Unlocking the Power of Conditional Access: Understanding the Architecture and Authentication Flow
Microsoft’s Conditional Access is a powerful security feature and a key component of their zero trust architecture. It’s important to understand how it works, as it can give organizations a false sense of security if not implemented correctly. In this blog post, we’ll dive into the policy evaluation process and explore how to identify and fix any issues in policy design to ensure maximum security for your organization.
What is conditional access?
Conditional Access is a security feature in Microsoft’s Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) and Office 365 platforms that allows administrators to control and restrict access to company resources based on a set of conditions. These conditions can include the user’s location, the device being used, the application being accessed, and other factors that can help determine the level of risk associated with granting access. By using Conditional Access, organizations can ensure that only authorized users with appropriate levels of access can access sensitive company data and applications. This can help protect against data breaches, unauthorized access, and other security threats.
The licensing requirements for using Conditional Access in Azure AD and Office 365 depend on the specific features that you want to use. In general, you will need a paid subscription for Azure AD Premium P1 or P2, or for Microsoft 365 Business, E3, or E5. Some features of Conditional Access, such as requiring multi-factor authentication, may also require additional licensing. Microsoft offers various licensing options for its products, so it’s important to review your specific licensing needs with your IT department or Microsoft representative to ensure that you have the necessary licenses to use Conditional Access.
Architecture and Conditional Access Authentication Flow
The architecture of Conditional Access is based on a set of policies that are created and managed by administrators in the Azure portal. These policies define the conditions under which access to specific resources will be allowed or denied. When a user attempts to access a resource that is protected by Conditional Access, the policies are evaluated in real-time to determine if the user is allowed to access the resource.
The Conditional Access authentication flow begins when a user attempts to access a protected resource. The first step is authentication, where the user is prompted to enter their credentials. The user’s credentials are then validated by Azure AD. If the user is successfully authenticated, Conditional Access policies are evaluated to determine whether to allow or deny access to the resource.
The policy evaluation process involves checking whether the user meets the conditions specified in the policy. For example, a policy may require multi-factor authentication or may restrict access to specific locations. If the user meets the conditions, access is allowed. If the user does not meet the conditions, access is denied. It is also worth noting that policies that Block Access will always take precedence over other policies
The authentication flow may also involve additional security measures, such as device compliance checks or risk assessments. These checks help to ensure that only authorized users with appropriate levels of access can access sensitive company data and applications.
Setting Up Conditional Access
Here’s how to set up conditional access policies for Azure AD and Office 365:
Log in to the Azure Portal and navigate to Azure Active Directory.
Click on Conditional Access, then click New Policy to create a new policy.
Define the conditions for the policy, such as the user or group, location, device platform, and application. We will be breaking these options down in a future post.
Choose the access controls for the policy, such as requiring multi-factor authentication or blocking access altogether.
Test the policy by assigning it to a test user or group, and then monitoring the results.
