SQL Information Protection with Data Discovery and Classification

The public preview of SQL Information Protection brings advanced capabilities built into Azure SQL Database for discovering, classifying, labeling, and protecting the sensitive data in your databases. SQL Data Discovery and Classification are also added to SQL Server Management Studio.

This tools will help meet data privacy standards and regulatory compliance requirements, such as GDPR. It will enable data-centric security scenarios, such as monitoring (auditing) and alerting on anomalous access to sensitive data to be viewed in dashboards. It will help with controlling access to and hardening the security of databases containing highly sensitive data.

The SQL Information Protection (SQL IP) introduces a set of advanced services and new SQL capabilities, forming a new information protection paradigm in SQL aimed at protecting the data. The four areas covered are:

• Discovery and recommendations 
• Labeling
• Monitoring/Auditing (Azure SQL Db only)
• Visibility