According to Microsoft, it’s likely that autonomous agents will outnumber human users by 2026.
That’s right. Agents are no longer in the pilot phase, they’re embedded in day-to-day business operations and they’re growing.
So, the critical question for IT leaders is: does your organization have the right processes in place to secure and govern them?
According to a PWC cross-industry survey of over 300 senior US business executives in April 2025, 79% said that AI agents had already been adopted in their companies. And of those adopting AI agents, 66% said that they were delivering measurable value through increased productivity.
But, despite these benefits, agents also pose significant risks to organizations without the appropriate governance and security.
In this blog, we’ll identify these risks and how to mitigate them. But let’s start with defining agents and what sets them apart.
What are agents and what makes them different?
Agents might seem like apps. But the fact is, they behave very differently. They can perceive, decide, and act on tasks with minimal input from humans.
Whether embedded in Teams, SharePoint, or connected services, agents don’t wait for you to click “run”. They’re designed to work continuously in the background, using context from Microsoft Graph and other data sources to complete objectives on your behalf.
Agents differ from traditional IT tools because they’re:
- Autonomous: Apps only respond when they’re opened, whereas agents self-start based on events, schedules, or changes in data.
- Persistent: Agents don’t stop when a user logs off; they can run as long-lived processes with ongoing access to data.
- Interconnected: Agents often interact with multiple systems, and even with other agents, creating new pathways for both productivity (but also risk).
- Hard to audit: Agents’ decision-making can be harder to audit or explain, especially as they evolve through machine learning and external prompts.
- Quick to build: Agents can be built quickly, even by non-technical users, meaning they can scale faster than IT policies are ready for.
So, what makes agents so risky?
Here are some of the key risks you need to be aware of.
Uncontrolled data exposure: Agents may surface sensitive SharePoint libraries or Teams conversations without context.
Shadow AI: Business users building agents without IT oversight.
Compliance blind spots: Gaps in auditability make GDPR, HIPAA, and ISO alignment difficult.
Lifecycle drift: An employee leaves, but their agent, and its permissions, remain active.
Prompt injection attacks: Adversaries manipulating agents into leaking or executing actions.
So, we’ve identified the risks but how can you reduce exposure for your organization?
4 ways to secure your Copilot agents
1. Establish Strong Identity & Access Controls
Use an agent management tool, like Entra Agent ID, which gives each agent a unique, trackable identity.
Apply least privilege by granting only the permissions an agent requires, and don’t forget to make them revocable.
Enforce conditional access to prevent risky agent behaviours.
2. Protect Your Data
Apply Microsoft Purview sensitivity labels to restrict what agents can surface.
Enforce Data Loss Prevention (DLP) rules to prevent oversharing.
Audit agent interactions with confidential files in SharePoint and Teams using Purview audit log.
3. Monitor & Audit at Scale
Use Microsoft 365 Audit Logs to gain broad visibility into agent activity across Teams, SharePoint, and Microsoft 365, from sign-ins and permissions changes to document access patterns.
Deploy anomaly detection to spot unusual queries (e.g., HR data accessed by a finance agent).
Regularly review your agent registries to keep ownership and purpose clear.
4. Define Governance Policies
Approve which departments can create agents, and under what conditions.
Establish clear lifecycle policies for creation, monitoring, and retirement.
Build an AI governance committee to review adoption and mitigate risks.
Managing Copilot Agents Across Teams and SharePoint
When it comes to agent governance and security, scale is most definitely the biggest challenge for IT leaders. Just a single enterprise could have hundreds of agents running across Teams channels and SharePoint sites. Here’s how to manage them effectively:
- Use centralized admin portals to view and control agent deployments.
- Provide pre-approved agent templates for HR, IT, and finance scenarios.
- Apply role-based controls so not every user can build agents.
- Deliver employee training to explain both the power and the guardrails of AI agents.
Your agent governance and security questions answered
Here’s our quick-fire Q&As with the bottom line on agent governance and security.
Q: How are Copilot agents different from traditional Microsoft 365 apps?
A: Traditional apps are static, they only do what you tell them, when you open them. Copilot agents are dynamic: they persist, act across Teams and SharePoint, and can connect into other systems through Microsoft Graph and APIs. That flexibility delivers huge productivity gains but also demands a different approach to governance and security.
Q: What new risks do Copilot agents introduce?
A: The biggest concerns we see amongst enterprises are:
- Agents surfacing data from sensitive SharePoint libraries.
- Agents running tasks beyond business hours or outside policy constraints.
- Malicious attacks planting instructions in content that cause agents to act in unexpected ways.
- Orphaned agents that remain active after an employee leaves.
Q: How can we apply least privilege to Copilot agents?
A: Treat every agent like a user account. Using Microsoft Entra Agent ID, you can give agents their own unique identity, assign time-bound access, and enforce Conditional Access policies. Grant the minimum permissions needed for the agent to do its job.
Q: What’s the best way to monitor agent behaviour?
A: Start by enabling Microsoft 365 audit logs. From there, you can create dashboards that highlight anomalies e.g. if an HR agent was querying finance. The goal is visibility first, then control.
Q: How do Copilot agents impact compliance?
A: Agents are subject to the same compliance standards as human users. That means applying Microsoft Purview sensitivity labels, DLP policies, and retention rules to any data an agent can access. This ensures GDPR, HIPAA, or SOX compliance is baked into day-to-day agent operations.
Q: How does agent lifecycle management work?
A: We recommend you set a clear framework, including:
Requiring approval before an agent goes live.
Recording ownership in a central registry.
Monitoring the agent throughout its operation.
Retirement when the projects end or employees exit.
This prevents agent sprawl and keeps your environment under control.
Ready to take control of your AI agents?
Copilot agents don’t have to mean more risk. With the right security and governance framework in place you can make the most of these autonomous assistants, whilst avoiding the pitfalls of poor management.
And with Cloudwell’s help, you can balance innovation and compliance, making sure your Teams and SharePoint environment stays secure while AI boosts productivity.
Reach out to our team to get started.