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In today's dynamic digital landscape, securing identities is paramount. Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Identity Protection is a powerful cloud-based security solution that provides a unified view of identity-related risks and enables automated remediation. This guide will walk you through its core features, benefits, and how to leverage it effectively to protect your organization.

What is Azure AD Identity Protection?

Azure AD Identity Protection is designed to detect and respond to threats by leveraging Microsoft's vast intelligence network. It goes beyond traditional access controls by analyzing real-time signals from various sources, including:

• User sign-ins (location, device, application, risk level)
• User risk detections (e.g., leaked credentials, unusual sign-in activity)
• Managed Identity risks (e.g., unusual activity for service principals)

Key Features and Capabilities

1. Risk Detection

Identity Protection continuously monitors for suspicious activities. Some of the key risk detections include:

• Anonymous IP Address Usage: Sign-ins from IPs associated with Tor exit nodes or VPNs.
• Malicious IP Address: Sign-ins from IPs known to be used for malicious purposes.
• IP Address That Hasn't Been Used Recently: Sign-ins from an IP address that is unusual for the user.
• Inconsistent Call Stack: Anomalies in the sequence of sign-in requests.
• Infrequent Locations: Sign-ins from a geographic location the user rarely signs in from.
• Multi-Step Anomalies: Unusual sequences of sign-ins across different locations or applications.
• Phishing Detection: Identifies sign-ins that are part of known phishing campaigns.
• Impossible Travel: Sign-ins occurring in geographically distant locations in an implausible timeframe.
• Leaked Credentials: Alerts when user credentials are found in known data breaches.

2. Risk Policies

Once risks are detected, Identity Protection allows you to enforce policies to mitigate them. These policies can be applied based on user risk or sign-in risk:

• User Risk Policy: Applied when a user's overall risk level is elevated. Actions can include requiring a password change, restricting app access, or blocking sign-ins.
• Sign-in Risk Policy: Applied when a specific sign-in attempt is deemed risky. Actions can include requiring Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), restricting app access, or blocking sign-ins.

3. Dashboards and Reporting

Identity Protection offers comprehensive dashboards for monitoring and analysis:

• Risky Users: Provides a list of users with elevated risk scores, along with their risk history and details.
• Risky Sign-ins: Shows all sign-in attempts that have been flagged as risky, allowing for investigation.
• Detections: A detailed view of all detected risk events.

These insights are crucial for understanding your security posture and responding proactively to threats.

Implementing Azure AD Identity Protection

To get started, ensure you have the appropriate Azure AD Premium license (P1 or P2). Then, navigate to the Azure portal and access the 'Azure Active Directory' service. Under the 'Security' section, you'll find 'Identity Protection'.

Steps to configure a risk policy:

1. Go to Azure Active Directory > Security > Identity Protection.
2. Select Risk policies.
3. Choose either User risk policy or Sign-in risk policy.
4. Configure the policy settings:
   • Assignments: Select the users and groups the policy applies to.
   • Risk level: Define the threshold for user or sign-in risk.
   • Controls: Specify the actions to take (e.g., require MFA, require password change).
   • Conditions: Optionally add conditions like location or device state.
5. Enable the policy and save your changes.

It's recommended to set up policies for:

• Medium user risk: Require a password reset.
• High user risk: Block access.
• Medium sign-in risk: Require MFA.
• High sign-in risk: Block access.

Best Practices for Identity Protection

• Enable MFA everywhere: Identity Protection works best when complemented by robust MFA.
• Integrate with SIEM: Send Identity Protection logs to your Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system for centralized analysis.
• Regularly review risk detections and policies: Stay updated on emerging threats and adjust your policies accordingly.
• Educate your users: Inform users about the importance of security practices and what to do if they receive a suspicious alert.
• Monitor and remediate: Actively investigate risky users and sign-ins, and remediate any suspicious activity promptly.

Azure AD Identity Protection is a cornerstone of modern identity security. By understanding and implementing its features, you can significantly enhance your organization's resilience against sophisticated cyber threats.

Stay secure!