Azure AD

Conditional access and registering security information

by

Similar like last week, this week is also still about conditional access. This week is about the recently introduced user action of Register security information (Preview).  A lot has been posted about that recently and I had my post ready, but I wanted to wait for an official blog post before publishing my version. Just to make sure that I’m using the right reasons for using this feature. Also, it simply fits the line of my recent post. This user action can be used to add conditional action to Azure AD security services that require information of the end-user. In this post I’ll start with a short introduction about this new user action and the behavior that the user action controls. After that I’ll show …

Read more

Conditional access and persistent browser sessions

by

Like last week, this week is also about conditional access. This week is about the recently introduced session control of Persistent browser session (preview). It was already possible to configure the persistence of browser sessions by using the company branding configuration, but this new session control provides the administrator with a lot more granularity. In this post I’ll start with a short introduction about this new session control and the behavior that the session control controls. After that I’ll show the configuration steps, followed by the administrator experience.  Introduction Now let’s start with a short introduction about the Persistent browser session (preview) session control. A persistent browser session allows the end-user to remain signed in after closing and reopening their browser window. The default configuration …

Read more

Conditional access and requiring app protection policy

by

This week is focused on conditional access and the recently introduced grant control of Require app protection policy (preview). I already tweeted about it a couple of weeks a go, but I thought that it would be good to also write a little bit about this grant control. The Require app protection policy (preview) grant control could be seen as the successor of the Require approved client app grant control. The main difference is that the new Require app protection policy (preview) grant control will be more flexible. In this post I’ll start with a short introduction about this new grant control, followed by a configuration example. That example will be about a scenario for accessing Exchange Online. I’ll end this post by showing the …

Read more

The conditional access policy flow

by

This week is still all about conditional access. However, this week it’s not about a specific configuration. This week it’s about the conditional access policy flow. The flow that will help with determining if a conditional access policy is applicable to the user’s attempt to access a cloud app and if access will be allowed or blocked. The idea is similar to the What if tool. The big difference is that the What if tool does a technical check to see which conditional access policy is applicable and this flow can help with determining why a conditional access policy is applicable, or not. Also, almost as important, this flow will clearly show how many options are available to exclude specific users and devices. This is …

Read more

Conditional access and blocking downloads

by

This week is all about using conditional access for blocking downloads. I already did something similar before by using app enforced restrictions for Exchange Online and SharePoint Online. This time I’m going to take it one step further by looking at recently adjusted functionality for Conditional Access App Control. Conditional Access App Control enables administrators to control user sessions by redirecting the user through a reverse proxy instead of directly to the app. From then on, user requests and responses go through Cloud App Security rather than directly to the app. This creates an additional layer that can be used to filter actions. In this blog post I’ll start with a short introduction about Conditional Access App Control, followed by the configuration steps and the …

Read more

Block access to all cloud apps for unsupported platforms

by

This week something different compared to the last couple of weeks. This week is all about conditional access, but not about particular new functionality. This week I want to show a relatively simple method to make conditional access policies as secure and complete as possible. By using device platforms as an example, I want to show how to make sure that only device platforms supported by the IT organization can access company data. And really only those device platforms. In this post I’ll provide a short introduction of this method, followed by the related configurations. I’ll end this post by showing the end-user experience. Introduction Let’s start with a short introduction about this method to make sure that only specific device platforms, supported by the …

Read more

Offline Windows Autopilot deployment profile

by

This week is all about Windows Autopilot. More specifically, about offline Windows Autopilot deployment profiles. The use case for an offline Windows Autopilot deployment profile is simple, a migration from Windows 7 to Windows 10 for existing devices. It enables organizations to reimage devices for one last time and provide those devices with an offline Windows Autopilot deployment profile. That will make sure that those devices will contact the Windows Autopilot deployment service, without first being registered. In this post I’ll look at getting the offline Windows Autopilot deployment profile, followed by a look at the explanation of the attributes in the offline Windows Autopilot deployment profile. I’ll end this post by looking at the usage of the offline Windows Autopilot deployment profile and a …

Read more

Block access to a device until specific apps are installed

by

This week a short blog post about a recently introduced feature in the Enrollment Status Page (ESP). The ability block access to a device until specific apps are installed. I also tweeted about that feature recently and I thought it would be good to document the use case, the configurations and the end-user experience. Introduction Let’s start with a short introduction. The ESP is strongly recommended with Windows Autopilot. The idea of the ESP, is to block the device until the device is ready for usage by the user. This new feature enables an administrator to only block the device until the most important apps are installed for the user. That enables the user to be earlier productive. The administrator simply chooses which apps are …

Read more

Conditional access and Outlook on the web for Exchange Online

by

This week a blog post about conditional access. More specifically, about conditional access and enforced restrictions with Outlook on the web for Exchange Online. This can be used to provide users with access to Outlook on the web, but still protect company data. That can be achieved by configuring a limited experience for users with regards to attachments. The enforced restrictions can enable a read only option for attachments in the browser and can completely block attachments in the browser. In this post I’ll walk through the required configurations, with the focus on conditional access, and I’ll show the end-user experience. Configuration Let’s start with looking at the configuration. The main focus in the configuration is conditional access, but as that configuration has no use …

Read more