6 min readSharePoint Security Best Practices Explained: How to Keep Your Data Safe

SharePoint is one of the most widely used enterprise collaboration platforms in Microsoft 365. It empowers teams to share files, collaborate in real-time, and streamline business workflows. But without the right controls, your SharePoint environment can become a risk vector for data leaks and threats.

This guide breaks down essential SharePoint Online security best practices that help organizations safeguard content, meet compliance standards, and reduce vulnerabilities—without slowing down business productivity.

Why Microsoft SharePoint Security Is Critical

SharePoint often houses:

• Corporate documents
• Financial records
• Client information
• Intellectual property

A misconfigured site, overly permissive sharing link, or weak access controls can expose sensitive data internally or to unauthorized external users.

Security isn’t just about permissions—it’s also about classification, monitoring, governance, and user behavior.

SharePoint Security Best Practices

SharePoint Security Best Practices Checklist

Below, we explore Microsoft 365 SharePoint Online best practices in detail to help organizations secure data, manage access, and enable safe collaboration.

1. Configure Secure External Sharing Settings

Sharing is at the heart of collaboration—but external sharing must be controlled.

Best practice:

• Disable or limit “Anyone” sharing links by default
• Restrict external sharing to specific domains or authenticated guests only
• Set expiration for all external links

Tenant-level External Sharing Settings in the Microsoft SharePoint Admin Center:

Site-level settings with more restrictive policies

2. Use Principle of Least Privilege with Permissions

Give users only the access they need:

• Use default SharePoint groups (Owners, Members, Visitors)
• Avoid granting individual permissions directly
• Use Microsoft 365 / Entra ID groups where possible

This reduces risks from insider threats and accidental data exposure.

3. Apply Sensitivity Labels and Classification

Microsoft Purview Sensitivity Labels help classify and protect content based on data sensitivity- public, internal, confidential, or highly confidential.

Sensitivity label options in the admin portal

With sensitivity labels you can:

• Enforce encryption
• Restrict sharing
• Apply data loss prevention (DLP) rules
• Extend permissions even on downloaded copies

This helps enforce consistent data protection across SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive.

4. Protect Accounts with Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Passwords alone aren’t enough—enable MFA for all users, especially administrators and privileged roles.

MFA dramatically improves security and defends against credential-based attacks like phishing and brute force attempts.

5. Implement Conditional Access Policies

Use Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) Conditional Access to control how, when, and where SharePoint data can be accessed:

• Require compliant or managed devices
• Restrict access from untrusted locations
• Require MFA for sensitive sites

This adds an adaptive layer of protection based on risk context.

6. Enforce Data Loss Prevention (DLP)

DLP policies help detect and block:

• Sharing of sensitive information (PII, PCI, health data)
• Unintentional data exfiltration
• Content shared with unauthorized users

DLP integrates with SharePoint to monitor and protect data stored in document libraries and sites.

Learn More Here: Microsoft Learn: About DLP

7. Monitor and Audit Activity

Visibility into user actions is key to SharePoint security.

• Turn on Unified Audit Logs in Microsoft Purview
• Track access, sharing, deletions, and permission changes
• Set alerts for suspicious behaviours

Audit logs help you respond quickly to threats and support compliance.

8. Secure Admin Accounts & Roles

Admin privileges should be:

• Assigned only when necessary
• Covered with strong authentication policies (MFA, Conditional Access)
• Managed with Privileged Identity Management (PIM)

Minimizing admin accounts reduces the attack surface for targeted threats.

9. Educate Your Users

People are both your biggest asset and biggest risk.

Train employees to:

• Recognize phishing and social engineering
• Understand how to share securely
• Use sensitivity labels appropriately
• Report potential threats immediately

A trained workforce helps prevent simple mistakes from becoming security incidents.

Common Microsoft SharePoint Security Pitfalls

❌ Leaving external sharing open to “Anyone”

❌ Granting full control to too many users

❌ Failing to monitor activity logs regularly

❌ Not enabling MFA on critical accounts

❌ Assuming classification or DLP is “set and forget”

Final Thoughts

Securing SharePoint is not a one-time task—it’s an ongoing commitment involving people, process, and technology. By following these Microsoft SharePoint security best practices and maintaining vigilant governance, your organization can enjoy secure collaboration without compromise.

Frequently Asked Questions