Understanding Azure AD Identity Protection Basics

In today's complex digital landscape, securing identities is paramount. Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Identity Protection is a powerful tool that provides visibility into, and remediation of, identity-based risks. This post covers the fundamental concepts of Azure AD Identity Protection.

Azure AD Identity Protection Diagram

What is Azure AD Identity Protection?

Azure AD Identity Protection is a security service that:

  • Detects and remediates identity-based risks.
  • Provides a central dashboard for reporting and investigation.
  • Integrates with other Azure AD and Microsoft security solutions.

Key Concepts

Identity Protection analyzes various signals to detect risks. These signals include:

  • Sign-in Risk: Detects suspicious sign-in attempts, such as sign-ins from unfamiliar locations, anonymized IPs, or impossible travel scenarios.
  • User Risk: Identifies compromised credentials, leaked credentials, or unusual user behavior.
  • Vulnerable Accounts: Highlights accounts that are misconfigured or lack basic security measures like multi-factor authentication (MFA).

Risk Detection and Reporting

Identity Protection offers a comprehensive view of detected risks through its dedicated portal:

  1. Risk Detections: A list of all detected risks, providing details about the affected user, the type of risk, and timestamps.
  2. Risky Users: A report showing users who have detected risks associated with their accounts. You can filter and sort this list to prioritize investigations.
  3. Risky Sign-ins: A report detailing suspicious sign-in events, allowing administrators to review and take action.

Remediation and Mitigation Strategies

Once risks are identified, Azure AD Identity Protection enables automated remediation or provides tools for manual intervention:

  • Require password reset: Automatically prompt users to reset their password when a sign-in or user risk is detected.
  • Require MFA: Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication for users experiencing risky sign-ins or for users with high user risk.
  • Block access: Temporarily block access for highly risky users or sign-ins until the risk is resolved.

Example Scenario: Risky Sign-in

Imagine a user's credentials are leaked online. Azure AD Identity Protection might detect this as a User Risk. Simultaneously, if the user attempts to sign in from an unfamiliar location shortly after, it will be flagged as a Sign-in Risk. Based on your policies, Identity Protection can automatically require the user to perform a password reset and enroll in MFA, effectively mitigating the threat.


# PowerShell example for viewing risky users (requires Azure AD PowerShell module)
Connect-AzureAD

Get-AzureADRiskyUser -Filter "IsHistory eq false"

Integration with Azure Sentinel

For advanced threat hunting and incident response, Azure AD Identity Protection data can be streamed to Azure Sentinel. This allows for correlation with other security data sources and the creation of sophisticated detection rules.

Conclusion

Azure AD Identity Protection is an essential layer of security for any organization leveraging Azure AD. By understanding its core components and capabilities, you can significantly enhance your identity security posture and protect against a wide range of threats.