Azure Entra Conditional Access: A Comprehensive Guide

Azure Entra Conditional Access is a powerful tool that helps you control access to your organization's resources. It allows you to define policies that grant or deny access based on conditions such as user identity, device, location, and more.

With Azure Entra Conditional Access, you can ensure that only authorized users can access sensitive data and systems, reducing the risk of data breaches. This is achieved through a combination of user and device authentication, as well as session and sign-in policies.

To get started with Azure Entra Conditional Access, you'll need to create a conditional access policy. This involves defining a set of conditions that will determine whether access is granted or denied. For example, you might require multi-factor authentication for users accessing sensitive data from outside the organization's network.

Azure AD Conditional Access is a powerful tool that can help secure your organization's resources. It works by evaluating user and group membership, device information, and other factors to determine whether a user should be granted access to a particular resource.

To get started with Azure AD Conditional Access, you'll need to sign in to the Azure portal and navigate to the Azure Active Directory section. From there, you can click on the "Conditional Access" tab to begin configuring policies.

Your organization's Azure AD tenant will need to be configured to use Conditional Access policies. This can be done by enabling the feature in the Azure portal.

Conditional Access policies can be applied to users, groups, or devices, giving you fine-grained control over who has access to your organization's resources. You can also use policies to require multi-factor authentication, enforce specific permissions, and more.

Azure AD Conditional Access integrates with other Azure AD features, such as Azure AD Identity Protection and Azure AD Privileged Identity Management. This allows you to leverage these features to further enhance your organization's security posture.

Security defaults are a set of configurations that help protect you from identity-based attacks like password spraying and phishing. They were introduced by Microsoft in October 2019 for newly created tenants.

Security defaults are designed for free-tier Entra ID tenants or those without Conditional Access features. If you pay for a P1 or P2 Entra ID license, it's recommended to use Conditional Access instead.

Security defaults offer several controls to enhance security. These include requiring all users to register a multi-factor authentication method, and requiring administrators to log in using multifactor authentication (MFA).

Here are the specific controls offered by security defaults:

To enable security defaults, log in to the Entra Admin Center as a security administrator or higher privileged admin. Then, navigate to Identity > Overview > Properties, select Manage security defaults, and enable them.

The device filters are used to enforce MFA authentication if the device is not registered in Entra. Exclude devices whose TrustType is not registered or domain-joined.

It's essential to exclude users when needed, such as a service account that operates without the Global Administrator role.

To create effective policies, you need to understand the license requirements for Conditional Access. Using this feature requires Microsoft Entra ID P1 licenses.

Customers with Microsoft 365 Business Premium licenses also have access to Conditional Access features, which can be a cost-effective option. Risk-based policies require access to Microsoft Entra ID Protection, which necessitates P2 licenses.

Other products and features that interact with Conditional Access policies require appropriate licensing for those products and features. Licenses required for Conditional Access expire, but policies aren't automatically disabled or deleted, allowing for a smooth transition.

As you create policies to secure your Entra ID tenant, it's essential to consider the various use cases that can benefit from these policies. You can monitor identity privilege and activity to stay on top of who has access to what.

Conditional Access policies can be used to block unauthorized access, such as by only granting access using a passwordless or phishing-resistant MFA method. This can minimize the risk of compromised user accounts.

Here are some common use cases for policy creation:

By implementing these policies, you can ensure that your Entra ID tenant is secure and compliant with regulatory requirements.

To create a policy in Entra ID, start by signing in as an administrator and navigating to Security > Conditional Access > Create new policy. Name the policy "MFA enforcement for non-admin users".

The device filters in Entra ID are used to enforce MFA authentication if the device is not registered in Entra. To do this, exclude devices whose TrustType is not registered or domain-joined.

You'll want to carefully consider which users to exclude from the policy. For example, a service account that operates without the Global Administrator role should be excluded to prevent it from being impacted by the policy.

To create a new policy, you'll need to navigate to Security > Conditional Access > Create new policy and follow the prompts. Don't forget to name your policy clearly, such as "MFA enforcement for non-admin users".

Here are the steps to filter for devices in Entra ID:

By following these steps, you'll be well on your way to creating a secure policy in Entra ID that protects your identities and prevents breaches like the one that occurred at Microsoft.

Policy configuration is a crucial step in setting up Azure Entra Conditional Access. You can apply one of three operation modes: On, Off, or Report-only, which is great for troubleshooting policies.

To decide on the purpose of a new policy, you need to consider the target resources and the type of users or devices it will affect. For example, you might create a policy for MFA enforcement for non-admin users or a zero-trust policy for Global Administrator sessions.

Here are the possible purposes of a new policy:

To create a policy, sign in to Entra ID as an administrator and navigate to Security > Conditional Access > Create new policy. Name the policy and configure the relevant controls, such as device filters, to determine the policy's outcome.

To configure a Conditional Access policy, you need to decide its purpose, such as enforcing MFA for non-administrative users or implementing zero-trust principles for Global Administrator sessions. This involves defining the target resources, conditions, and controls that will be applied to the policy.

You can create a new policy by signing in to the Entra ID admin center and navigating to Security > Conditional Access > Create new policy. Here are some key considerations for each step:

Here's a summary of the key considerations for creating a Conditional Access policy:

By carefully considering these factors, you can create a Conditional Access policy that effectively enforces your organization's security posture and protects sensitive resources.

When configuring policies, it's essential to consider the client apps that users are employing to access the cloud app.

By default, all newly created Conditional Access policies apply to all client app types, even if the client apps condition isn't configured. This means that if you don't specify a client app type, your policy will affect all types of client apps.

The client apps can include browsers and mobile apps and desktop clients. This is a broad range of client apps that can be affected by your policy.

The What If Feature is a built-in tool in Microsoft Entra ID that lets you simulate sign-in scenarios to see how Conditional Access policies will affect a specific user in real-time.

It's essentially a testing ground where you can evaluate how the system will respond if a user attempts to sign in, without involving a real user. This is super useful for testing authentication processes and security measures.

The What If tool validates policies that are both in production and those set in 'report only' mode, giving you a comprehensive view of how policies will apply.

It helps you pinpoint which policies apply to a specific user under various conditions and understand why certain policies might not apply.