Message Center

MC1477182Microsoft Purview: Data Loss Prevention for Microsoft Cowork

Summary

Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is expanding to cover Microsoft Cowork, applying existing and new DLP policies from Microsoft Copilot automatically. This includes sensitivity label grounding, prompt blocking, and web search DLP for sensitive data. Rollout begins late September 2026 with no required user action.

More information

What and why

To help organizations adopt Microsoft Cowork securely, Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is expanding support to Microsoft Cowork. This enhancement enables organizations to apply DLP protections consistently across both Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Cowork, helping prevent the exposure of sensitive information and supporting enterprise-ready AI experiences.

The following DLP capabilities will be supported for Microsoft Cowork:

Grounding DLP based on sensitivity labels: Prevents Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Cowork from processing knowledge sources, such as documents and emails, that are protected by specified sensitivity labels. For example, administrators can prevent processing of content labeled Highly Confidential.
Prompt DLP based on Sensitive Information Types (SITs): Blocks prompts containing specified sensitive information types. For example, prompts containing credit card numbers can be blocked. At release, support includes built-in Sensitive Information Types and custom Sensitive Information Types.
Web search DLP based on Sensitive Information Types (SITs): Allows prompts to be processed while preventing prompts containing specified sensitive information from being sent to Bing Search for web results.

Note that Prompt DLP and Web Search DLP applies to the prompt text only, not uploaded files at this time.

Rollout schedule

Public Preview: Beginning in late September 2026 and expected to complete by early October 2026
General Availability (Worldwide): Beginning in mid-October 2026 and expected to complete by late October 2026

Impact on your organization

Who is affected

Administrators who manage Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft Cowork, and Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention policies.

Platforms and services

Microsoft Purview
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Microsoft Cowork
Web-based administrative experiences through the Microsoft Purview portal

What will happen

Existing DLP policies that target the Microsoft Copilot workload will automatically apply to Microsoft Cowork.
New DLP policies created for Microsoft Copilot will automatically include Microsoft Cowork.
Organizations can use sensitivity label-based grounding controls to prevent protected content from being used in Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Cowork responses.
Organizations can use Sensitive Information Types to block prompts or prevent sensitive prompts from being sent for web search results.
No separate configuration is required to extend existing Microsoft Copilot DLP coverage to Microsoft Cowork.

Action required and recommendations

No action is required to receive this update.

We recommend that administrators:

Review existing Microsoft Purview DLP policies that target Microsoft Copilot to understand how they will apply to Microsoft Cowork.
Evaluate whether additional sensitivity labels or Sensitive Information Types should be included in existing policies.
Inform compliance, security, and AI governance stakeholders about this expanded coverage.

Learn more

Microsoft Purview DLP for Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat | Microsoft Learn

Compliance considerations

Question	Answer
Does the change alter how existing customer data is processed, stored, or accessed?	Yes. DLP protections are being extended to Microsoft Cowork. Existing DLP policies targeting Microsoft Copilot will also apply to Microsoft Cowork interactions involving documents, emails, prompts, and web search scenarios.
Does the change introduce or significantly modify AI/ML or agent capabilities that interact with or provide access to customer data?	Yes. Microsoft Cowork is being added as a protected workload under Microsoft Purview DLP policies, affecting how AI interactions are governed and controlled.
Does the change modify, interrupt, or disable any of the following capabilities (Purview): Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies or enforcement?	Yes. DLP policy enforcement is expanded to include Microsoft Cowork. Existing and newly created policies that target Microsoft Copilot will automatically apply to Microsoft Cowork.
Does the change alter how admins can monitor, report on, or demonstrate compliance activities?	Yes. Administrators can manage Microsoft Cowork protections through existing Microsoft Purview DLP policy controls, providing expanded compliance coverage across AI workloads.
Does the change include an admin control and can it be controlled through Entra ID group membership?	Yes. Administrators control the experience through Microsoft Purview DLP policies. The announcement describes policy-based administrative controls, although group targeting details are not specified.