M365 Roundup, March 2024: Copilot for Security Gets a Launch Date

March 2024 is the month Microsoft put a date on AI for the SOC: Copilot for Security goes generally available April 1 with pay-as-you-go pricing, and Entra, Intune, and Purview all picked up Copilot hooks to match. The partner story is just as big, with NCE subscriptions finally becoming transferable mid-term starting in Q2. Add Restricted SharePoint Search for taming Copilot oversharing, a default flip on web grounding, and a Teams release wave headlined by voice isolation, and there is plenty to act on. Grouped by product, with rollout dates throughout.

Copilot: a security launch, broader licensing, and guardrails#

Copilot for Security is generally available April 1, 2024#

The official announcements and pricing details:

• Microsoft Copilot for Security is generally available on April 1, 2024 (opens in new tab)
• Microsoft Copilot for Security: General Availability details (opens in new tab)
• Microsoft Copilot for Security scenarios (opens in new tab)
• Pricing: Microsoft's AI Copilot for Security launches next month with pay-as-you-go pricing (opens in new tab)

Entra adds identity skills to Copilot for Security#

Alongside the GA announcement (opens in new tab), new Microsoft Entra skills arrive in the standalone Copilot for Security experience: User Details, Group Details, Sign-in Logs, Audit Logs, and Diagnostic Logs. User Risk Investigation, a skill embedded in Microsoft Entra itself, enters public preview. The skills give identity admins context and insights for security incidents and help resolve identity-related risks and sign-in issues. Full announcement: Microsoft Entra adds identity skills to Copilot for Security (opens in new tab). Available April 1, 2024.

Copilot in Intune enters preview#

Copilot in Intune provides AI-powered insights tailored to organizational needs, from quickly resolving end-user issues to checking that policies and settings are configured to optimize business outcomes safely. Announcement: Microsoft introduces a preview of Copilot in Intune (opens in new tab). Arrives April 1, 2024.

Copilot eligibility expands to F-series, E1, and Business Basic#

Customers with Microsoft 365 F3 and F1, Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Office 365 E1, and more become eligible to purchase Copilot for Microsoft 365 in the coming weeks as of March 2024. Timing: TBD. Full announcement: Bringing Microsoft Copilot to more customers worldwide (opens in new tab)

Restricted SharePoint Search: the Copilot oversharing valve#

Rolling out from early April 2024, Restricted SharePoint Search lets you disable organization-wide search and restrict both Enterprise Search and Copilot experiences to a curated set of SharePoint sites of your choice. Either way, users can still interact with their own files and previously accessed content in Copilot for Microsoft 365. For tenants where permissions cleanup is unfinished, this is the practical bridge to a Copilot rollout. Full announcement: Introducing Restricted SharePoint Search (opens in new tab). Completion expected by late June 2024.

Web content grounding flips to on by default#

Beginning late March 2024, the Web Content toggle for Copilot for Microsoft 365's Graph-grounded chat changes its default from off to on. Users see a one-time in-app banner about the change with a link to switch it back, can check the toggle in the plugin menu of the chat box, and can flip it per-prompt to scope how Copilot grounds each response.

GPT-4 Turbo comes to the work scope#

Copilot's Graph-grounded chat, the "work" scope reached via copilot.microsoft.com, Bing, the Copilot Teams app, and microsoft365.com, is being upgraded to GPT-4 Turbo for faster and more comprehensive responses. The rollout is in progress and expected to complete in the coming weeks as of March 2024.

Enterprise and web grounding in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote#

Enterprise graph grounding becomes the default for all requests, combining file context (document, spreadsheet, page) with enterprise content. Searches behave like Microsoft 365 Chat: the same policies apply, excluded sites stay excluded, and users only get results for what they can access. Web grounding is included in all requests, governed by the Connected Services setting. Rollout: early April 2024, starting with Word on Windows and Online, then PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote across platforms, completing by September 2024.

Purview logs which files Copilot touched in meetings#

The AccessedResources field will populate in Microsoft Purview for meeting Copilot interactions, referencing the files Copilot used from services like OneDrive and SharePoint Online to answer a user's request. Useful audit detail for anyone governing AI data access.

Multi-turn conversations in Teams chat and channels#

Copilot in Teams chat and channels gains follow-up questions: it answers conversationally using the context of the past two questions and responses over a 24-hour period, on desktop, web, and mobile. Rollout: early April 2024 (previously late February), completing by late April 2024 (previously early March).

Citations for Copilot responses in Teams mobile meetings#

Each Copilot response in Teams mobile meetings and calls gets a citation number. Selecting it reveals the content source; when that source is the transcript, a viewer opens showing the exact quote, the speaker's name, and the timestamp. Rollout: mid-April 2024, completing by early May 2024.

Nudging non-users: the Copilot popover message#

In the Microsoft 365 admin center's Copilot usage report, a new action card configures a templatized organizational message. Once set, users who have not used Copilot for Microsoft 365 in the last 30 days see a popover in Teams recommending they try Copilot. Rollout: late March 2024, completing by mid-April 2024.

Adoption Score adds an AI assistance category#

A new people experiences category in Adoption Score tracks Microsoft Copilot adoption on a 100-point scale. It ships in preview and does not affect the overall Adoption Score. Rollout: late June 2024 (previously early March), completing by late July 2024 (previously early April).

Copilot in Forms#

Users with Copilot for Microsoft 365 licenses can describe the form they need in natural language, get a generated form, preview and refine it, and apply suggested themes to lift engagement. Rollout: late February 2024, completing by early March 2024.

Partner and admin: the NCE transfer change is the big one#

NCE subscriptions become transferable mid-term#

Beginning in Q2 of calendar year 2024, CSP direct bill and indirect providers can transfer CSP new commerce (NCE) subscriptions from one partner to another, including mid-term, based on partner feedback. One caveat: receiving partners do not get the seven-day cancellation option for midterm transfers. For any MSP that has won a client locked into another partner's NCE terms, this is the change worth celebrating this month. Full announcement (opens in new tab)

Lighthouse roadmap, including user offboarding automation#

Microsoft published recent and upcoming Lighthouse updates, including user offboarding automation: Microsoft 365 Lighthouse vision and upcoming features (opens in new tab)

Purview audit search via Microsoft Graph API#

A new Audit Log Query API in Microsoft Graph lets admins programmatically access Purview audit logs. Rollout: mid-March 2024, completing by late March 2024. To use it, register your application with Microsoft Graph and add the relevant permissions.

Defender: quarantine accountability and AI data protection#

Who released that message from quarantine?#

Defender for Office 365 adds detail on who or what released a message from quarantine, shown in the email summary flyout panel on the Quarantine page. Rollout: late March 2024, completing by mid-April 2024.

Automatic feedback on user phishing submissions#

Defender for Office 365 can now automatically respond to end-user phish submissions based on the verdict from the automated investigation and response (AIR) investigation. Organizations configure which threat scenarios trigger feedback emails under Settings > Email & collaboration > User reported settings, in the Email notifications > Results email section. Status: generally available. More info: Automatic user notifications for user reported phishing results in AIR (opens in new tab)

Defender for Cloud Apps: keep sensitive data out of generative AI#

Defender for Cloud Apps, working with Microsoft Purview, can block sensitive data from being used with generative AI apps. Status: generally available. More info: Protect data used in prompts with common AI apps (opens in new tab)

Entra: insider risk joins Conditional Access#

Conditional Access can now respond to insider risk levels through Adaptive Protection in Microsoft Purview. When a user's insider risk level elevates, access to critical assets can be blocked automatically, with custom policies per risk level and strong authentication enforcement, no manual intervention required. Status: generally available. More information: Insider Risk in Conditional Access (opens in new tab)

Teams: voice isolation leads a practical batch#

Voice isolation reaches GA#

Voice isolation is an AI-based advanced noise suppression feature that eliminates unwanted background noise, including other human voices. The technology recognizes your voice profile and transmits only your voice, whether you are at a desk or in a coffee shop. It can be enabled for calls and meetings and is available now. Learn more: voice isolation in Teams (opens in new tab)

Intelligent call recap for Teams Premium and Copilot users#

The Calls app gains AI-generated notes and action items for both VoIP and PSTN calls, with summaries generated from calls where transcription was enabled. Available in the first half of 2024 for Teams Premium and Copilot for Microsoft 365 users.

The Queues app (Teams Premium)#

A collaborative call handling solution: team members pick incoming PSTN and VoIP calls from the queue, make outgoing calls on behalf of call queues or auto attendants, and watch their queue performance. Authorized users, with permissions from Teams admins, monitor call queues and auto attendants in real time, opt team members in or out, generate performance reports, configure queues and auto attendants, and update greetings and other delegated admin functions. The app pins to the left side of the Teams client and requires a Teams Premium license. Rollout: late March 2024. Learn more: the Queues app (opens in new tab)

Meeting details on the pre-join screen#

Teams for Windows and Mac will show the meeting title, start and end time, and participant count on the pre-join screen for in-tenant participants. Rollout: early to mid-April 2024, completing by late April 2024.

Quick attach for recent and relevant files#

Selecting the paperclip in a chat or channel post surfaces your most recent and contextually relevant files, trimming the time spent hunting for attachments. Rollout: mid-March 2024, completing by late March 2024.

Hide the General channel#

Team members can finally hide the General channel like any other channel. Note: if General is the last channel in the team, hiding it hides the team as well. Rollout: mid-February 2024, completing by early April 2024 (previously mid-March).

Meeting Options get categories#

Meeting Options, the per-meeting settings for organizers and co-organizers, are being grouped into categories for clearer information architecture, available throughout the meeting lifecycle. Rollout: late April 2024, completing by late May 2024.

Outlook: location-aware calendars and thread forwarding#

Working hours and location improvements#

Building on 2023's flexible working hours, which let users set different hours and an office or remote location per workday, update them in the calendar, and see coworkers' locations in the scheduling assistant, two additions are rolling out: an updated daily location menu for planning the day and seeing who else is in the office, and integration of work location with Out of Office time. Rollout: late March 2024, completing by late May 2024.

Open a Teams meeting chat from the mobile calendar#

For meetings created as Teams meetings, users can open the Teams meeting chat directly from the event on their Outlook mobile calendar. Rollout: mid-February 2024, completing by late June 2024.

Copy email as attachment#

In the new Outlook for Windows, users can send a long email thread as an attachment instead of copy-pasting it into a new message. Not yet available for emails marked "not forwardable." Rollout: mid-February 2024, completing by late June 2024.

Loop: guest sharing arrives, governed by your sharing settings#

B2B guest sharing for Loop workspaces, pages, and components is coming, subject to administrator policy, enabling sharing with people outside the tenant. Loop respects your OneDrive and SharePoint sharing settings: if the tenant does not allow guest sharing, Loop guest sharing stays blocked too. Rollout: late April 2024, completing by early June 2024.

SharePoint: tenant-wide change tracking and eSignature in Teams#

Change history reports cover organization settings#

The SharePoint admin center (opens in new tab) change history reports now extend to organization settings, tracking changes that affect the entire tenant. Create up to ten report instances to track what changed, when, and who initiated it across site and organization settings. Site setting reports are generally available; organization settings reports begin rolling out in preview in March 2024. Public preview rollout (Worldwide, GCC, GCC High, DoD): mid-March 2024, completing by early May 2024.

eSignature requests tracked in the Approvals app#

Tenants with SharePoint eSignature configured can track eSignature requests in the Approvals app in Teams: notifications for new requests, updates on ongoing ones, and the ability to start signing without leaving Teams. Rollout: mid-May 2024, completing by mid-June 2024.

Edge: organizational branding for work profiles#

Starting late March 2024, admins can apply their organization's branding to Edge for Business through the Microsoft Edge management service. Visual cues on the profile pill, profile flyout, and taskbar icon help users signed in with an Entra ID tell multiple profiles and browser windows apart. Rollout: late April 2024, completing by early May 2024. More information: Add company branding to your organization's sign-in page (opens in new tab)

One more resource: NIST CSF 2.0 for Microsoft 365#

For teams mapping M365 security work to a framework, there is a new NIST CSF 2.0 enablement guide for Microsoft 365 along with a multi-tenant Power BI template for tracking NIST CSF compliance and the implementation of M365 security controls. Learn more (opens in new tab)