Microsoft has introduced several updates to Edge for Business, focusing on security and productivity enhancements. These updates were unveiled at the Build 2024 developer conference, highlighting new data loss prevention (DLP) measures and improved management tools aimed at enterprise users.
Data Loss Prevention and Management Tools
Edge for Business, which has been available for a year, now includes policies to prevent screen captures. According to Lindsay Kubasik, group product manager for Microsoft Edge, these policies, when activated, ensure that any attempt to take a screenshot results in a black screen instead of the protected content. This feature also extends to the Copilot in the Edge sidebar, ensuring that prompts and responses are secure. These policies can be applied across various Microsoft services, including Microsoft 365, Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps (MDA), Microsoft Intune Mobile Application Management (MAM), and Microsoft Purview.
Productivity Enhancements and AI Integration
Edge for Business has also been updated to respect usage rights restrictions on sensitive Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. Previously available only in desktop apps, these settings can now be applied in Edge to prevent document screen captures and restrict Copilot access to sensitive files. This capability is expected to be available in the coming weeks.
Additionally, Microsoft has introduced real-time video translation for a limited number of websites, including YouTube, Reuters, CNBC News, Bloomberg, Money Control (India), LinkedIn, and Coursera. This feature offers subtitles or audio translation, with current audio options allowing Spanish and Korean to be translated to English, and English audio to be converted to Hindi, German, Italian, Spanish, and Russian. While this feature is available to all Edge users, it is particularly beneficial for business environments with diverse linguistic needs.
Management and Customization Features
The Edge management service has been enhanced to identify outdated browser instances and either conduct updates or send update recommendations. The admin tool can also activate enhanced security mode, which disables just-in-time JavaScript compilation, among other security measures. These capabilities are expected to be rolled out in the coming weeks.
Furthermore, Edge for Business now supports session policies through Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps. This allows administrators to block specific sites, monitor uploads and downloads, and control clipboard actions and printing on unmanaged devices. Support for these policies is currently available in preview for Edge users who sign in via their Entra ID.
Organizational Branding and User Experience
Edge for Business provides the ability to add organizational branding via the Edge management service. IT managers can overlay their corporate name and logo atop the browser interface, providing a customized experience for users.
The screenshot prevention feature will become generally available in the coming months. The Edge management service will allow administrators to perform mitigation activities such as enabling enhanced security mode, automatic browser updates, and forcing a browser restart to install updates. This feature will be available in preview in the next few weeks.
