Copilot Security: What Do AI Assistants Know About Your Corporate Data
When AI Assistants Know Too Much
Microsoft Copilot has reshaped office work, raising a key question: Are corporate data truly secure? Research indicates 67 percent of security teams fear sensitive information exposure caused by AI tools.
The Real Scale of the Problem
In 2026, it is no longer sci-fi for an AI assistant to accidentally reveal business secrets. The US Congress, for instance, banned staff use of Microsoft Copilot due to data security concerns.
Latest data:
- More than 15 percent of business-critical files are at risk due to oversharing and misconfigured permissions
- 57 percent of organizations report increased security incidents since adopting AI
- Only 37 percent have a pre-deployment security assessment for AI tools
How Microsoft Copilot Works — the keys to the kingdom
The Reality of Data Access
Copilot is not just a chatbot. It is an orchestration engine coordinating:
- large language models
- Microsoft Graph content like email, chat, and documents
- everyday Microsoft 365 apps such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel
Bottom line: Copilot can access the same data you can. If you can open salary spreadsheets, Copilot can too.
Real Cases — when AI is too honest
EchoLeak vulnerability (CVE-2025-32711)
A critical issue was disclosed in January 2025, enabling data exfiltration from Microsoft 365 Copilot without user interaction.
How it worked:
- Malicious email to the target
- Hidden prompt injection inside a regular business document
- On a user query, Copilot returned sensitive data automatically
Wayback Copilot incident
Researchers found Copilot could access GitHub data no longer available to human users. A total of 16,290 organizations were affected, including Microsoft, Google, Intel, PayPal, and IBM.
Exposed items:
- 100-plus internal Python and Node.js packages
- more than 300 private tokens, keys, and secrets
- confidential source code fragments
Microsoft’s Response — Enterprise Data Protection
Built-in security features
According to Microsoft, Copilot:
- does not use tenant data for foundation model training
- encrypts data at rest and in transit
- respects existing access permissions
- complies with GDPR and other privacy regulations
Reality check
One of the biggest risks is overpermissioning — users granted excessive rights. Studies show that over 3 percent of sensitive business data is shared organization-wide without proper consideration.
Why built-in protection is not enough
Shadow AI
Many organizations discover employees using unapproved AI apps. This shadow AI significantly increases leakage risk.
Prompt injection attacks
AI systems can be manipulated when malicious instructions:
- are embedded in emails or documents
- steer Copilot to fetch sensitive data without user awareness
- bypass traditional controls
How Can Corporate Data Be Protected in the Age of AI Assistants?
Microsoft Copilot and other AI assistants deliver significant productivity gains—but they also introduce new security risks. Since these tools can access the same data as end users, excessive permissions, misconfigured sharing, and uncontrolled AI usage can quickly lead to sensitive data exposure.
Why Basic Security Is No Longer Enough
In AI-driven environments, traditional, ad-hoc security checks fall short. The most common risks include:
- excessive access rights (over-permissioning),
- shadow AI usage without approval,
- prompt-injection attacks embedded in emails or documents,
- delayed or missing incident detection.
These threats can only be mitigated with continuous, 24/7 monitoring.
The Role of SOC in AI-Driven Data Protection
A modern, managed Security Operations Center (SOC) does more than collect alerts—it actively monitors, correlates, and interprets security events across AI-enabled environments.
Key benefits of SOC-based protection:
- continuous monitoring across endpoints and cloud services,
- behavior-based anomaly detection against AI-powered attacks,
- rapid incident response and isolation,
- detailed logging to support audits and compliance.
This is especially critical in Microsoft 365 environments using Copilot, where data movement is fast and often occurs without explicit user interaction.
Practical Steps for Organizations
Short term (1–4 weeks):
- review permissions and sharing settings in SharePoint and OneDrive,
- define AI governance policies,
- identify and classify sensitive data.
Mid term (1–3 months):
- implement a managed SOC service,
- deploy endpoint protection and SIEM integration,
- monitor and control AI usage.
Long term (3–12 months):
- adopt a Zero Trust approach,
- ensure continuous compliance and audit readiness,
- align data security strategy with AI adoption.
Conclusion: AI Security Is a Business Issue
Copilot and other AI assistants are not inherently dangerous—the real risk lies in lack of control and visibility. Organizations that take a proactive approach to AI security detect threats faster, reduce incidents, and achieve stronger compliance outcomes.
Gloster Cloud helps organizations secure their AI adoption with SOC-based, managed security services—enabling them to benefit from AI without compromising data protection.
