Speaker 1: Ever feel like stepping into the digital world is like
Speaker 1: like navigating a minefield. I mean, with all the security
Speaker 1: threats out there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a jungle out there, it really is.
Speaker 1: So today we're doing a deep dive into Microsoft three
Speaker 1: sixty five security, yeah, using Peter Rising's MS five hundred
Speaker 1: exam guide. Yeah, hopefully it'll give us a map to
Speaker 1: navigate this crazy digital world.
Speaker 2: It's a good one, yeah, a good roadmap. And you
Speaker 2: know it's not just for like acing the exam, right,
Speaker 2: which is great obviously, but this guide is actually jam
Speaker 2: packed with advice that anyone you know, responsible for Microsoft
Speaker 2: three sixty five security can.
Speaker 1: Use exactly real world practical stuff. So Peter Rising, the author,
Speaker 1: he's a pretty big deal right in Microsoft Security.
Speaker 2: Oh totally. Yeah, over twenty five years in it. He's
Speaker 2: seen it all, and he really knows his stuff.
Speaker 1: He's been there, done that, and.
Speaker 2: He really emphasizes understanding the why behind the what when
Speaker 2: it comes to security, yes.
Speaker 1: Which is so important absolutely, because it's not just about
Speaker 1: checking boxes. It's about making informed decisions right about why
Speaker 1: you're doing things. And so one of the things he
Speaker 1: talks about is hybrid identity, yes, which I have to
Speaker 1: admit sounds a little intimidating.
Speaker 2: It can be a little bit, yeah, but Rising really
Speaker 2: breaks it down well. Hybrid identity is basically about managing
Speaker 2: those user accounts both on your on premises active directory okay,
Speaker 2: and in the cloud with Azure Active Directory.
Speaker 1: Okay. So you've got these two separate systems. How do
Speaker 1: you make sure they're talking to each other.
Speaker 2: That is where directory synchronization comes in.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: So Azure AD Connect used to be called dursync. That's
Speaker 2: the tool that makes the magic happen.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: It makes sure that your on premises active directory data
Speaker 2: it's SYNCD up with Azure ad Okay, so you have
Speaker 2: one single source of truth for user identities.
Speaker 1: Ah So, no more logging in from your phone and
Speaker 1: having to remember a completely different password.
Speaker 2: Yeah exactly. It streamlines that user experience. Nice, but it
Speaker 2: also makes that security even stronger.
Speaker 1: Music to my ears, right. But let's talk about authentication
Speaker 1: methods because Rising gets into a few different options.
Speaker 2: Yeah he does, and they all have like their own
Speaker 2: pros and cass absolutely. So you've got password hash sync.
Speaker 2: That one is pretty simple to set up. It basically
Speaker 2: sends a secure hash of the user's password to Azure AD.
Speaker 1: Okay, so not the actual password, just a scrambled version
Speaker 1: of it exactly.
Speaker 2: It's efficients, but it might not be the best for
Speaker 2: like highly sensitive environments.
Speaker 1: So what's the alternative? If you want something a little
Speaker 1: more robust.
Speaker 2: Then you got passed through authentication. So with this one,
Speaker 2: Azure AD checks those log and attempts directly against your
Speaker 2: on prem ad.
Speaker 1: Oh.
Speaker 2: Okay, it's definitely more secure, but it needs a constant
Speaker 2: connection to those on premises servers.
Speaker 1: The trade off, I guess.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you could say that security versus complexity. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: then there's federation okay, often using adfs, and that one's
Speaker 2: kind of like your on premises AD vouching for the
Speaker 2: user to Azure AD. Okay, So it gives you a
Speaker 2: lot more control, but it can be trickier to set
Speaker 2: up and maintain.
Speaker 1: So many options. I know, right, it's clear that picking
Speaker 1: the right authentication method is crucial.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 1: But once you have that figured out, Rising doesn't let
Speaker 1: up on those security measures, does he.
Speaker 2: No, he does not.
Speaker 1: He is all about multi factor authentication.
Speaker 2: He is. He calls it non negotiable these days, and honestly,
Speaker 2: I gotta agree, Yeah, because even if someone gets your
Speaker 2: password with MFA, they still need that second form of
Speaker 2: verification to get in it.
Speaker 1: Look a pincot they send to your phone, or a
Speaker 1: fingerprint scan.
Speaker 2: Or something exactly. That extra layer of protection can make
Speaker 2: all the difference. Yeah, and it's not just about those
Speaker 2: outside threats, you know, it's also about those risks from inside,
Speaker 2: like accidental data leaks or internal threats.
Speaker 1: Right, Because let's be honest, we've all accidentally sent an
Speaker 1: email to the wrong person.
Speaker 2: Oh, tell me about it, or clicked on a phishing
Speaker 2: link that seemed totally legit at the time. Oh yeah, totally,
Speaker 2: which is exactly why Rising's a big fan of self
Speaker 2: service password reset. It lets users reset their own password securely, okay,
Speaker 2: without having to get it involved every single.
Speaker 1: Time, which is good for everybody, all right, less work
Speaker 1: for it and less waiting around for.
Speaker 2: Users, exactly, everybody wins. But let's get into some of
Speaker 2: the more advanced security features, okay that Rising talks about
Speaker 2: in the guide. Okay, I think Azure AD identity protection
Speaker 2: is really interesting.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say that's the one that caught my
Speaker 1: eye too. It sounds very high tech.
Speaker 2: It sounds like something out of a spy movie.
Speaker 1: It does.
Speaker 2: It's basically always analyzing user behavior, looking for anything sus
Speaker 2: anything that might mean an account's been compromised.
Speaker 1: Okay, Like what kinds of things would it flag?
Speaker 2: So let's say you're logging in from a new place, okay,
Speaker 2: or a bunch of failed log in attempts, or even
Speaker 2: like it can tell if your login info has shown
Speaker 2: up in a data breach somewhere.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, It's like it knows things before you do, right,
Speaker 1: So what happens when it does spot something?
Speaker 2: That's the cool part. You can set it up to
Speaker 2: automatically take action. Okay, So it can block access, force
Speaker 2: a password reset, or even make you do extra authentication.
Speaker 1: Oh so it's not just telling you something's wrong, it's
Speaker 1: actually doing something.
Speaker 2: About it exactly. It's proactive security.
Speaker 1: I like it.
Speaker 2: Then you've got as your advanced threat protection or as
Speaker 2: your ATP. That one goes even further, monitoring your network
Speaker 2: for those like really sneaky threats, stuff like lateral movement
Speaker 2: or like data being taken out.
Speaker 1: Okay, hold on, what's lateral movement?
Speaker 2: Okay? So imagine someone breaks into your network, right, Lateral
Speaker 2: movement is when they try to like sneak around once
Speaker 2: they're in looking for valuable data or systems to attack.
Speaker 1: Oh so they're like casing the.
Speaker 2: Joint basically, and as your ATP, it's designed to catch
Speaker 2: them in the act. I see, even if those activities
Speaker 2: would normally go unnoticed.
Speaker 1: That's good. So that's like our network security guard, right,
Speaker 1: keeping an eye on things, right. But what about protecting
Speaker 1: the actual devices? Ah? Good, point, not just the network.
Speaker 2: That's where Microsoft Defender ATP comes in.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: It provides that extra layer of security right on the device.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: It has stuff like anti virus, anti malware, and endpoint
Speaker 2: Detection and Response EDR EDR.
Speaker 1: What is that exactly?
Speaker 2: So EDR it's all about catching and then responding to
Speaker 2: threats that got past your other defenses.
Speaker 1: So it's like our last line of defense.
Speaker 2: You got it, like your security team working right on
Speaker 2: the device.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: And Rising really emphasizes using features like application Guard, application control,
Speaker 2: and exploit Guard.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: They seem like small things, but they can make a
Speaker 2: huge difference.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Sometimes it's the little things right totally.
Speaker 2: For example, application Guard, it basically makes a safe space
Speaker 2: for you to browse websites that might be risky oh okay,
Speaker 2: so even if you click a bad link, your system
Speaker 2: is still safe.
Speaker 1: Oh, like a safety net for browsing exactly.
Speaker 2: And then there's Application control. That one lets you choose
Speaker 2: exactly which apps can run on your devices, okay, and
Speaker 2: it blocks everything else. It's a great way to stop
Speaker 2: any bad programs from causing problem.
Speaker 1: And then there's exploit guard right. That sounds like it's
Speaker 1: dealing with those weaknesses in software that hackers are always
Speaker 1: trying to take advantage.
Speaker 2: Exactly. It's a set of tools that makes it way
Speaker 2: harder for attackers to get into your system.
Speaker 1: I like it. So it sounds like we've got all
Speaker 1: our bases covered almost, from user identity to device security
Speaker 1: and everything in between.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but Rising doesn't stop there. He also talks about
Speaker 2: data loss prevention or DLP.
Speaker 1: Oh right, DLP because sometimes it's not hackers, right, it's
Speaker 1: just people making mistakes exactly.
Speaker 2: DLP can detect things like credit card numbers, social security numbers,
Speaker 2: all those sensitive data types, okay, and it stops them
Speaker 2: from being shared if they shouldn't be. Oh.
Speaker 1: So it's like it's watching over your shoulder and making
Speaker 1: sure you don't accidentally send something you should pretty much.
Speaker 2: And it's not just about those accidental leaks, Okay. It
Speaker 2: also makes sure you're following all those data privacy rules
Speaker 2: like GDPR, right, because GDPR is a big deal, huge,
Speaker 2: especially for companies working with data from the EU.
Speaker 1: Exactly.
Speaker 2: Rising actually has a whole section on GDPR. He talks
Speaker 2: about how tools like the GDPR dashboard, the tool, and
Speaker 2: the Service Trust Portal can really help organizations deal with
Speaker 2: those requirements.
Speaker 1: So it's all about being responsible with data, not just
Speaker 1: protecting it from attacks, exactly.
Speaker 2: And then there's E discovery. Okay, might sound a bit technical,
Speaker 2: but it's really important for legal and compliance stuff.
Speaker 1: Okay, what is E discovery. I'm not really familiar with
Speaker 1: that one.
Speaker 2: So imagine you're involved in a legal case, okay, and
Speaker 2: you need to find every email, document, everything related to
Speaker 2: a specific person or topic.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: E discovery lets you search across all your Microsoft three
Speaker 2: sixty five stuff to find exactly what you need really quickly.
Speaker 1: So it's like a superpowered search engine for lawyers basically.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's not just for legal cases, right, you
Speaker 2: can use it for internal investigations too or audits.
Speaker 1: Oh, very cool.
Speaker 2: It's a handy tool.
Speaker 1: So Microsoft three sixty five security. That's a lot.
Speaker 2: It is more than meets the eye, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's so many different aspects to it.
Speaker 2: There are it's like peeling back layers of an onion.
Speaker 2: But I think there's a common thread here. It's not
Speaker 2: a set and forget it kind of thing. You got
Speaker 2: to be on it constantly, monitoring, adapting, staying ahead of
Speaker 2: the bad guy.
Speaker 1: Always be one step ahead.
Speaker 2: Exactly because those threats they're always changing, and so should
Speaker 2: your defenses.
Speaker 1: So it's a journey, not a destination exactly.
Speaker 2: You got to keep moving or you'll get.
Speaker 1: Left behind, right, And the bad guys are not slowing down, No.
Speaker 2: They are not. One thing I really like about Rising's
Speaker 2: approach he doesn't get all technical on you. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 2: he explains things in a way that makes sense even
Speaker 2: if you're not like a cybersecurity pro.
Speaker 1: Exactly, because at the end of the day, security is
Speaker 1: everybody's job.
Speaker 2: Everybody's not just the IT department, right.
Speaker 1: It's like everybody's got to do their part.
Speaker 2: And you know something that really surprised me.
Speaker 1: What's that?
Speaker 2: Just the sheer number of apps in the Microsoft app catalog.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, how many are we talking.
Speaker 2: Over sixteen thousand. You're kidding, it's crazy.
Speaker 1: That is a lot of apps.
Speaker 2: It's a lot of potential ways for things to go
Speaker 2: wrong if you're not careful.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, more apps, more problems.
Speaker 2: Pretty much, it's like having a million doors to your house,
Speaker 2: you know. Yeah, you got to make sure they all lock.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good point, which.
Speaker 2: Is why Rising talks about cloud app security. It's all
Speaker 2: about knowing what apps your users are accessing in the
Speaker 2: cloud and how to manage them.
Speaker 1: So it's like having a security guard for the cloud exactly.
Speaker 2: You can check out each app, see how risky it is,
Speaker 2: set some rules for how to use it, even block
Speaker 2: the bad ones.
Speaker 1: I like it sounds like Rising's guide is pretty comprehensive.
Speaker 2: It's really good.
Speaker 1: If our listeners could take away just one thing from
Speaker 1: our little deep dive here, what would you want that
Speaker 1: to be?
Speaker 2: That security? It's not a one and done deal, Okay,
Speaker 2: It's got to be an ongoing thing, right, Always adapting,
Speaker 2: always learning, always stay in one step ahead.
Speaker 1: So no matter how secure you think you are, don't
Speaker 1: get complacent.
Speaker 2: Exactly, never stop learning, never stop questioning, and never ever
Speaker 2: stop testing your defenses.
Speaker 1: Wise words and that brings us to the end of
Speaker 1: our deep dive into Microsoft three sixty five security. We
Speaker 1: covered a lot today hybrid identity, multi factor authentication, data
Speaker 1: loss prevention, e discovery. Wow, I feel like I need
Speaker 1: to nap me too. Hopefully you're walking away feeling a
Speaker 1: little more confident, a little more prepared to tackle your
Speaker 1: organization's security.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and if you're looking for a complete guide to
Speaker 2: walk you through it all, I highly recommend checking out
Speaker 2: Peter Rising's book Microsoft three sixty five Security Administration MS
Speaker 2: five hundred Exam Guide. It's a mouthful, it is, but
Speaker 2: it's worth it. It's a must read. If you're serious
Speaker 2: about keeping your data safe, consider.
Speaker 1: It your security bible, and remember knowledge is power, Stay informed,
Speaker 1: stay aware, and stay safe.
Speaker 2: Out there could have said it better myself.