Revoke Access to Office Files with Sensitivity Labels and Azure Information Protection

Revoke Access to Office Files with Sensitivity Labels and Azure Information Protection

Most of us have had that "oh <blank>" moment where we have given someone access to someone only to immediately or later need to undo that access.  Azure Information Protection has historically been able to help us there.  AIP allowed us to create protected (encrypted) documents and also let us remove access.  However, in the move from 'classic' AIP to the new unified labelling with sensitivity labels, the ability to revoke was lost in the…
Conditional Access: Skip MFA for Company Devices on the Company Network

Conditional Access: Skip MFA for Company Devices on the Company Network

A common Conditional Access policy is to add trusted locations as an exception to multi-factor authorisation requirements.  The logic goes, if you accessing resources such as Office 365 from a location such as the corporate office, that's an element of verification in itself that your login should be trusted, so we should improve your user experience by removing MFA.  Personally, I support the use of MFA regardless of where you are authenticating (at the…
Update BitLocker Unique Identifiers with Intune

Update BitLocker Unique Identifiers with Intune

BitLocker unique identifiers are values used to identify the ownership of an encrypted volume.  The device that performs the encryption holds the unique identifier and as encryption begins, it also records this against the metadata of that encrypted volume. The identifiers are typically used in tandem with the BitLocker removable data-drive setting write access to devices configured in another organisation which, if set to block, will prevent write operations on devices where the unique…
Microsoft Defender Antivirus – Schedule & Install Updates via Network Shares

Microsoft Defender Antivirus – Schedule & Install Updates via Network Shares

Although not common, there are scenarios out where you will have LAN-only devices onboarded in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE), or at least using Microsoft Defender Antivirus (MDAV).  With no line of sight to the internet, you can use options such as WSUS, but in this blog, I'll explore using a network share, as WSUS isn't always an option. Set up the network share for updates 1. Create a directory on your file server…
Microsoft Defender Network Protection – Not Enabling via Intune – Troubleshooting & Fix

Microsoft Defender Network Protection – Not Enabling via Intune – Troubleshooting & Fix

When configuring Defender for Endpoint (MDE) customer recently, I ran into a problem when trying to enable network protection.  Network protection is a feature of MDE and Microsoft Defender Antivirus (MDAV) that takes the filtering capabilities of SmartScreen and applies them to all network traffic.  It is a prerequisite for things such as MDE's web content filtering and URL/domain indicators of compromise. This blog details the specific problem I had enabling it with Intune…
Microsoft Information Protection Sensitivity Labels – Custom User Permissions and Do Not Forward

Microsoft Information Protection Sensitivity Labels – Custom User Permissions and Do Not Forward

With Microsoft Information Protection, you can apply sensitivity labels to files, emails, and containers such as SharePoint Libraries.  These labels apply protection which, in the context of files and emails, really means encryption using AES-128 or 256 (key size depends on file type).  The great thing about Information Protection is that you control an access control list of who is allowed to access the content and it's managed as a cloud service by Microsoft. …
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint – Offline Onboarding for Windows 10 via a Proxy

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint – Offline Onboarding for Windows 10 via a Proxy

Getting your devices into Defender for Endpoint is referred to as onboarding and can be done in lots of different ways, depending on the scenario.  The tools you use for Windows Server 2008 R2, for example, are different from the tools you use for Windows Server 2019, which are different from the tools you use for Windows 10, and so on. The common denominator behind most onboarding methods is internet connectivity.  Your device connects…
Use Intune to Manage Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Tags and Device Groups

Use Intune to Manage Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Tags and Device Groups

In Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE), tags can be attached to a device for reporting, filtering, and as a dynamic attribute for membership of a device group.  Device groups (previously machine groups), are used to assign devices different rules and administrative ownership.  A device can only belong to one group and controls settings such as auto-remediation level and which Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) roles have administrative permissions over it. While you can assign tags,…
Turn Existing Azure AD Devices into Windows Autopilot Devices

Turn Existing Azure AD Devices into Windows Autopilot Devices

To provision Windows 10 PCs using Autopilot and Intune, they must first be registered as Windows Autopilot devices in the Device Directory Service, which is really the cloud Autopilot service.  When a device is registered to the Autopilot service, its hardware hash is used to generate a Zero Touch Device ID (ZTDID) - a globally unique identifier for that device based on hardware information such as (but not only) MAC address, disk serial number,…
Understanding Application Guard for Office, Now Generally Available

Understanding Application Guard for Office, Now Generally Available

Application Guard first appeared in Windows 10 1709 ("Fall Creators Update") to isolate Edge browser activity within a Hyper V container.  Microsoft now extends that same idea to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in Office 365 ProPlus Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise on Windows 10... ... if you have Microsoft 365 E5 or E5 Security.  You knew that was coming! With Application Guard for Office, your files can open in a sandbox without access local…