Lab 6. AI-ready data access

Optional

Time 20 minutes

User account lab-userNN@aurnis.dev

Window Lab desktop (your laptop is blocked by your own Lab 4 and 5 policies)

Roles none

Scenario

Contoso's board asks the question every board asks: "If we turn on Copilot, can it show people things they should not see?" The answer is that Microsoft 365 Copilot has no permissions of its own. It reads only what the signed-in user can already open. Which means the real question is whether your SharePoint permissions and sensitivity labels are right today. In this lab you test both, first as the user, then through Copilot.

Objectives

• Confirm what the user can and cannot open on the lab SharePoint site
• Ask Copilot for content inside and outside those permissions
• Watch a sensitivity label with encryption travel with a file
• Explain the three layers that govern data for AI

Instructor note

The site Day1Lab has three document libraries: Public (all lab users can read), Restricted (lab users are members), Confidential (instructor only). One file in Public carries the encrypting sensitivity label Lab Confidential scoped to lab users. If Copilot is not licensed for lab users, Tasks 2 and 3 are demonstrated on the main screen.

Task 1. What can the user open?

Lab desktop

1. On LAB-PC-NN, in Edge, go to https://aurnistech.sharepoint.com/sites/Day1Lab.
2. In the site's left menu select Public. Note one file name.
3. Select Restricted. Note one file name.
4. Select Confidential.

Confidential: access denied for the lab user. Do not request access.

5. Fill in the table:

   Library	Opens?	Example file you see
   Public
   Restricted
   Confidential

Expected result

Public and Restricted open. Confidential shows Access denied or You need permission to access this site. Do not select Request access.

I finished Task 1

Task 2. Ask Copilot for what you are allowed to see

Lab desktop

1. In Edge go to https://m365.cloud.microsoft/chat.
2. At the top of the chat, make sure Work is selected, not Web.

3. Type this prompt and press Enter:

   Summarise the project documents in the Day1Lab site that I have access to, and list their file names.

Copilot cites only files the user can open.

Expected result

Copilot summarises files from Public and Restricted and cites them with links you can open. Nothing from Confidential appears.

I finished Task 2

Task 3. Ask Copilot for what you are not allowed to see

Lab desktop

1. Type: Show me the contents of the FY27 budget file in the Confidential library of the Day1Lab site.
2. Then type: List every file in the Day1Lab site, including ones I cannot open.

Copilot cannot see what the user cannot see: search results are permission-trimmed before Copilot reads them.

3. Record your observations:

   Check	Result
   Copilot referenced a Confidential file	Yes / No
   Copilot returned Confidential content	Yes / No
   Copilot listed Confidential file names	Yes / No

Expected result

Copilot says it cannot find the file or has no access to that information, and it does not list Confidential file names. Search results are permission-trimmed before Copilot ever sees them.

I finished Task 3

Task 4. A label that travels with the file

Lab desktop

1. Back on the Day1Lab site, open Public and select Lab-Confidential-Sample.docx. It opens in Word for the web.
2. Look at the title bar: the sensitivity label Lab Confidential is shown.

The label is visible on the document itself, not only in SharePoint.

3. Select File Save As Download a Copy. The file lands in the desktop's Downloads folder.
4. Open the downloaded copy from Downloads (double-click). It opens, because the label grants lab users permission; note any restrictions in the banner (for example no printing or copying).
5. Admin window Watch the instructor open the same downloaded file with an account outside the lab group on the main screen.

Expected result

Your copy opens with a Lab Confidential banner and restricted permissions. The instructor's copy refuses to open: the encryption travelled with the file, out of SharePoint, onto a desktop, and still enforced who may read it.

I finished Task 4

Three layers that decide what AI can touch

Layer	Answers	Where you set it
Permissions	Who can find and open the file	SharePoint and Teams membership, sharing links
Sensitivity label with encryption	Who can read the content, wherever the file goes	Microsoft Purview Information Protection
Data loss prevention and insider risk	How sensitive content may be used, including in Copilot prompts and responses	Microsoft Purview DLP and Insider Risk Management

Copilot changes none of these. It makes the gaps in them visible faster.

Knowledge check

1. Does Copilot have its own permissions? Yes / No
2. Can Copilot summarise a file the user cannot open? Yes / No
3. What decides whether a Confidential file name appears in a Copilot answer?
4. What keeps a downloaded file protected outside SharePoint?

Answers: No. No. SharePoint permissions, applied to search before Copilot reads results. A sensitivity label that applies encryption.

Reflection

• Oversharing (an "Everyone except external users" link on a finance library, say) was a quiet risk before Copilot. Why is it a loud one after?
• Which of the three layers is weakest in your organisation right now?

Checklist

• Confidential library denied to the user
• Copilot cited only accessible files
• Copilot refused Confidential content and names
• Encrypted label enforced outside SharePoint

Next: Wrap-up.