Conditional access and app enforced restrictions

This blog post is about a recently introduced feature in conditional access, named Session controls. More specific, the Session control of app enforced restrictions. Session controls enable a limiting experience within a cloud app. The great thing about Session controls is is that those controls are enforced by the cloud apps and that those controls rely on additional information provided by Azure AD to the cloud app, about the session. In other words, these controls can be used to require Azure AD to pass the device information to the cloud app. This enables the cloud app to know if the user is coming from a (non-)compliant device or (non-)domain joined device.

Currently Session controls are only supported with SharePoint Online as the cloud app. In this post I’ll go through the required configuration to get SharePoint Online configured with conditional access and app enforced restrictions. I’ll end this post with the end-user experience with app enforced restrictions.

Configuration

The administrator can block or limit access to SharePoint Online content on devices that are not managed, not compliant and/or not joined to a domain. To block access, the administrator usually configures one conditional access policy. To limit access, the administrator should configure two conditional access policies and configure a setting in the SharePoint Online. In this section I’ll start with a few important notes and follow that by the required steps to make the earlier mentioned configurations.

Important notes

Before configuring the limited access to SharePoint Online, be sure to be familiar with the  following important notes:

  • A subscriptions to Azure AD Premium is required;
  • A subscription to Microsoft Intune is required;
  • (At this moment) First Release must be enabled in Office 365;
  • Limited access will also apply to users on managed devices, if they use one of the following browser and operating system combinations:
    • Chrome, Firefox, or any other browser other than Microsoft Edge or Microsoft Internet Explorer in Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016;
    • Firefox in Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, or Windows Server 2008 R2.

Block access to mobile apps and desktop clients

The first configuration to limit access to SharePoint Online, is to block access for mobile apps and desktop clients. These apps will not get the limited experience, which means that these apps should be blocked to prevent users from using company data on non-compliant or non-domain joined devices. To create a conditional access policy that will block access for mobile apps and desktop clients to SharePoint Online, follow the 7 steps below.

1 Open the Azure portal and navigate to Azure Active Directory > Conditional access;
2 On the Policies blade, click Add to open the New blade;
3 AP_CA_UsersGroupsOn the New blade, select the Users and groups assignment to open the Users and groups blade. On the Users and groups blade, select All users, or select Select users and groups to specify a specific group, and click Done;
4 AP_CA_CloudAppsOn the New blade, select the Cloud apps assignment to open the Cloud apps blade. On the Cloud apps blade, select Select apps to select Office 365 SharePoint Online and click Done;
5 AP_CA_ClientApp_MobileAppsOn the New blade, select the Conditions assignment to open the Conditions blade. On the Conditions blade, select Client apps to open the Client apps blade. On the Client apps blade select Yes with Configure, select Select client apps and Mobile apps and desktop clients, and click Select. Back in the Conditions blade, click Done;
6 AP_CA_GrantOn the New blade, select the Grant access control to open the Grant blade. On the Grant blade, select Grant access and at least one of the requirements, and click Select.
7 On the New blade, select On with Enable policy and click Save.

Use app enforced restrictions for browsers

The second configuration to limit access to SharePoint Online, is to enforce restrictions to browsers. This will make sure that browsers will get the limited experiences in SharePoint Online, on non-compliant or non-domain joined devices. To create a conditional access policy that will enforce restrictions for browsers to SharePoint Online, follow the 7 steps below.

1 Open the Azure portal and navigate to Azure Active Directory > Conditional access;
2 On the Policies blade, click Add to open the New blade;
3 AP_CA_UsersGroupsOn the New blade, select the Users and groups assignment to open the Users and groups blade. On the Users and groups blade, select All users, or select Select users and groups  to specify a specific group, and click Done;
4 AP_CA_CloudAppsOn the New blade, select the Cloud apps assignment to open the Cloud apps blade. On the Cloud apps blade, select Select apps to select Office 365 SharePoint Online and click Done;
5 AP_CA_ClientApp_BrowserOn the New blade, select the Conditions assignment to open the Conditions blade. On the Conditions blade, select Client apps to open the Client apps blade. On the Client apps blade select Yes with Configure, select Select client apps and Browser, and click Select. Back in the Conditions blade, click Done;
6 AP_CA_SessionOn the New blade, select the Session access control to open the Session blade. On the Session blade, select Use app enforced restrictions and click Select.
7 On the New blade, select On with Enable policy and click Save.

Allow limited access in SharePoint Online

The third configuration to limit access to SharePoint Online, is a configuration within SharePoint Online. The cloud app must be configured to use limited access for devices that aren’t compliant or domain joined. When the administrator configures limited access, users will be able to view but not edit Office files in SharePoint Online. The Download, Print, Sync, Open in desktop app, Embed, Move to, and Copy to buttons won’t appear in the new SharePoint Online experiences. To configure this limited access, follow the 2 steps below.

1 Open the SharePoint admin center and navigate to device access;
2

SPO_ControlAccessOn the Restrict access based on device or network location page, specify the following information and click OK:

  • In the section Control access from devices that aren’t compliant or joined to a domain, select Allow limited access (web-only, without the Download, Print, and Sync commands) with Select the appropriate SharePoint enforced restriction and choose between Allow downloading and Block downloading with For files that can’t be viewed on the web;
  • In the section Control access from apps that don’t use modern authentication, select Block with The setting applies to third party apps and Office 2010 and earlier.

End-user experience

Now let’s end this post with the end-user experience. I’ll do that by showing the limited access experience on Windows 10 (Surface Pro), iOS (iPad) and Android (Samsung Galaxy). Also in that order. Below are examples of of the limited access message in SharePoint Online on the left and the limited access experience in Word Online on the right.

Windows10_SPO Windows10_SPO_Doc
IMG_0102 IMG_0103
Screenshot_20170409-075823 Screenshot_20170409-081417

More information

For more information about conditional access and app enforced restrictions, please refer to:

4 thoughts on “Conditional access and app enforced restrictions”

  1. hi – we are on the first release but on the “Device Access” i do not see “Allow limited access (web-only, without the Download, Print, and Sync commands) ”

    just office 2010 allow/block and IP restrictions

    has this made it out in the wild yet?

    Reply

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