Managing guests’ access within Microsoft Teams is an important aspect that is covered in the MS-700 exam. It involves ensuring secure entry points for guests and collaborating effectively while maintaining system security. In our today’s post, we will discuss how to monitor and report on guest access in Microsoft Teams.
Monitoring Guest Access
Monitoring guest access is crucial in acknowledging the activities in your Microsoft Teams Account. This involves regulating what guests can and can’t do once they access your Teams. Here is how you go about it.
First, with the Office 365 audit log available in the Security & Compliance Center, admins can monitor guest user activities. These logs capture activities such as when a guest user accepted an invitation, created a channel, deleted a channel, etc. You can also filter the log entries by date range, user, and activities for easy access to the information.
Here is the sequence of steps to view events in the audit log:
- Open the Security & Compliance Center and sign in.
- In the left pane, click Search & investigation, and then click Audit log search.
- In Activities pick the “Guest user activity” events that you want to view.
- Click Search after specifying the necessary criteria including Start date and End date.
Example:
Reporting on Guest Access
Reporting on guest access helps you to know the number of guests that have access to your Teams and what they are doing. With Microsoft Teams, admins can make use of Teams usage reports which are part of the Microsoft 365 admin center.
The Teams user activity report in the Microsoft Teams admin center gives insight on how users in your organization use Teams. This report can show which users are active in Teams and what they do like post messages, reply, call, and meeting. Moreover, this will include the guests laying more emphasis on their actions and activities.
You can access the Teams usage report through the following steps:
- In the Microsoft Teams admin center, select Analytics & reports > Usage reports.
- On the View reports tab, under Report, select Teams user activity.
This will bring a comprehensive list of guests and their activities.
Microsoft Power BI can also be used to create reports dedicated to guest users’ activity.
Conclusion
Understanding how to monitor and guest access is a key component of the MS-700 exam and managing Microsoft Teams in the real world. Making use of the inbuilt tools that Microsoft offers will allow for a greater understanding of your organization’s usage of Teams and ensures a secure and effective working environment.
Always be vigilant and proactive in checking the activities for guest user access in your Teams. It’s a good practice to regularly visit and check the audit logs in the Security & Compliance Center and the Teams usage reports for unusual activities. If spotted, restrict certain permissions for the guest user or if required remove them from the team.
Stay tuned for more discussions around this topic and read about other important aspects of the MS-700 exam in other posts.
Practice Test
True or False: As an admin, you can view reports on guest activity in Microsoft Teams.
- Answer: True
Explanation: Microsoft Teams includes rich reporting features that allow administrators to monitor and report on guest access and activity.
Microsoft Teams enables administrators to limit the actions a guest can perform within a team. Which of the following actions can be limited?
A. Post
B. Share files
C. Create channels
D. All of the above
- A. Post
- B. Share files
- C. Create channels
- D. All of the above
- Answer: D. All of the above
Explanation: Teams lets you set permissions for what actions a guest is allowed to perform such as posting, sharing files, or creating channels.
True or False: It is not possible to monitor the messages in private chats initiated by guest users in Microsoft Teams.
- Answer: True
Explanation: Currently, there is no direct or native feature in Teams to monitor the content of private chat conducted by guest users.
What tool can be used to search, analyze, and download Teams usage data?
A. Teams Search
B. Bing Search
C. Office 365 Security & Compliance Center
D. Google Search
- A. Teams Search
- B. Bing Search
- C. Office 365 Security & Compliance Center
- D. Google Search
- Answer: C. Office 365 Security & Compliance Center
Explanation: Office 365 Security & Compliance Center, accessible to admins, can be used to search, analyze, and download usage data.
True or False: External users can only participate in Teams as guests if they have a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 account that uses Azure AD.
- Answer: False
Explanation: While using Azure AD is one way for external users to participate as guests, Microsoft Teams also supports guest access for users with an email account, such as a Gmail account.
True or False: Guest users in Microsoft Teams have the same capabilities as the team owners.
- Answer: False
Explanation: Although guest users can fully participate in chats, meetings, and channels, there are features that are not available to them as they are to team members and owners.
Which of the following reports in the Microsoft 365 admin center shows details about how your organization uses Teams?
A. Teams user activity report
B. Privacy report
C. Security report
D. Teams guest activity report
- A. Teams user activity report
- B. Privacy report
- C. Security report
- D. Teams guest activity report
- Answer: A. Teams user activity report
Explanation: The Teams user activity report in the Microsoft 365 admin center provides information about how your organization uses Teams including users’ interaction and guests’ activities.
True or False: You can remove guest access to a team in Microsoft Teams at any time.
- Answer: True
Explanation: Yes, as a Team owner or an admin, you can control and revoke guest access at any time if it is no longer required.
True or False: It is impossible to export usage reports in Teams.
- Answer: False
Explanation: Admins can export Teams usage report data into an Excel .csv file for more in-depth analysis.
Which of the following permissions are granted to guests in Microsoft Teams by default?
A. Create and delete channels
B. Share a channel file
C. Make private calls
D. All of the above
- A. Create and delete channels
- B. Share a channel file
- C. Make private calls
- D. All of the above
- Answer: B. Share a channel file
Explanation: By default, guests can share a channel file. Other capabilities like create and delete channels, make private calls, are not available for guests unless granted by an administrator.
Interview Questions
How can you monitor guest access in Microsoft Teams?
You can monitor guest access in Microsoft Teams using the Azure AD portal, particular the ‘Sign-ins’ activity. Here, you can view the activities of your guest users including their sign-ins, IPs, and the resources they’ve accessed.
What is an important step before you can monitor and report on guest access in Microsoft Teams?
Before you initiate monitoring of guest access in Teams, ensure that Guest Access is enabled at the organizational level.
Can you obtain a usage report for guests in Teams?
Yes, you can obtain a usage report for guests in Teams in the Microsoft Teams Admin Center under the ‘Analytics & Reports’ section.
What types of activities can you monitor from the Azure AD portal?
You can monitor activities such as when a guest user signed in, which IP they used, and the resources they accessed.
How can you control guest access to Teams at the organizational level?
Guest access can be controlled by going to Microsoft 365 admin center – Settings – Services & add-ins – Office 365 Groups, where you can toggle on or off the option to let people outside the organization access groups.
Can external users be transformed into guests in Microsoft Teams?
Yes, external users can be upgraded to guest status, through the Teams and Skype admin center’s Users section.
Are guest users able to access the Teams app on their mobile devices?
Yes, guest users can access the Teams app on their mobile devices.
How long does it take for data to appear in the reports after enabling guest access?
It can take up to 48 hours for the usage data to appear in reports after enabling guest access.
How can the admin restrict guests from creating and updating channels in Microsoft Teams?
The admin can restrict guests from creating and updating channels via the setting option in the Teams admin center.
How can the admin ensure that only specific guests have access to certain resources?
The admin can implement conditional access policies in Azure AD for specific guests.
Can a guest user be assigned with administrative roles in Teams?
No, guest users cannot be assigned with administrative roles in Teams.
Can you use PowerShell to manage guest access in Teams?
Yes, the Teams PowerShell module also allows managing guest access.
How can you prevent guests from starting private chats in Teams?
Private chat capabilities for guests can be controlled from within the “Guest access” settings page in Teams admin center.
Can guests be added from any type of email account?
Yes, they can be from any email account including work, school, or consumer email services.
Who can see the reports on guest access?
Teams admin, global reader, or report reader roles can see the reports on guest access.
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