internal knowledge bases. Because it touches so many high value workflows, SharePoint often becomes one of the most data dense environments an organization manages. This means SharePoint must be protected with the same attention given to email, cloud storage, or customer support tools.

SharePoint’s flexibility is one of its biggest advantages and its biggest security risk. Files move quickly between private folders, shared drives, Teams channels, and external collaborators. Without visibility into what data is sensitive and how it is shared, organizations face increased risk of accidental exposure. This is why enterprises adopt tools like Strac DSPM and DLP to surface sensitive data, automatically remediate misconfigurations, and maintain security posture at scale.

Why should you make SharePoint Security a Priority?

SharePoint security is critical because the platform stores the documents that power your daily business operations. These include contracts, financial statements, HR files, customer records, internal reports, and confidential project materials. Making SharePoint security a priority reduces the risk of data leakage, unauthorized access, and compliance violations. Strac plays a central role in securing SharePoint environments by continuously discovering sensitive data, labeling it with ML based classification, and triggering remediation actions that prevent exposure across internal and external shares.

Organizations depend on SharePoint for collaboration, but collaboration at scale introduces risk. Files often move outside controlled environments, shared links remain open longer than intended, and old documents live deep inside sites and libraries without proper classification. Permission models also grow complex over time. When this happens, businesses lose visibility into who has access to what, creating blind spots that attackers or internal users could exploit.

Compliance demands elevate the urgency even further. Regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2, and ISO 27001 require that companies manage access to sensitive information and log all data handling activity. SharePoint becomes a compliance focal point because it stores large volumes of regulated data. Without automated controls, organizations struggle to maintain audit readiness.

SharePoint is also a target for cyberattacks. Threat actors attempt to exploit misconfigurations, compromised credentials, or overly permissive sharing settings. Internal risks are equally common, with accidental data exposure being one of the leading causes of SharePoint related incidents. Prioritizing SharePoint security ensures organizations can enforce least privilege, monitor sensitive data movement, and react quickly to any anomalous behavior.

By implementing automated protection strategies, companies not only reduce risk but also improve operational efficiency. Strac strengthens SharePoint security by offering agentless scanning, real time discovery of exposed data, classification of sensitive content, and automated remediation workflows that keep documents protected without slowing down users. This unified approach ensures SharePoint remains a productive yet secure environment for the entire organization.

✨ Common Security Risks in SharePoint

‎Before we dive into best practices, it's important to understand the most common vulnerabilities:

• Over-permissioned users gaining access to sensitive files
• Unrestricted external sharing with vendors or public links
• Lack of visibility into user activity and audit logs
• Stale or orphaned sites with outdated access
• Misconfiguration in SharePoint admin center

These threats can lead to data exposure, compliance violations, and reputational harm.

SharePoint Online Security Basics

Microsoft provides built-in tools to help secure SharePoint, but they must be configured properly:

• Use Microsoft 365 Security & Compliance Center for global security policies
• Set up role-based access in SharePoint to align with the principle of least privilege
• Enforce two-factor authentication for SharePoint using conditional access policies
• Enable audit logs in SharePoint to track document access, edits, and permission changes
• Leverage SharePoint compliance features like retention labels, sensitivity labels, and DLP policies

Enhance your Microsoft 365 setup with Strac’s Data Loss Prevention platform.

Tips for SharePoint Security

Access Control Strategy

Adopt a strict role-based access control (RBAC) model. Break permissions down to the site, library, and even item level when necessary. Avoid granting broad access via groups like "Everyone except external users."

Learn how Strac’s sensitive data detection helps apply RBAC where it matters most.

Enable Information Rights Management (IRM)

IRM adds another layer of control to sensitive documents by preventing actions like printing or copying. This is essential for secure document sharing in SharePoint.

Regularly Audit SharePoint Activity

Use Microsoft Purview and Unified Audit Logs to monitor:

• Who accessed what
• When and where
• What changes were made

Strac’s compliance-ready audit logs make reporting easy for your next security review.

✨ Use Smart Data Loss Prevention Policies

Enable DLP policies in Microsoft Purview to block or warn users when attempting to share sensitive content like PII, PCI, or HIPAA-protected data.

Strac DLP enhances these policies with real-time redaction, masking, and more.

Best Practices for SharePoint Data Security in 2025

Take a Holistic Approach to Site-Level Security

Each SharePoint site collection should be treated as a standalone security boundary. Customize permissions and controls based on content sensitivity and business use cases.

Limit Content and Document Sharing in SharePoint Online

Restrict sharing to only those who need it. Disable anonymous sharing and require authentication for all external users.

Monitor User Activity for Unusual Behaviors

Watch for red flags like bulk downloads, access from unusual geolocations, or excessive file sharing. These may signal insider threats or compromised accounts.

Strac’s behavior-aware DLP helps detect and remediate these activities automatically.

Encrypt SharePoint Data at Rest and in Transit

Microsoft encrypts data natively using BitLocker and TLS, but organizations can enforce additional encryption standards for regulatory needs.

Strac’s remediation engine supports automated encryption and labeling workflows.

Classify SharePoint Data for Improved Security Monitoring

Apply Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) labels to tag and track sensitive documents across their lifecycle.

Strac’s auto-classification models enhance Microsoft-native sensitivity labeling.

Pro-Level Tricks for Securing SharePoint

Automate Security Risk Reviews Where Possible

Schedule periodic permission reviews and automate alerts for when new users are added to sensitive sites. Tools like Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps or Strac can assist here.

Use a Zero-Trust Strategy

Assume breach and ‎verify each request. Combine conditional access, MFA, continuous monitoring, and encryption to reduce the attack surface.

Strac’s integrations work with your Zero Trust architecture to add DLP and DSPM coverage.

Use Third-Party Solutions

Supplement Microsoft-native tools with external platforms like Strac, which offers enhanced visibility, remediation, and reporting for sensitive SharePoint content.

✨ How Strac Supports SharePoint Data Security

‎Strac enhances Microsoft 365, SharePoint Google Drive security through:

• Sensitive Data Discovery: Automatically scans SharePoint Online for PII, PCI, PHI, and more
• Built-in & Custom Detectors: Identify regulated data using Strac’s full catalog
• Real-Time Remediation: Redact, block, mask, label, or delete risky content (see how)
• Compliance Reporting: Stay audit-ready for HIPAA, SOC 2, PCI, CCPA, ISO 27001, and NIST
• 10-Minute Setup: Easily integrate with SharePoint and other SaaS platforms without disrupting workflows

Want to protect your SharePoint data from leaks, breaches, or compliance failures? Get started with Strac.

Bottom Line

SharePoint is one of the most valuable collaboration platforms in the modern enterprise, which means it is also one of the highest-risk environments for data exposure. Securing it requires more than access controls or one time configuration; it demands continuous visibility, precise classification, and automated remediation. Native Microsoft features create a strong foundation, but they do not reveal where sensitive data lives or how it moves across sites, libraries, and external shares. Strac strengthens SharePoint security by discovering sensitive data, classifying exposure risks, and enforcing real time DLP policies that keep files protected without slowing teams down. When organizations combine SharePoint’s native protections with Strac’s DSPM and DLP capabilities, they achieve a secure, compliant, and resilient collaboration environment built for long term growth.

🌶️ Spicy FAQs on SharePoint Security & DLP Best Practices

1. “SharePoint is part of Microsoft—doesn’t that mean it’s already secure?”

Yes, SharePoint has solid infrastructure-level security—but it can’t stop your users from uploading a spreadsheet full of customer PII into a public folder. You need DLP (like Strac) to prevent data slip-ups, not just hackers.

2. “We locked down external sharing—what else is there to do?”

A lot. Internal risk is just as dangerous. If someone shares a confidential HR doc with the entire org, that’s a breach waiting to happen. Strac’s SharePoint DLP gives you visibility inside your environment, not just at the edges.

3. “How do we stop people from uploading sensitive data to the wrong place?”

You don’t—unless you use real-time DLP scanning. Strac can block, redact, or auto-encrypt sensitive files the second they hit SharePoint. No more "Oops, didn’t mean to upload our tax ID list to the intern folder."

4. “Can’t we just rely on user training and permissions?”

Good luck. Permissions get messy fast, and even the best training can't stop someone from dragging and dropping a PHI-loaded PDF into a shared folder. Strac helps clean up permission chaos and enforces policy at the content level.

5. How to make sure SharePoint is secure?

Making sure SharePoint is secure starts with understanding where your sensitive data lives, who can access it, and how it moves across sites, teams, and external collaborators. SharePoint security is not just a one time configuration project; it is an ongoing process that combines identity controls, permission hygiene, data classification, and continuous monitoring. A strong SharePoint security program uses native Microsoft controls alongside specialized tools like Strac to reduce blind spots and automate remediation at scale.

A practical approach usually includes:

• Enforcing strong identity and access controls with Azure AD, MFA, and conditional access
• Standardizing permissions with least privilege and group based access instead of ad hoc sharing
• Locking down external sharing by restricting anonymous links and limiting external domains
• Classifying and labeling sensitive files so that high risk data is easy to find and control
• Enabling logging and alerting for access, sharing, and administrative actions
• Using DSPM and DLP tools like Strac to continuously discover sensitive data, detect overexposure, and auto remediate risky sharing

By combining SharePoint’s built in controls with continuous discovery and DLP from Strac, organizations can turn SharePoint into a secure collaboration hub that supports productivity without increasing data exposure risk.

6. What are the best practices of SharePoint?

The best practices of SharePoint revolve around making the platform easy to use, easy to govern, and hard to misuse. SharePoint security best practices are most effective when they are built into how you design sites, structure permissions, and train users. Instead of reacting to incidents, mature teams set standards early and use automation to enforce them consistently.

Key SharePoint best practices include:

• Designing a clear site and library structure that separates confidential, internal, and public content
• Applying the principle of least privilege and using security groups instead of assigning permissions to individuals
• Standardizing policies for external sharing, guest access, and link expiration across the tenant
• Enabling versioning, retention, and backup to protect against accidental deletion and ransomware scenarios
• Keeping SharePoint Online policies aligned with organizational security baselines and updating them as the business evolves
• Educating users on secure collaboration habits; such as when not to share via anonymous links or email attachments
• Integrating DSPM and DLP solutions like Strac to automatically classify sensitive files and enforce policies across SharePoint and other SaaS tools

When these best practices are combined with automated monitoring and remediation, SharePoint remains a high trust platform where teams can collaborate safely and efficiently.

7. What are the critical vulnerabilities in SharePoint?

The most critical vulnerabilities in SharePoint rarely start as technical exploits; they usually begin as configuration gaps, oversharing, or weak governance. Because SharePoint hosts so much business critical content, even a single misconfigured library or link can expose sensitive data to more people than intended. Understanding these weaknesses helps security teams design controls that prevent incidents before they happen.

Common critical vulnerabilities in SharePoint include:

• Overly permissive access; such as “Everyone” or “Everyone except external users” having access to sensitive libraries
• Unrestricted external sharing and anonymous links that never expire and can be forwarded outside the organization
• Unpatched or misconfigured on premises SharePoint servers in hybrid environments that attackers can exploit
• Shadow sites, legacy subsites, or old libraries that still contain high risk data but are no longer actively managed
• Lack of classification; where sensitive data like PII, PHI, PCI, or trade secrets is stored in plain documents without any labels or controls
• Limited visibility; where security teams cannot see which SharePoint locations hold sensitive data or how it is shared

Strac directly addresses these vulnerabilities by discovering sensitive data across SharePoint, showing who has access, and automatically remediating risky shares or exposures. This reduces the attack surface and closes gaps that would otherwise be easy targets for both internal misuse and external attackers.

8. What security does SharePoint have?

SharePoint provides a strong set of native security capabilities that form the foundation of a secure deployment. SharePoint Online relies on Azure Active Directory for authentication, which enables single sign on, multi factor authentication, and conditional access. Communication with SharePoint Online is encrypted in transit with TLS, while data at rest is encrypted using Microsoft’s underlying storage encryption. On top of this, SharePoint integrates with Microsoft 365 compliance solutions like sensitivity labels, retention policies, and native DLP rules.

From a governance and control perspective, administrators can define:

• Tenant level policies for external sharing, guest access, and link types
• Site and library permissions based on groups and roles
• Versioning, recycle bin settings, and retention for business continuity
• Audit logs and activity reports for investigations and compliance
• Integration with Microsoft Defender and other security tools for additional threat protection

While these features are powerful, they do not fully solve the problem of understanding where sensitive data lives and how it is exposed. This is where Strac complements SharePoint security by adding DSPM and advanced DLP on top of the native stack. Strac automatically discovers sensitive data inside SharePoint, classifies it with ML and OCR, and applies real time policies; such as alerting, redaction, or access remediation. Together, SharePoint’s built in controls and Strac’s deep data visibility give organizations a complete and proactive approach to SharePoint security.