I was recently invited by the Dutch Virtual Desktop User Group to present a session about Identity Security. Now, because this was in Dutch (my native language), I decided to do a ‘short’ write-up in English, so everybody can benefit from this. I shared 10 tips on how to secure your identities, but not before I showed how easy it is to phish Office 365 credentials, even if they are protected with MFA. You can also check the recording in…
This blog post is all about the new Temporary Access Pass in Azure Active Directory. At the time of writing, this feature is not officially announced, but the policy, settings, and API are now available. Time to dive in for some first experiences. What is a Temporary Access Pass? As the documentation states, a Temporary Access Pass (TAP) is a time-limited passcode that serves as a strong credential and allows the onboarding of passwordless credentials. This is a big step…
Research has found that when periodic password resets are enforced, passwords become less secure. Users tend to pick a weaker password and vary it slightly for each reset. If a user creates a strong password (long, complex and without any pragmatic words present) it should remain just as strong in 60 days as it is today. It is Microsoft’s official security position to not expire passwords periodically without a specific reason, and recommends that cloud-only tenants set the password policy…
Part 1 – Graph API What is the number one task if we want to protect our identity? Right. Turn on MFA.What is the number one task our helpdesk is busy with all day (and night)? Right. Password Resets.What is the number one struggle when we want to implement security? Right. User experience.So, what are you gonna get by reading this blog post? Some light at the end of the tunnel. Buckle up! What’s the case here? I start at…
Designate more than one global admin Having more than one global administrator helps if you are unable to fulfill the needs or obligations of your organization. It’s important to have a delegate or an emergency account someone from your team can access if necessary. It also allows admins the ability to monitor each other for signs of a breach. Having too many global admins is no good. But having only one global admin is even worse. Let’s talk about global…
Today a short blog about MFA prompts, session lifetime, and cookies. This will give you an idea of how you can tune the end-user experience and where to configure these settings. Session lifetime in Azure AD is often mistaken. When you start working with Azure AD, Conditional Access, and Multi-factor authentication, there are a couple of things you should know. The Azure AD defaults are pretty loose. When you leave every setting to default, the user experience is pretty good.…
A quick word upfront. I’m not a salesperson. I’m interested in FIDO2 because it delivers passwordless and strong authentication. That means that you should be free using any FIDO2 security key or card you want. Whether it’s Yubico, FEITIAN, Solo, or any other brand. USB-A, USB-C, NFC, Bluetooth, Lightning, with or without biometrics. This blog is not what to buy and where to buy. This blog is about security. That being said: on with the show! I’ve tested a bunch…
The (long) title pretty much reveals the purpose of this blog post. This one was on my to-do list for a while now, and now the combined registration portal is General Available, the time was there. In my previous MFA-related blogs, I always encouraged my readers to turn on the combined registration portal, even when it was in public preview. But if you start using this portal, there are quite some settings that can change the user experience of the…