Helping Customers Maximise Investment with Microsoft Purview + E5
Author: Jack Hancox
Release Date: 03/06/2025
In today's ever-evolving digital landscape, organisations are constantly seeking smarter ways to secure their sensitive data while getting the most out of their technology investments. In our webinar, 'Varonis & Microsoft Better Together – Helping Customers Maximise Investment with Purview + E5', we explored exactly that. Hosted by Somerford Associates in partnership with Varonis, the session showcased how integrating Varonis with Microsoft 365 and E5 licenses can dramatically enhance your security posture and data governance capabilities.
The Challenge: Unused Potential in Microsoft E5
Despite the powerful capabilities of Microsoft’s E5 license—especially with tools like Purview, Defender, and Entra ID—many organisations struggle to realise their full value. According to Gartner, less than 10% of customers are fully leveraging their E5 investments.
Why? Because maximising these tools hinges on getting the fundamentals right—starting with accurate classification and labeling of sensitive data.
Where Varonis Fits In
1. Supercharging Purview with Accurate Classification
Microsoft Purview relies heavily on its built-in classification engine, which forms the backbone of its data protection features like DLP, information governance, insider risk management, and eDiscovery. However, many organisations struggle with false positives and misclassified data using native Purview tools.
Varonis steps in here with a battle-tested classification engine, refined over 20 years, offering faster, more accurate results at scale. It integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Purview to:
• Classify sensitive data (e.g., PCI, PII) accurately
• Automatically apply correct Purview labels
• Overcome limitations like manual user mislabeling or incorrect public classifications
This ensures your downstream Purview policies function correctly—making DLP, encryption, and Copilot privacy enforcement far more effective.
2. Deep Permissions Analysis
Varonis goes beyond classification. One of its standout strengths is deep permissions analysis—something Microsoft Purview does not offer natively.
Varonis helps uncover files that are overexposed (e.g., available to the entire organisation when only five users actually need access) and enables automated, risk-reducing access remediation.
This least privilege model dramatically reduces the blast radius of potential breaches by ensuring users only have access to the data they truly need.
3. Threat Detection with User Behavior Analytics
Like a credit card company spotting fraud, Varonis monitors and learns user behavior. With its data-centric User Behavior Analytics (UBA), it can detect anomalies like mass file access, unusual download patterns, or compromised accounts—critical for preventing insider threats or account takeovers.
Alerts from Varonis can also feed into Microsoft Defender and vice versa, providing a unified threat detection and response ecosystem. This makes your EDR and XDR solutions smarter, with contextual insights into which data was accessed or exfiltrated.
The Identity Angle: The New Perimeter
Today, 86% of data breaches stem from stolen credentials (Verizon). In this new identity-driven era of cybersecurity, it’s no longer about breaking in—it’s about logging in.
Varonis helps correlate data access with identity, making it possible to answer crucial post-breach questions like:
• What data was accessed?
• Who accessed it?
• Was it exfiltrated?
Start with a Free 365 Data Risk Assessment
To help organisations get started, Varonis offers a free Microsoft 365 Data Risk Assessment. This includes:
• Mapping your 365 environment
• Identifying sensitive and overexposed data
• Assessing labeling accuracy
• Highlighting security gaps and risky permissions
This no-obligation assessment provides a valuable snapshot of your current posture and reveals quick wins for risk reduction.
Interested? You can find out more by clicking the following link: https://www.somerfordassociates.com/varonis-data-risk-assessment/
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re looking to unlock the full value of your Microsoft E5 investment, strengthen your data governance, or protect against insider threats, Varonis + Microsoft = a powerful partnership. With smart automation, deep insights, and seamless integration, this duo empowers organisations to secure their data with confidence.
