In March 2022, Intune added support for Chrome Administrative Templates. This allows for further customization of your Chrome installation without needing the custom ADMX and the OMA-URIs.
This post will show how to configure the silent installation of an extension in Chrome using Administrative Templates. If you are using ADMX policies, consider switching to this or Settings Catalogs. If you are already leveraging Settings Catalogs, you should go that way and build this policies as settings catalogs.
Select Create Profile, then on platform click on Windows 10 and later.
The profile type will be Templates. Then select Administrative Templates.
Click on Create, then give the policy a name.
Under Computer Configuration, select Google, then select either Google Chrome or Google Chrome – Default settings. The first will not let users modify the policies; the second will give users freedom to change the settings you set. You’ll usually go with the first one.
Click Extensions, then select Configure the list of force-installed apps and extensions.
Once you have the policy open, you’ll need to set it to Enabled, then insert the Extension ID of the extension you want to provision. For this article, I’ll be using uBlock Origin, which I highly suggest, and has cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm as ID.
If you want to retrieve the ID of an extension, head to the Chrome web store and search for the app you wish to install. From there, look at the address bar. The end of the URL is the ID you are looking for. Refer to the screenshot below. If you want to retrieve the ID of an extension, head to the Chrome web store, and search for the app you wish to install. From there, look at the address bar. The end of the URL is the ID you are looking for. In our example, the ID is cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm, as shown in the picture below.
Sometimes the Chrome web store attaches a “?hl=XX” at the end of the URL, which references the host language. XX in this example can be something like it, de, or similar, depending on your host language. This is NOT part of the ID and should not be copied over to Intune.
Once you have pasted your IDs into the Intune policy, click Ok, then Next.
From there on, scope the policy as needed in the Assignments tab, click Next, and Create.
Microsoft’s description of the policy
Here is Microsoft’s description of the policy “Configure the list of force-installed apps and extensions”:
Setting the policy specifies a list of apps and extensions that install silently, without user interaction, and which users can’t uninstall or turn off. Permissions are granted implicitly, including for the enterprise.deviceAttributes and enterprise.platformKeys extension APIs. (These 2 APIs aren’t available to apps and extensions that aren’t force-installed.) Leaving the policy unset means no apps or extensions are autoinstalled, and users can uninstall any app or extension in Google Chrome. This policy superseeds ExtensionInstallBlocklist policy. If a previously force-installed app or extension is removed from this list, Google Chrome automatically uninstalls it. On Microsoft® Windows® instances, apps and extensions from outside the Chrome Web Store can only be forced installed if the instance is joined to a Microsoft® Active Directory® domain, running on Windows 10 Pro, or enrolled in Chrome Browser Cloud Management. On macOS instances, apps and extensions from outside the Chrome Web Store can only be force installed if the instance is managed via MDM, or joined to a domain via MCX. The source code of any extension may be altered by users through developer tools, potentially rendering the extension dysfunctional. If this is a concern, set the DeveloperToolsDisabled policy. Each list item of the policy is a string that contains an extension ID and, optionally, an “update” URL separated by a semicolon (;). The extension ID is the 32-letter string found, for example, on chrome://extensions when in Developer mode. If specified, the “update” URL should point to an Update Manifest XML document ( https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/autoupdate ). By default, the Chrome Web Store’s update URL is used. The “update” URL set in this policy is only used for the initial installation; subsequent updates of the extension use the update URL in the extension’s manifest. Note: This policy doesn’t apply to Incognito mode. Read about hosting extensions ( https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/hosting ). Example value: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa;https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx abcdefghijklmnopabcdefghijklmnop
Other useful extension settings
A basic Chrome extension configuration is usually set like this. You’ll block external extensions from being configured, you’ll only allow installing corporate-allowed applications, and you’ll force some extensions to the devices. Here you can find the policies’ names:
Blocks external extensions from being installed
Configure extension installation allow list
Configure extension installation blocklist
Configure the list of force-installed apps and extensions
Only allow approved extensions
First, we are going to configure the two following policies:
Configure extension installation allow list
Configure extension installation blocklist
The first one will be the allow list, and then we are going to block everything else from being run. The extensions you forced before with the silent install are automatically allowed. I’d still advise for adding them to this policy using the ID you retrieved before.
Use the following screenshot for reference.
The blocklist is usually configured as *, meaning any. All the allow-listed and forced extensions will be automatically excluded and take precedence. If you just wish to block some applications, paste the ID of the extensions you wish to block.
Block external extensions
Last but not least, let’s block external extensions. These are applications that can be manually packaged and installed into browsers. If you are not actively deploying some in your organization, I’d suggest blocking them.
Temporary Access Pass is a time-limited passcode that allows users to register passwordless methods or recover access to their accounts without knowing their password. It is enabled via an authentication method policy that you can configure in Azure Active Directory. Apart from being time-limited, the TAP can also be configured for one-time use only. This can either be configured on the authentication methods policy so that every TAP created will be one time only (not the best idea at the moment) or at the creation of the TAP on the user authentication methods page.
The issue
The “Temporary Access Pass sign in was blocked due to User Credential Policy” issue is caused by the fact that the user has already used the TAP, and it was configured not to be valid for a second login. To fix this, modify the policy and allow for multi-use TAPs (if it’s not already enabled) then issue a new TAP.
While it makes sense from a general prospective to enable it for one-time use only at the policy level, this is usually impractical. For example, if you are using Autopilot, you’ll be requested to enter your credentials twice before configuring Windows Hello for Business. The first time, you’ll be asked for it at the enrollment phase, and the second time when logging into the user account for the first time. A one-time use TAP policy will create issues in this case. It’s also very common for users to mistakenly log off before configuring a passwordless method. If they do, you’ll need to issue a second TAP. For these reasons, it makes sense to allow a stricter lifetime but allow it to be used multiple times in that timeframe.
Security Defaults are one of the ways to establish a fundamental identity security baseline for your tenant. Security defaults are a set of security settings to help you protect your organization from the most common security threats. They can be enabled on a tenant with just one click. Well, two, if you count the save button. These settings are aimed at small and medium businesses that might not have an IT team with the knowledge or resources to manually set the standard for their environment.
If you are currently using Conditional Access Policies, Security Defaults are probably not for you. In more complex environments, going the Conditional Access way can be trickier to manage but provide more benefits, such as the ability to require access from known and compliant devices. Also, Conditional Access Policies require Azure Active Directory Premium P1, and only some organizations are licensed for it.
If you wish to learn more about Conditional Access, I wrote a post about it:
Security Defaults are now activated by default in all the newly created tenants since October 2019, and Microsoft is rolling them out to existing tenants who don’t have Conditional Access Policies enabled.
What Security Defaults will do is:
Requiring users to register for MFA using the Authenticator app. Users will have 14 days to comply before being required to do so.
Requesting MFA for both users and administrators, especially when a user accesses privileged portals.
Block legacy authenticationprotocols which can’t support MFA.
How to enable Security Defaults
Access the Azure AD properties with an admin account by clicking on the following link, or navigating through the portal to Properties: Azure AD Properties | Azure Portal
Click on Manage Security Defaults at the bottom of the page
Set the Security Defaults to Enabled
Save
How to disable Security Defaults
Access the Azure AD properties with an admin account by clicking on the following link or navigating through the portal to Properties: Azure AD Properties | Azure Portal
Click on Manage Security Defaults at the bottom of the page
Set the Security Defaults to Disabled
Provide a reason for disabling Security Defaults
Save
Notes
If you wish to learn more about Security Defaults, refer to the following documentation page:
In Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) on Azure Stack HCI, you can increase the resources available to your node pool by changing the size of virtual machines in a node pool or expanding the node count. The node count can also be increased with autoscaling methods.
The worker nodes can be scaled using the command Set-AksHciNodePool, while the Set-AksHciCluster scales the control plane.
I’ll be going over scaling both using PowerShell in the following guide. You’ll need to open a PowerShell session on one of the Azure Stack HCI nodes to follow along. Replace the parameter values as needed.
Notes
As of January 2023, the scaling of the management cluster (the one created by AKS HCI automatically) is currently not supported.
Now that we have scaled up the control plane, we can scale the control plane node count. The default is 1. If you scale up the control plane, it will become highly available and will not accept any scale down back to 1 node⚠️
As we all know, passwords are a weak link in our identity processes. But, contrary to what we believe, your password length is not the main enemy when talking about Azure AD, as long as your passwords are not simple. Instead, the main enemy is that passwords can be easily gathered and reused from phishing attacks or breaches.
The most common attacks, for example, phishing, password spray and credential stuffing, all rely on the fact that your password is either given by the user to the attacker, guessed because it was really simple, or already exposed to attackers because of previous breaches in 3rd parties attacks. Also, in the case of password spray, Azure AD has functions in play to drastically reduce the speed of password spray attacks and increase the time attackers spend guessing a password.
Image from the Microsoft Docs
Regarding why your passwords mostly don’t matter, Alex Weinert, Director of Identity Security at Microsoft, wrote a wonderful article way back in 2019 that I suggest you read:
But, if you still need to start modernizing your application log-in processes, and most applications in your environment rely only on either Active Directory or Active Directory Federation Services, please still consider a more complex password. In this case, the standard is usually set at 15+ characters, as when a password is created of more than 14 characters, you don’t store the LM hash for it. Of course, you can also disable LM hashes with GPOs, but most places aren’t doing it.
The aim of this post, though, is to discuss Azure AD-connected systems, applications, and cloud-only environments.
If you haven’t heard of it, you can either natively attach most applications to Azure AD or use Azure AD Application Proxy. Azure AD Application Proxy allows Azure AD to take the reins by letting it manage the authentication and access to the on-premises legacy applications.
MFA does put a patch on the issue of passwords. For now, if everyone had (preferably strong) MFA on their accounts, the compromises would go way down, as the attackers’ costs would go way up. But, as we said, MFA is a patch, not a permanent fix.
For example, many companies still rely on legacy authentication methods, which do not support MFA, or there are cases where MFA gets “skipped” with the use of man-in-the-middle attacks (such as the ones that can be conducted using evilginx2). While it’s not really a “skip”, it’s functionally a bypass of MFA functions.
While passwordless methods are more secure and convenient, you should know that there is a better and worse ranking.
For example, adopting passwordless using the Microsoft Authenticator still puts you at risk of being phished with men-in-the-middle attacks, such as the ones we talked about before, and logging into Windows devices with the Authenticator is not supported at the moment.
Suppose you have a Conditional Access Policy that requires devices to be compliant. In that case, the Authenticator makes more sense as a passwordless method, as you add an additional layer of verification before accessing your company data.
Image taken from Microsoft Docs
Because FIDO2 Keys are not supported on mobile devices, the Microsoft Authenticator is still the best passwordless option for iOS and Android devices. It’s also a very common method for MacOS and Linux users.
As a side note, most of the time, instead of signing in with the Authenticator, on mobile you’ll be able to select “Sign-in options” and be presented with the option of signing in from another device, such as a desktop, where you’ll be able to use FIDO keys.
We’ll discuss the other two passwordless methods in the next chapter.
Windows Hello for Business and FIDO2 security keys
Windows Hello for Business and FIDO2 keys directly communicate with the service you are authenticating to. As such, they can only initiate the login flow if you are connected to the right page. And while this is already placing them up in the ranks, they can also provide access to Windows devices from the lock screen.
It’s worth noting that while Windows Hello for Business needs setup on every machine, FIDO2 keys can attach directly to the Azure AD user, making it way easier to use if the user is not always connected to the same device, as it happens with front-line workers. This happens because FIDO2 security keys store the credentials on the key, unlike Windows Hello for Business, where the key pair is bound to the TPM.
It’s also worth noting that Windows Hello for Business can (with some complex deployment options) also integrate with on-prem resources. One such use case is using Hello for Business with certificates to allow integration with the RDP protocol:
Here is a small table that recaps what methods are available, based on device type.
Device
AD FS or Azure AD native certificate-based authentication
FIDO2 security keys
Windows Hello for Business
Microsoft Authenticator with compliant device CAP
Windows device
iOS mobile device
Not applicable
Not applicable
Android mobile device
Not applicable
Not applicable
MacOS device
Edge/Chrome
Not applicable
While we are on the topic, you can configure users with a one-time-use Temporary Access Password to make users passwordless from day one, but the topic will be discussed further down.
A very useful page to plan your passwordless implementation is the following. It guides you through a wizard that proposes the best options for your use case depending on what your users use.
While not discussed here, Azure AD Certificate-based authentication is also a strong and phishing-resistant passwordless method. Since it's now natively integrated into Azure AD, it makes a lot of sense for companies that used to rely on ADFS to achieve the same passwordless result.
Enable FIDO2 security keys
To enable users to use FIDO2 keys, first sign in to the Authentication methods page, then click on FIDO2 Security Key:
From the menu, select “Enable“, then either “All users” if you want the entire organization to be able to use FIDO2 keys or scope the deployment to a specific group. You may also scope the feature to “All users” but exclude a specific group of people.
Under “Configure“:
You’ll generally want to leave “Allow self-service set up” set to “Yes“. This allows people to set up their keys.
“Enforce attestation” to “Yes“, as it allows to verify the quality and certifications of the key.
Enforce key restrictions to “No“, as it allows you to set which FIDO keys are allowed by the org and what keys are not.
Save and end the setup.
Register a FIDO2 key
Before registering a FIDO2 key, the user will be prompted to setup MFA. If you want the user to directly use FIDO2 keys as an authentication method, you can create a Temporary Access Password for them. This will skip the MFA prompt and let the user configure directly the key. To create a TAP, follow this guide: Configure a Temporary Access Password | Entra
If you are using Temporary Access Passwords, the user will be prompted to use it to authenticate.
If the user had MFA configured, the user will be able to configure the FIDO2 keys directly
If the user is authenticating with password-only, the user will be prompted to configure MFA as an additional step.
Click Security Info. In this case the user had MFA configured, so we can go straight to FIDO2 keys.
Click on “Add method“, then “Security key”.
Click on either “USB device” or “NFC device”. In my case, using a YubiKey 5 NFC, I’ll select USB, since I have it attached to the device. Note that this is just for registration, any method can be used for signing in after registration.
Insert the key, then press “Next“.
You will be redirected to a browser prompt, asking you to create a passkey. Select “External security key or built-in sensor“
If prompted, accept the following pop-up.
Create a PIN for your Security Key, then perform the gesture, such as touching the sensor.
Now give the key a name, so that you may recognize it. I generally suggest the ” Vendor + model” naming convention.
Click Done.
Now if you log-off, you’ll be able to test out the new key.
Test the FIDO2 key
Once you are done with the setup, try signing in with the key. To do that:
Access office.com or any other portal, then select “Sign-in options“.
Select “Sign in with Windows Hello or a security key“. This might come up as just “Sign in with a security key“.
Attach your Security Key, then insert your PIN
Perform the gesture, such as touching the sensor.
If all went well, you’ll access the portal.
Configure security keys as a sign-in option in Windows
Before starting, please be aware that for sign-in in Windows, you’ll need the machine to be at least version 1903. There are no requirement on the join type, as FIDO2 keys can be used for both Azure AD Joined devices and Hybrid-AAD Joined devices.
Enable with Intune for all users
To use FIDO2 keys on Windows devices for all users in your tenant:
Either click on the following link, or access Intune, then click on “Enroll devices”, “Windows Hello for Business”. Windows devices enrollment | Intune
Click on Use security keys for sign-in, and set it to Enabled.
Targeted Intune deployment
To target specific device groups to enable the credential provider, use the following custom settings via Endpoint Manager:
Once you are done, configure the Assignments, then complete the wizard.
Enable with Group Policy
If you are not using Intune, you can enable the feature using GPOs. In this case only Hybrid Azure AD Joined devices are supported. Once you have created the GPO, the setting is located under Computer Configuration \ Administrative Templates \ System \ Logon. Next, click on Turn on security key sign-in, and set the policy to Enabled.
Force sync on a single device
If you want to test things out after applying the Intune policies, run the following command from your local PowerShell or force sync from Intune. Both will sync your settings with Intune.
Get-ScheduledTask | where {$_.TaskName -eq 'PushLaunch'} | Start-ScheduledTask
Windows Hello for Business deployment for AAD joined devices
An option for configuring WHfB is by using Intune device enrollment. The settings are placed under Windows enrollment settings and only allow scoping to all users.
If you want to do it more granularly, you can deploy a configuration policy that will do the trick. Note that the configuration policy has more options, such as “PIN recovery” and “Certificate for on-premise resources”.
For reference, you can also create GPOs and configure hybrid and on-premises services to deploy Windows Hello for Business, but that won’t be discussed in this article as it would be worth a dedicated article.
For all users
Either click on the following link, or access Intune, then click on “Enroll devices”, “Windows Hello for Business”. Windows devices enrollment | Intune
Click on Use security keys for sign-in, and set it to Enabled. Enabled will configure WHfB for all devices. Not configured will be used if you still want to use the feature but you don’t want Intune to manage it.
Review the image below and use it freely as a template for the settings. This is one of the better defaults I’ve come up with, but some settings will depend on your organization’s standards. One note, it’s generally a good idea to require TPM if your devices support it.
Select Create a profile, then click on Windows 10 and later, Templates, Identity protection.
Give the policy a name, then click Next
As before, this is one of the better defaults I’ve come up with, but some settings will depend on your organization’s standards.
Once you are done, configure the Assignments, then complete the wizard.
Force sync on a single device
If you want to test things out after applying the Intune policies, run the following command from your local PowerShell or force sync from Intune. Both will sync your settings with Intune.
Get-ScheduledTask | where {$_.TaskName -eq 'PushLaunch'} | Start-ScheduledTask
Conclusion
I hope this post was useful to you. If you spot any mistakes, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter or Linkedin.
Conditional Access Policies (CAPs) are identity-driven policies that govern user access to resources based on certain conditions. We can summarize them as if statements that govern what will be requested, enforced or blocked. As identity has become a key focus for security efforts, it’s essential to manage it in the best way possible.
All policies “think” at the user level and are enforced after a user has completed the first form of authentication, such as entering their username and password. As such, an attacker could understand if the credentials are correct even if there are blocks dictated by CAPs that might block access based on various signals.
Conditional access policies are implemented using Azure Active Directory, which is the cloud-based identity and access management service that is part of Microsoft 365. As of right now, Azure Active Directory (or Azure AD for short) is being integrated into the newly created Entra product family.
It’s important to note that Conditional Access Policies will manage not only native Microsoft apps such as SharePoint, Teams, the Azure Portal, etc. but also all SaaS applications connected to Azure AD and all on-premises applications managed through Azure AD Application Proxy.
This can simplify the management of identities, as, for example, the user will have their MFA methods set in Azure AD, and they’ll be requested on all connected apps in Azure AD for which you have set Azure AD as the identity provider.
In most organizations, the CAPs enforce requirements such as the enforcement of MFA, the block of logins using legacy protocols and requiring a compliant device to access company resources.
It is advisable to create or make changes to CAPs only if you have a basic understatement of the service and always operate with caution since you could risk blocking access to the tenant for all users.
Please consider implementing an emergency administrator before starting with Conditional Access, and exclude it from all the policies. Read more regarding this here:
All Conditional Access policies must grant a user access before they can access a cloud app. If one of the CAP blocks the sign-in, the request will be denied. Note that if in the same policy you both include and exclude a user, the user will be excluded.
I wrote a post on how to check which policy is blocking a user sign-in. If you are curious, you can check it out here:
If you are creating a new policy, it can be set to “Report-only” mode first. This will allow you to use insights and reporting workbooks to evaluate the impact of the policy before you go on to apply it to everyone in the organization by turning it “On”. Alternatively, you can keep the policy inactive by setting it to “Off”. Please note that a certificate request might pop up on Macs or mobile devices if you require a check for Intune compliance in the policy, even if it’s in report mode.
Licenses and Security Defaults
As Conditional Access Policies require Azure Active Directory Premium P1, only some organizations are going to be able to use them. If you are not licensed for it, you use Security Defaults to establish a basic security baseline for your tenant. Security Defaults are now activated by default in all the newly created tenants. What Security Defaults will do is:
Requiring every user to register for MFA. Once enabled, users will have 14 days to register before being required to do so.
Requesting MFA for both standard users and administrators, especially when a user accesses privileged portals.
Block legacy authentication protocols which can’t support MFA.
Templates and JSON
There is currently a set of recommended policies that you can deploy right away by clicking on “New policy from template” at the following link:
While the templates are a very quick and easy way to start with CAPs, please exercise extreme caution. Even though they are created in report-only, they will not, for example, create a break glass admin and exclude it by default. If you mess up, you might end up locked out. Also note that it’s best to exclude users from CAPs using groups so that you don’t have to modify the policies constantly, which might end up in errors.
A cool new feature is the ability to implement CAPs using JSONtemplates. You’ll be able to export the policies you have created and be able to import them back in case anything happens.
To learn more, refer to the following documentation:
SMS-based authentication allows users to log in without needing to remember their username and password. After enabling the feature for an account, users can enter their phone number at the login prompt instead of their username. They will then receive an authentication code via text message that they can use to complete the login.
This service is often mistaken for SMS-based Multi-factor Authentication, but they are not the same.
This authentication method makes it easier for frontline workers to access applications and services. It’s not recommended to enable this feature for users who could use other passwordless methods or a combination of credentials + MFA. It’s also important to note that the desktop Office apps do not support SMS-based auth. Therefore, you can only use the web app version of the apps and only by logging in via office.com. You also cannot use the mobile version of the apps, except for Teams, Company Portal and Microsoft Azure.
If you decide to enable the feature, you should consider limiting and standardizing the frontline worker’s permissions to what’s necessary.
If you are curious why you should prioritize other methods over phone-based auth, consider reading this always relevant article by Alex Weinert:
Click on SMS (Preview). The feature is not in preview anymore, even if the portal states so at the moment of writing this guide.
Click on “Yes” under “Enable”, then “Select groups”, and select the group you created in the first step. Complete the step by clicking “Select” and “Save”.
To set a phone number, go into All Users | Azure AD, then select a member of the group you created in the first step.
Go into “Authentication methods”, then click “Add authentication method”. From there, select “Phone number” and insert the phone number the user will use to sign in, then click “Add”.
You can also add an authentication method via PowerShell:
# Replace the variables with the user you wish to add the auth method to and phone number you wish to assign
$User = "user@example.com"
$PhoneNumber = "+1 111111111"
Install-module Microsoft.Graph.Identity.Signins
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes UserAuthenticationMethod.ReadWrite.All
Select-MgProfile -Name beta
New-MgUserAuthenticationPhoneMethod -UserId $User -phoneType "mobile" -phoneNumber $PhoneNumber
# Get the phone number of the user
Get-MgUserAuthenticationPhoneMethod -UserId $User
If you need to script this for multiple users, you can refer to the code below.
This script assumes you created a CSV file in “C:\” named contacts.csv, and that the CSV file has a column named UserName and a column named PhoneNumber. If your CSV file has different column names, you will need to update the script accordingly.
# Install the modules and login to Graph
Install-module Microsoft.Graph.Identity.Signins
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes UserAuthenticationMethod.ReadWrite.All
Select-MgProfile -Name beta
# Import the CSV file containing names and phone numbers
$contacts = Import-Csv -Path "C:\contacts.csv"
# Loop through each user and add their phone number for authentication
# If you changed the column names, replace these placeholders with the actual column names from the CSV file
foreach ($contact in $contacts)
{
$User = $contact.UserName
$PhoneNumber = $contact.PhoneNumber
New-MgUserAuthenticationPhoneMethod -UserId $User -phoneType "mobile" -phoneNumber $PhoneNumber
}
Microsoft Pureview Customer Key (or Customer Key for short) is an encryption service mainly aimed at resolving regulatory issues with the adoption of Microsoft 365. This is the product you need in the Microsoft Cloud environment if you have a regulatory requirement to have ownership and control over the keys used to encrypt data at rest.
Microsoft 365 already provides volume-level encryption through Bitlocker and Distributed Key Manager (DKM), but you have no control over the encryption keys used. Customer Key can encrypt with your keys data from Exchange Online, Skype for Business, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Microsoft Teams. The Microsoft services will use your key to make the various systems work.
You’ll have the option to let Microsoft generate your RSA Keys or upload your own. All the key management capabilities are done through Azure Key Vault. Once Microsoft checks that everything is going well, Microsoft 365 uses your keys to encrypt data at rest.
While Customer Key adds additional security against unauthorized access to data, it’s not intended to restrict Microsoft employees’ ability to access your data. Instead, that feature is provided by Customer Lockbox. Customer Lockbox ensures that Microsoft can’t access your data without your consent.
Critical Considerations
Once you encrypt SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, and Teams, there is no going back to Microsoft Managed Keys.
The loss of the root encryption keys can have catastrophic consequences. Various precautions can be taken to avoid common errors but keep this in mind.
Microsoft keeps an availability key, which functions the same as your two keys. This key is used by automated processes and aims to provide recovery capabilities from the loss of the root keys you manage. To learn more follow this link: Availability Key in Customer Key | Microsoft Docs
Features limited by this service
None that I’m aware of
General Requirements
PERMISSIONS:
Being a Global Admin for the tenant
REQUIRED LICENCES: (One of the following types)
Office 365 E5
Microsoft 365 E5
Microsoft 365 E5 Compliance
Microsoft 365 E5 Information Protection & Governance SKUs
Microsoft 365 Security and Compliance for FLW
AZURE:
Generally, the ability to create Subscriptions and an Owner role in those subscriptions. The subscriptions will host the Azure Key Vaults that will contain your keys.
Ability to create Azure Subscriptions and Resource Groups
Ability to modify permissions on Azure Subscriptions and on resources
Ability to create and manage Azure Key Vaults and related keys
Tips
You can leverage the Hardware Security Module (HSM) key protection by using a Premium Key Vault
Conditional Access Policies (CAPs) are identity-driven policies that govern user access to resources. We can summarize them as if statements that govern what will be requested, enforced or blocked.
In most organizations, the CAPs govern the enforcement of MFA, the block of logins using legacy protocols, and requiring a compliant device to access company resources.
All policies “think” at the user level.
It is advisable to make changes to CAPs only if you have a basic understatement of the service, since you could risk blocking access to the tenant for all users. In order to learn more, refer to the following documentation:
If you intend to add a user to the policy, click on the blue link under “Users or workload identities”, then “Include,” and click the blue link under “Users and groups”.
Select or search for the desired user, then click “Select.”
If you want to exclude a user, click on the blue link under “Users or workload identities”, then “Exclude,” and click on the blue link just below “Users and groups.” The same user selection screen shown in the previous step will open. Search for and select the user, then click “Select.”
Once done, save using the “Save” button at the end of the page. If the policy is in “Report-only” or “Off“, the flow is not active.
Before enabling file monitoring in Defender for Cloud Apps, be sure to have the appropriate licensing assigned. To follow these steps, you’ll need the following:
An Information Protection licence
A full Defender for Cloud Apps licence. A Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps Discovery license is not enough.
Please note that you’ll have to create a file policy as soon as you enable the feature. If you don’t create a file policy in the first seven days, the feature will be disabled.
First, log into the Defender for Cloud Apps portal:
The following script will get all the members of an Azure AD group and add them to another group. You’ll just need to know the name of the two groups to make it work.
In the code shown below, the source group will be called Group1Name and the destination one Group2Name.
# Replace Group1Name with the name of your source group and Group2Name with the name of the destination one. Everything else will be done automatically
$Group1 = "Group1Name"
$Group2 = "Group2Name"
$group1ObjectID = Get-AzureADGroup -Filter "Displayname eq '$group1'" | Select objectid -ExpandProperty ObjectID
$group2ObjectID = Get-AzureADGroup -Filter "Displayname eq '$group2'" | Select objectid -ExpandProperty ObjectID
$membersGroup1 = Get-AzureADGroupMember -ObjectId $group1ObjectID -All $true
foreach($member in $membersGroup1)
{
$currentuser = Get-AzureADUser -ObjectId $member.ObjectId | select objectid
Add-AzureADGroupMember -ObjectId $group2ObjectID -RefObjectId $currentuser.objectid
}
Get-AzureADGroupMember -ObjectId $group2ObjectID -All $true
Suppose you or a user reset a password, and one of the following errors comes up. In that case, it means that either you are using a guessable password or that somebody in your organization has enabled Password Protection in your environment, and you are using a banned word.
Unfortunately, your password contains a word, phrase or pattern that makes it easily guessable. Please try again with a different password.
“Unable to update the password. The value provided for the new password does not meet the length, complexity, or history requirements of the domain.”
If you are a user, please try a more complex password to circumvent the error. Substituting @ with A, 1 with I, and other widespread ways of changing up a common word will not be counted as “not including a common word”.
If you are an admin, please note the following about this feature. Users often create passwords that use common words based on personal interests or easily rememberable things (e.g. cities, sports teams, celebrities, months, etc.). These passwords are strongly vulnerable to dictionary-based attacks. Azure AD Password Protection, which works either in a “cloud-only” mode or can also synchronize to on-prem, provides a global and custom-banned password list. The global one is maintained directly by Microsoft; the custom one can be modified by the Microsoft 365 / Azure AD admins.
To remove a user profile in Azure Virtual Desktop, you must first be sure that the user is logged off. If you are unsure on how to do it, follow the guide below.
After you’ve checked this, you got two options based on the type of profile architecture you chose to implement.
If the profiles are stored locally, you can proceed to remove them as you’d do in standard W10 machine.
If you are using FSLogix, which is the recommended way to handle them, you can proceed to remove the user folder from the Azure File Share.
If you are unsure about which type of user profile solution you use, you can log in to a standard user account (preferably the one you wish to remove) and follow the guide below.
If you fall under the first option, log into the AVD instance/instances with an admin user account, open “Run“, then type netplwiz.exe and click enter. This will open the Advanced User Accounts Control Panel. From there, you’ll get a list of all the users. Next, click on the user profile you’d like to delete and click “Remove”. You’ll have to repeat this procedure for all the AVD hosts in your environment.
If you are running FSLogix, log into the Azure File Share hosting your profiles, then locate the user folder you wish to delete. Usually, the format is either %username%%sid% or “%sid%%username%, depending on whether you have added the FlipFlopProfileDirectoryName registry in the FSLogix configuration (FlipFlopDirectoryName | AVD). Once you have found it, open it, and delete the VHD/ VHDX stored inside, as per the screenshot below. After the VHD deletion has been completed, delete the user profile folder.
This error message results from the application of a Conditional Access Policy on your tenant that blocks users from accessing cloud resources using a non-compliant device. The compliance state of a device is evaluated by Intune. To check which compliance policies you have active in your environment, head to:
To resolve the issue, either fix the device’s compliance state or exclude the user from the Conditional Access Policy.
To fix the compliance state, head into All Devices | Intune, click on the impacted device, and then “Device Compliance“. From there, you can see which policy makes the device not compliant and which setting is “at fault”.
If you are looking to understand which Conditional Access Policy is blocking the user, check out this guide:
This error message results from the application of a Conditional Access Policy on your tenant that blocks users from accessing cloud resources without a hybrid-joined device. A Hybrid-joined device is an AD-joined client which gets synchronized to Azure AD via Azure Active Directory Connect (AD Connect).
Another version of this error is:
Try signing in another way To access your service, app, or website, you may need to sign in to Microsoft Edge using XX account
If you are looking to understand which Conditional Access Policy is blocking users, check out this guide:
If the user is trying to access with a personal device, switching accounts (as suggested in the error message) won’t fix the issue. You’ll need a company owned device.
If the user is trying to access it with a company device, then it’s either:
Using a personal account, or using the wrong company account. Click on Sign out and sign in with a different account, then sign in with the correct account.
Using the right company account, but using Chrome. If this is the case, follow the steps below.
Using the right company account on Edge (or on Chrome with the proper extension installed), but the device is not synchronized. To fix this, check if you are synchronizing said device and consider adding it to the right OU / add the right attribute to let it sync.
If you are using Chrome, you’ll either need the Windows Accounts or the Microsoft 365 extensions. These extensions allow Chrome to pass device-specific details. You can deploy the extension automatically using this registry key:
Please note that the “Hybrid join check” type of access control is usually paired with a device compliance check. So expect a possible further block related to this. To learn more, visit Get started with device compliance | Intune or read my article on the related error:
This issue is mainly present if you are trying to migrate from Exchange on-prem to Exchange Online and you’re not going with the hybrid route. The “double mailbox” way consists in having an online mailbox and a local one, and manually (or automatically using tools) migrating the content online.
The issue is that, if you are synchronizing your on-prem AD with Azure AD, you are most probably including your msExchMailboxGUID into the replicated fields. This attribute will tell Exchange Online not to create an online mailbox, as an on-prem one already exists.
Once you will have cleared this field from the online user, Exchange Online will be able to create another mailbox, populating the msExchMailboxGuid of the online user, leaving you with the possibility of exporting and importing data into your online mailbox.
Please note that this will also automatically clear the following attributes from the online user:
alias
legacyExchangeDN
msExchArchiveGuid
msExchArchiveName
msExchBlockedSendersHash
msExchElcMailboxFlags
msExchRecipientDisplayType
msExchRecipientTypeDetails
msExchSafeRecipientsHash
msExchSafeSendersHash
userCertificate
To proceed with the creation of the online mailbox, follow these steps:
Open your AD Connect server.
Stop the Sync with Powershell (launch it as admin and keep it open after this command): Set-ADSyncScheduler -SyncCycleEnabled $false
Open the Synchronization Rules Editor as an admin.
Select the In from AD – User Exchange rule, click Edit, then click on yes.
Under Precedence write 250 (or the first free one), then click Next until you arrive in the Transformations page. Here look for msExchMailboxGuid, then change the row’s settings to make them match with the image below:
Once you are done, click Save, then open the original rule. Note down the Precedence (usually it’s 108), then delete the rule. Go into your newly cloned rule and change the Precedence to the one you noted down.
Before you enable the scheduler and perform a full sync, you should test out the changes. This is the documentation link to test everything out without committing changes to Azure AD: Verify changes to AD Connect rules | MS Docs
Reenable the scheduler: Set-ADSyncScheduler -SyncCycleEnabled $true
Perform a full synchronization: Start-ADSyncSyncCycle -PolicyType Initial
You should now be able to create a second mailbox for your synchronized user by assigning a valid license.
Since Microsoft will soon start to turn off Basic Authentication for Exchange Online, you’ll have to enable Modern Authentication client-side if you still have some machines running Outlook 2013 and want them to connect to Office 365. This is quickly done by adding some registry keys. Modern authentication is already enabled by default in Office 2016 and later versions.
This process will activate the Modern Authentication workflow for all the apps included in Office 2013 (Outlook 2013, Excel 2013, Word 2013, OneNote, etc.), not just Outlook.
While this procedure will allow you (for now) to connect to Office 365, it is critical to remember that connection to Office 365 and Exchange Online via Office 2013 is not supported anymore. You should update to a newer and supported version soon, as things might stop working without notice.
To enable the feature, either open an elevated CMD and paste these commands in or add the entries manually via Registry Editor.
If we want to restrict access to the Azuremanagement services for non-privileged users, we can now create a Conditional Access Policy that allows us to do so.
To create a Conditional Access Policy, we’ll need Azure Active Directory Plan 1 or higher, which is either bought standalone, or can be found most notably inside Microsoft 365 Business Premium, or the Microsoft 365 Enterprise plans (E3, E5)
On the other hand, if we just need to restrict access to Azure AD, we have the option to do so from the User Settings in the Azure AD portal:
Then, under “Users or workload identities“, select all users, and exclude the admin roles you currently use in your organization. You could also create a security group with all admin users as members and then exclude it from the policy.
Under “Cloud apps or actions”, click on “Selected apps”, then “Microsoft Azure Management“.
Finish up by selecting “Block access” under the Grant Access Controls.
From now on, all users except the admins will be blocked from accessing Azure management services.
In this article I want to illustrate how I would notify my users of the upcoming activation of Additional Context and Number Matching in their MFA requests.
If you are looking for a guide on how to enable Additional Context and Number Matching, follow the guide linked below.
From [replace with activation date] forward, you will be asked to enter additional details in your MFA (Multi-factor authentication) prompts.
On your PC screen, you will be presented with a number, and you will be asked to enter this same number inside of your MFA request on your phone to complete the approval.
You will also get a map that will show the location where the request was made from. This must be taken as a general indication and it’s not always going to be your exact location, since Internet providers are not bound to route your connection from a point closest to you.
Please deny and report immediately to the IT department if you receive a request that was not done by you, or you do not recognize the location you are being shown.
If you just blocked users from registering applications, or you are just analyzing your Enterprise applications, you may find that there is a lot of work ahead of you.
First, you may want to find if there are applications with no user assigned. Then you may wonder if there are applications without sign-ins in the last 30 days.
To ease your work, you may find it useful to query all applications for these fields and get the output in a CSV.
This script is freely based on Ravenswood PoC code, with the intent of helping out and refining it a bit.
This is done via the portal and not via PowerShell for practicality, since at the moment, to get the same exact filters (e.g. “Microsoft Applications”, “Enterprise Applications”, etc.) that you get on the portal, you would have to query Graph.
Then save this script:
$AllApplications=Import-Csv .\EnterpriseAppsList.csv
$applications=$allapplications | where {$_.applicationtype -ne "Microsoft application"}
ForEach($Application in $Applications){
#Retrieve the objectid and signin logs, format the user assigned to the app
$app=Get-AzureADServicePrincipal -all $true | where {$_.objectid -eq $application.id}
$Log = Get-AzureADAuditSignInLogs -All $true -filter "appid eq '$($App.AppID)'"
$userassigned = Get-AzureADServiceAppRoleAssignment -ObjectId $App.ObjectId | Select ResourceDisplayName,PrincipalDisplayName
$format=$userassigned.gettype()
if($format.basetype.name -eq "Object"){
$userassigned=[string]$userassigned
}
#Create a custom object for output
[PSCustomObject]@{
ApplicationName = $App.DisplayName
ApplicationID = $App.AppID
SignIns = $Log.count
Users = $userassigned.count
}
Start-Sleep 5
}
The Microsoft Secure score is a useful page to get an idea of the general improvement areas you should monitor and approach in your tenant.
When you make a change to reflect one of the improvement actions, you might have to wait up to 48 hours to get the points in the portal.
If you have waited the 48 hours (generally, it’s 24 hours, but the job might fail), check that the policies you created were configured as recommended in the “implementation” tab, then try the following.
First, check if there is some degradation with the service.
If there isn’t degradation, try changing the Conditional Access Policy (or the security policy you enabled) and see if the secure score catches up.
If it didn’t, or you are in a hurry, click on the recommended action, “Edit status & action plan”, and resolve the suggestion as risk accepted, then wait for the score to update. Once you see that the full points are awarded, revert the change. This procedure should “force” the sync to grant you full points, then change it with the actual value.
If the above failed, contact Microsoft Support and request a manual restart of the job.
Either that will solve it, or in some cases, just waiting a couple more days will fix it.
This is a brief and introductory guide on what you may want to configure and change in a basic hardened Teams environment. Please consider that these are just general recommendations, and what works for a company may not be the best for another one. This is especially true when it comes to setting up collaboration services. Keep in mind that your Teams security is only as good as your identity security.
It’s helpful to note that some companies require that users should not be able to create new teams, depending on your internal policies. This is done by limiting the creation of Microsoft 365 groups using the following setting: Groups – Microsoft Azure – Users can create Microsoft 365 groups in Azure portals, API or PowerShell. The same is also available via PowerShell in a more complete way.
Before diving into the settings, you may consider the following, that will not be discussed further, but are non the less important:
You should already have a basic hardened Azure AD environment (or AD + AAD if you are in an hybrid scenario). Your Teams security will be only as good as your identity security. For example, if you don’t have MFA set up yet or you are not blocking legacy authentication protocols, you might be better off starting from there.
You should consider setting up retention and expiration policies for Teams, especially if you will let users create teams freely.
DLP and sensitivity labels should be created and applied.
You should monitor user activity often via the Teams portal.
Enhanced encryption policies should be evaluated on a company by company basis since it disables recording and transcription.
You should start using and configuring Cloud App Security
Live event policies should be evaluated based on whether your company uses them.
Voice settings should be evaluated on a customer by customer basis, depending on what you have to implement and your general infrastructure.
Follow along by opening the Teams Admin center and evaluating these settings.
Teams -> Teams settings:
Turn OFF all external file sharing and cloud file storage options in the Files tab if they are not company approved.
“Users can send emails to a channel email address” should be set to OFF, or only specified domains should be allowed
“Scope directory search using an Exchange address book policy” controls how users find and communicate with other people in their organization. This may help users out, but it’s not a “must set”.
Teams -> Teams Policies:
Consider creating new policies for more granular management. The settings could be left all on if no specific stricter need arises.
Teams -> Teams Update policies:
You may want to consider setting “Show Office Preview” as not enabled. This is, however, not critical.
Teams -> Teams Upgrade settings:
Coexistence mode should be set to Teams Only if you are not using Skype for Business.
Users -> Guest access:
“Make private calls” should be set to OFF since there is mostly no need for a guest to make calls “using” your tenant.
“Meet Now” should be set to OFF.
“Edit sent messages” should be set to OFF.
“Delete sent messages” should be set to OFF.
“Delete chat” should be set to OFF.
Users -> External access:
Here, you can either allow all external domains, allow only specific domains or only block specific ones. This setting is very dependent on your organization and your risk acceptance level. Most SMBs are blocking specific domains.
Allow users in my organization to communicate with Skype users should mostly be set to OFF. The same goes for “People in my organization can communicate with Teams users whose accounts aren’t managed by an organization”.
Teams apps -> Permission policies:
You either go for a restrictive global policy or create tailored policies later. Whatever is best for your use case.
Third-party apps should be set to Block all apps if you are not using any.
Custom apps should be set to Block all apps if you are not using any.
Meetings -> Meeting policies:
You either go for a restrictive global policy or create tailored policies later. Whatever is best for your use case.
“Let anonymous people join a meeting” should be set to OFF.
“Let anonymous people start a meeting” might be set to OFF.
“Who can present in meetings” should be set to “Organizers, but users can override”.
“Automatically admit people” should be set to “Invited users only”.
“Dial-in users can bypass the lobby” should be set to OFF.
Meetings ->Meeting settings:
Anonymous people can join a meeting should be set to OFF
Anonymous users can interact with apps in meetings should be set to OFF
“Insert Quality of Service (QoS) markers for real-time media traffic” is usually set to ON. Not a deal-breaker, but it’s sometimes helpful to get insights.
Meetings -> Messaging policies
Owners can delete sent messages should be set to OFF if you don’t need moderation in Teams.
Delete sent messages may be set to OFF, if the need arises.
Delete chat should mostly be set to OFF.
Edit sent messages may be set to OFF, if the need arises.
Read may be set to “Turned on for everyone”, but it’s not a priority.
Giphy content rating should be set to “Moderate”.
You should set rules under “Notifications & alerts”, as they are more free insights that you get.
If you use Skype for Business, you may want to configure the policies found under Other settings -> Skype for Business.
If you have Conditional Access Policies in place to block certain log-ins, you might get that a user will contact you because their sign-in request is being blocked. Probably both you and the user don’t know which policy is making the log-in fail, since it’s not specified in the error message.
The usual error message is something along the lines of: “Your sign-in was successful, but does not meet the criteria to access this resource. For example, you might be signing in from a browser, app or location that is restricted by your admin.” and the standard error code is “BlockedByConditionalAccess” error 53003
In the last few days, Microsoft implemented a timeout feature for the Microsoft 365 portal and the Office web apps. The aim is to disconnect a user if no activity is received. This will go on to become a global setting: “Idle session timeout for Microsoft 365 web apps will eventually replace current idle timeout settings in Outlook Web App (OWA) and SharePoint Online (SPO)”. This feature is not tab specific, so if you interact with Word (web app), you won’t be signed out from Outlook (web) that you have open in another tab.
Since the best practice in Azure AD is to configure Break-glass administrators to be excluded from a lot of conditional access policies, you probably want to receive an alert if this user logs into the tenant. This admin should not be used for day to day operations, and the authentication methods should be really strong.
How to guide
For this procedure, you’ll need Azure AD Premium P1 or P2.
To receive an alert on a user login you’ll need to export sign-in logs to a Log Analytics workspace, then set up the triggers. We’ll go over the steps in this guide:
Click on the user you want to get alerts for, and copy the User Principal Name.
Open your Log Analytics workspace.
Go to “Alerts”, then “+ Create”, “Alert rule”.
Under “Condition“, select “Add”.
Select “Custom log search”.
In the text box, insert the following code, personalizing it for your UPN:
SigninLogs
| project UserPrincipalName
| where UserPrincipalName == "demo@azdemoenv.onmicrosoft.com"
Under “Alert logic”, select “Operator” Greater than 0, with “Frequency of evaluation” 5 minutes.
If you want to get alerts as soon as possible, set the frequency of evaluation to 1 minute.
Click on “Next”.
Create an Action Group, or select your existing one.
To create one, click on “Add action groups”, select the subscription, resource group, and give the Action Group a name and display name.
Select the type of notification you want to get. In my example, I’ve selected an email and SMS.
Click “Ok”, and give the notification a name.
Click on “Review + create”, you will have the chance to test it out before pushing it in production.
Once you are happy with your rule, click “Create”.
If your tenant is not big, this alert will only cost a couple of bucks. However the bigger cost may come from storing all the sign-in logs. If the logs are under 5 GB, there will not be any charge, if it goes up from there you’ll have to pay for storage fees:
If just enabled a Conditional Access Policy blocking legacy authentication to Exchange Online, enabled Security Defaults, or Microsoft disabled it for your tenant, you might see some Apple Mail clients not connecting anymore.
This issue is happening because the profile might be still configured to use Exchange ActiveSync to connect to Exchange Online, and EAS (along with other legacy protocols) will be retired in October 2022.
Apple supports an automatic switch to modern authentication for its profiles, but only if it was freshly configured after iOS 12.
Unfortunately, it seems that backing up and restoring profiles does not trigger the switch to modern auth, so if you moved to a new iPhone and didn’t reconfigure the profile manually, you’ll need to remove and recreate it.
UPDATE 16.06.2022:
Apple will add support for the automatic migration to modern auth in iOS 15.6. Once you update your Apple device, the Mail app will use the saved credentials to establish a new authentication flow. From that moment onward, you’ll authenticate to Azure AD (Microsoft online Identity Provider) and get a new OAuth access token. The “old” stored credentials will then be removed. The process is fully transparent to users.
If you just installed the Azure Information Protection on-premises scanner and you are trying to start your first Content Scan Job, you might get that the button “Scan now” is greyed out.
Before attempting to troubleshoot, check that you selected the job below. If you did, try restarting the service “Azure Information Protection Scanner” on the SQL server and refreshing the Azure Content scan job page.
If you still cannot start the scan, try executing the following command on the SQL server, and insert the credentials of the service account:
It’s been a long time since Microsoft released number matching and additional context for the Microsoft Authenticator. These features allow you to quickly improve your MFA posture, adding a new layer of security and preventing accidental approvals. This is also useful to lower the chances of being compromised by MFA fatigue attacks. The feature consists in a map shown on your MFA prompt on your phone that indicates where the MFA request is coming from, the name of the application requesting the MFA challenge, and a box to insert the number that will be shown on screen.
Image taken from the Microsoft Docs. Link in the notes
How to enable it
To enable these features follow this link, which will guide you into Azure AD > Security > Authentication methods:
Be sure to activate “Require number matching for push notifications“, “Show application name in push and passwordless notifications” and “Show geographic location in push and passwordless notifications“, then save.
You can scope the features to a selected group of users if you want to test them out and go for a gradual rollout. This is done by selecting “Select group” and adding the group for which you want to enable the feature.
Additional notes
Check out this article if you are looking for a communication to send out to users before rolling out the features:
When you transfer Azure resources between subscriptions, you might get the following error: “ResourceNotTopLevel“.
This is caused by the fact that you only have to select top-level resources for the move, and the dependencies will be moved automatically.
For example, say you selected both a Network Watcher Extension and the relative VM you want to move. You will just need to move the VM object, and the extension will come with the server.
Example of an error code:
{
"code": "ResourceNotTopLevel",
"message": "Identifier '/subscriptions/0000000000000000000/resourceGroups/MoveResource/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/VMtobeMoved/extensions/AzureNetworkWatcherExtension' is not a top level resource. Please include only the top-level resource for this child resource in the move request. A child resource would be moved along with its associated top-level resource.\""
}
From the error code, you’ll get that you just have to move the following resource, being the top-level one:
It’s good to remember that if dependent resources are distributed across different resource groups, you’ll first have to move them into one resource group and then attempt the migration.
If the server has downloaded automatically an update (such as the SharePoint ones), which you don’t want to install, try following these steps to delete the queue:
Open an elevated PowerShell, then run the following command
Stop-Service -Name "wuauserv"
Open an elevated PowerShell, then run the following commands to make a backup of the folders we’re going to delete.
Azvise 