Azure Information Protection - also known as ...

Azure Information Protection (AIP) has evolved from a long history of established technologies from Microsoft that implement rights management protection. Because of this evolution, you might know this solution by one of its previous names. Or you might see references to these names in documentation, the UI, and log files.

The following sections list some of these names.

Cloud-based solutions

• Azure Rights Management or Azure Rights Management service—frequently abbreviated to Azure RMS

• Microsoft Entra Rights Management—occasionally abbreviated to AADRM

• Windows Azure Active Directory Rights Management—often abbreviated to Windows Azure AD Rights Management

On-premises solutions

• Active Directory Rights Management Services—frequently abbreviated to AD RMS

• Windows Rights Management Services—often abbreviated to Windows RMS

Other names

• Microsoft Rights Management or Microsoft Rights Management services

  The collective name that includes the current on-premises version (AD RMS) and the cloud-based version (Azure RMS).

• "The NEW Microsoft RMS"

  A popular label that was sometimes used when the cloud-based version was officially released, to emphasize the new ease of deployment in comparison to its on-premises predecessors.

• Information Rights Management—often abbreviated to IRM

  The Office implementation of the technology that supports the current on-premises version (AD RMS) and the cloud-based version (Azure RMS).

• Rights Management Online or RMS Online

  This was a proposed early name for the cloud-based version of AD RMS, and included here because you might see this name in log files and error messages.

Note that you might see or hear references to this technology as DRM, which is a well-known abbreviation for digital rights management. DRM solutions typically protect against illegal distribution of digital software, which is very different from this enterprise information protection solution.

Does "Azure Information Protection" now replace all these names?

As the cloud-based solution that you purchase, yes. Azure Information Protection offers the new capabilities of classification and labeling for an organization's documents and emails, which in turn can apply Rights Management protection.

However, Azure Rights Management is still used as the protection technology for Azure Information Protection, and for Microsoft 365 services that use this cloud-based Rights Management protection. So in the context of the protection technology that is used by Azure Information Protection, "Azure Rights Management" (Azure RMS) remains a current name.

Similarly, "Active Directory Rights Management Services" (AD RMS) remains a current name for the Windows Server server role, which provides on-premises Rights Management protection. This protection technology can be used with Azure Information Protection and might be suitable for a very small percentage of documents and emails that must be protected by an on-premises key. In this scenario, AD RMS is often referred to as the "hold your own key" or HYOK solution.

How to evaluate or purchase the latest version

For more information about how you can purchase or evaluate Azure Information Protection, and the different features that are available for the subscription plans, see the Azure Information Protection site.

Next steps

For more information, see:

• What is Azure Information Protection?
• What is Azure Rights Management?
• Terminology for Azure Information Protection