Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) offers robust password protection and management capabilities, critical in ensuring the security and integrity of user identities. These features are designed to help organizations better manage user credentials and offer protections against common attacks such as password spray and brute force attacks. A sound understanding of these features is essential for any individual preparing for an exam like SC-900 Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals.
Azure AD Password Protection
Azure AD enhances password security by offering the capabilities of custom banned-password lists and smart lockout policies. Furthermore, it provides cloud-based password protection through global banned-password lists, which updates as Microsoft identifies new threats.
- Banned-Password Lists: In Azure AD, users are prevented from choosing a password that is considered weak, common, or vulnerable. It maintains the global banned-password list, which includes common and easily guessable passwords. In addition to this global list, organizations can create a custom list of banned words to prevent users from using company-related terms in their passwords.
- Lockout Threshold and Duration: The Smart Lockout feature helps protect user accounts by detecting and locking out attackers while allowing legitimate users to access their accounts. Administrators can specify the number of failed sign-in attempts that will trigger a user lockout and define the lockout duration.
Password Management Capabilities
Azure AD provides a host of features to streamline password management within the organization, aiming to deliver a smooth user experience without compromising on security.
- Self-service Password Reset/Change/Unlock: Azure AD Self-Service Password Reset (SSPR) allows users to reset their passwords or unlock their accounts without requiring administrator intervention. It improves productivity by reducing downtime and support costs.
- Password Hash Synchronization: This is a sign-in method that synchronizes a hash of the user’s on-premises AD password with Azure AD. This facilitates seamless password management across on-premises and cloud environments.
- Pass-Through Authentication: Azure AD Pass-through Authentication allows users to sign in with the same password as their on-premises account by validating their password against their on-premises active directory.
Comparison of Password Protection and Management Features
| Feature | Password Protection | Password Management |
|---|---|---|
| Banned-Password Lists | Yes | No |
| Account Lockouts | Yes | No |
| Self-Service Reset/Unlock | No | Yes |
| Password Hash Sync | No | Yes |
| Pass-Through Authentication | No | Yes |
Conclusion
Understanding and effectively managing Azure AD’s password protection and management capabilities is a foundational element of cloud security. Azure AD provides a variety of mechanisms to ensure password integrity and streamline password management, reducing administrative overhead and enhancing overall organizational security. A proper understanding of these features lays a strong foundation for aspirants preparing for the SC-900 Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals exam.
Practice Test
True / False: “Azure AD is incapable of setting password policies for apps and services.”
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Azure AD has the capability to set password policies for apps and services which help in following proper password management.
True / False: “Self-service password reset (SSPR) is not a feature in Azure AD password management.”
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Self-Service Password Reset (SSPR) is a feature in Azure AD that allows users to reset their passwords on their own eliminating the need for IT administrators’ involvement.
Which feature of Azure AD password protection measures the degree of guessability of a password given a particular set of guessing methods?
- A. Banished password list
- B. Custom banished password list
- C. Password spray attack protection
- D. Password guessability evaluation
Answer: D. Password guessability evaluation
Explanation: Password guessability evaluation measures how easily a password can be guessed given certain methods.
Which of the following are capabilities of Azure AD Password protection? (select all that apply)
- A. Helps eliminate easily guessable passwords
- B. Protects Windows Server Active Directory domains
- C. Forces users to use a minimum password length only
- D. Reduces the risk of password spray attacks
Answer: A. Helps eliminate easily guessable passwords, B. Protects Windows Server Active Directory domains, D. Reduces the risk of password spray attacks
Explanation: Azure AD Password protection has these capabilities except forcing users to use a minimum password length only. In fact, it does much more related to password complexity and guessability.
True / False: “Azure AD Password Protection does not support banished password list.”
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Azure AD Password Protection supports both global and custom banished password list.
True / False: “Smart Lockout capability is not present in Azure AD password management.”
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Smart Lockout is a capability present in Azure AD password management that blocks or locks out the attackers trying to sign in.
How does Azure AD prevent password spray attacks?
- A. By enforcing password change every 90 days
- B. By blocking IP addresses suspected of launching spray attacks
- C. By enforcing the use of strong passwords
- D. By locking the user account after a number of failed attempts
Answer: B. By blocking IP addresses suspected of launching spray attacks
Explanation: Azure AD prevents password spray attacks by detecting and blocking the IP addresses that are making numerous attempts to sign in.
Which feature of Azure AD password protection allows users to reset their passwords without admin involvement?
- A. Self-service password reset
- B. Password complexity evaluation
- C. Password spray attack protection
- D. Smart Lockout
Answer: A. Self-service password reset
Explanation: Self-service password reset (SSPR) is the feature that allows a user to reset their passwords without the help of the admin.
True / False: “Global administrators can specify certain passwords that should not be used in their organization using Azure AD.”
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Global administrators can specify certain passwords that should not be used in their organization through the custom banished password list in Azure AD.
True / False: “Azure AD Password protection is available with a free subscription only.”
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Azure AD password protection is available with both free and paid subscriptions, but the paid subscriptions offer more features.
Interview Questions
Describe Azure Active Directory’s password protection feature.
Azure AD password protection is a feature that protects your organization from threats such as password spray attacks by banning common, weak, or compromised passwords.
What is Azure AD Self-Service Password Reset?
Azure AD Self-Service Password Reset allows users to reset their passwords without administrative intervention. This feature enhances productivity by reducing downtime due to forgotten passwords.
How can you enable Azure AD Password protection?
You can enable Azure AD Password protection through the Azure portal. It can be found in the Azure Active Directory section under ‘Security’ -> ‘Authentication methods’ -> ‘Password protection’.
Can you manage multiple directories with Azure AD’s password management capabilities?
Yes, Azure AD allows managing multiple directories. You can seamlessly manage user identities and their credentials across these different directories.
What are the password policies available in Azure AD?
In Azure AD, the password policies include features such as password strength requirements, password history, password expiration, and enforcement of smart lockout protection.
What is Smart Lockout in Azure AD?
Smart lockout is a feature in Azure AD that protects user accounts by locking them out after a number of failed sign-in attempts. It helps protect against brute-force attacks.
How does Azure AD Password Hash Sync enhance security?
Password Hash Sync is a feature that synchronizes a hash of the user’s on-premises AD password with Azure AD. This allows users to sign in to Azure AD services with the same credentials they use on-premises, and enhances security by enabling leaked credential detection.
Can you integrate Azure AD Password Protection with on-premises AD?
Yes, you can deploy Azure AD Password Protection to an on-premises environment which provides the same banned password protection as available in the cloud.
What is the main benefit of Azure AD Password Protection?
Azure AD Password Protection helps eliminate easily guessed passwords from the environment, which can dramatically lower the risk of password-based attacks.
Is Azure AD password protection available for hybrid organizations?
Yes, Azure AD Password Protection is available for hybrid organizations, meaning it works with both cloud-only and hybrid Azure AD environments.
How does Azure AD handle password complexity?
Azure AD enforces password complexity by checking the users’ chosen password against a list of commonly used and easily guessable passwords.
What is password writeback in Azure AD?
Password writeback is a feature enabled with Azure AD Connect that allows password changes in the cloud to be written back to an existing on-premises directory in real time.
How is data secured while using the password writeback feature in Azure AD Connect?
Azure AD Connect uses a secure HTTPS channel to transmit hashes of password data. No clear text passwords are transmitted or logged.
Can an individual user’s sign-in attempt lock out all accounts in Azure AD’s smart lockout feature?
No, the Azure AD smart lockout feature is designed so that an individual user’s sign-in attempts will only lock out that specific user’s account.
Can I customize the lockout settings in Azure AD’s Smart Lockout feature?
Yes, Azure AD allows you to customize the lockout threshold and lockout duration for your organization in the Smart Lockout settings.
extutorials.com