Question

Can users bypass sensitivity labels while exporting reports?
I need to investigate if there’s a possibility for users to bypass sensitivity labels when exporting reports from Power BI and whether there are any settings or configurations that prevent this behavior.

Answer 1

In Power BI, users cannot bypass sensitivity labels during export by default. Sensitivity labels are enforced at various stages, including report exports, and restrict actions such as sharing or downloading reports based on the label's protection settings. However, there are certain configurations and settings that can affect label enforcement:

1. Label Policies: Administrators can configure export and sharing policies in the Power BI service to ensure that labels are respected during export. For example, admins can prevent users from exporting or sharing sensitive reports entirely based on their label.

2. External Sharing: If external sharing is enabled in Power BI, admins can restrict this action based on sensitivity labels, ensuring sensitive data is not shared with unauthorized users.

3. Service Settings: Certain Power BI service settings may impact how sensitive labels are enforced, such as restricting users from exporting content from shared workspaces or applying more stringent controls on labeled reports.

4. Power BI Desktop and Service Sync: While exporting from Power BI Desktop or the Service, labels are respected, but users must be aware that sometimes local copies (like in Power BI Desktop) may not reflect the same behavior as in the Service, especially if the local configurations or environment settings are different.