Martin Bengtsson

Deploy a forced installation of the Windows Defender Google Chrome extension using SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager)

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Introduction

A few days ago Microsoft released a new extension for the Google Chrome browser. More specifically, they released the Windows Defender Browser Protection extension, which leverages the same security technologies used by Microsoft’s own browser; Edge. Microsoft describes their new extension with following words:

The Windows Defender Browser Protection extension helps protect you against online threats, such as links in phishing emails and websites designed to trick you into downloading and installing malicious software that can harm your computer.

With that in mind, why not make that a permanent part of securing your environment and do so by forcing an automatic installation and thus render the users unable to disable or remove the extension. Read on, this is how you can do that using Configuration Manager.

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Flipping the switch, part 2.1: Exploit Guard challenges (Co-management with Intune MDM and SCCM)

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Introduction

Just quickly following up on my previous post, on how I moved some of the Endpoint Protection workloads into Intune MDM (in a Co-management scenario with Configuration Manager). More specifically, I moved the Exploit Guard capabilities and while walking through the process, I mentioned the possible impact of Exploit Guard in an enterprise environment.

Again, this post is to highlight the possible impact of turning on a very specific ASR (Attack Surface Reduction) rule in Exploit Guard. Turns out, that this specific rule is not documented by Microsoft (at least I can’t find it in the Exploit Guard documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/windows-defender-exploit-guard/attack-surface-reduction-exploit-guard#attack-surface-reduction-rules) and the impact is quite significant to those using Configuration Manager (and possible other stuff too). Curious? Keep reading 🙂

What Attack Surface Reduction rule?

The rule in question is having an ID of: D1E49AAC-8F56-4280-B9BA-993A6D77406C. This is not mentioned anywhere in the Exploit Guard documentation. In Intune, it’s the one I’m highlighting below:

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Flipping the switch, part 2: Moving Endpoint Protection workload to Intune MDM (Co-management with ConfigMgr)

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Introduction

Continuing the Co-management journey from last week, where I went through the steps required to setup co-management with Configuration Manager. This week I’m moving the Endpoint Protection workloads into Intune MDM. The ability to transition the Endpoint Protection workload is brand new, and became available in Configuration Manager 1802. As of now, the endpoint protection workload consists of following features:

  • Windows Defender Application Guard
  • Windows Defender Firewall
  • Windows Defender SmartScreen
  • Windows Encryption (BitLocker)
  • Windows Defender Exploit Guard
  • Windows Defender Application Control
  • Windows Defender Security Center
  • Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection

Following walkthrough is exactly how I moved some of the Endpoint Protection features (more specifically Exploit Guard and some modifications to the Defender Security Center) into Intune MDM for at pilot group consisting of computers.

Endpoint Protection device configuration profiles

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Flipping the switch: How to enable Co-management in SCCM Current Branch (System Center Configuration Manager)

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Introduction

Co-management! It was announced last year at Ignite in Orlando and it’s being pushed heavily these days by Microsoft. For those who don’t know the ups and downs, co-management is basically (for those using ConfigMgr already) managing computers with both a Configuration Manager client and Intune MDM.

There are different possibilities to achieve co-management. It may sound complicated, but it’s not. I will walk you through the few steps required, as well as cover the precise prerequisites and how to troubleshoot issues if any. Note: This is precisely how I have done in a production environment. Curious? Read on 🙂

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Remove inactive devices in Intune automatically using Microsoft Graph API and Powershell (and a scheduled task)

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Introduction

*Updated July 23 2018: Minor changes to the script doing the deletion*

Just like we do in Configuration Manager, Active Directory, Exchange and anywhere else (where possible), It’s a good idea to keep things clean (at least I think so). Clean in terms of removing inactive computers, objects, mailboxes and so forth. This brings me to Microsoft Intune and how we can leverage Microsoft Graph API through Powershell to automatically remove inactive devices, and doing so on a schedule through a scheduled task. Curious? Read on 🙂

Example of devices that haven’t checked in for 30 days

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Upgrading Configuration Manager Current Branch to version 1802 (A real example from a real production environment)

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Introduction

I know. There are tons of similar post explaining how to upgrade Configuration Manager Current Branch to the latest version, but that’s not a valid reason not to do another one (:D). Also, mine is exactly how I did it in our production environment, from beginning till end, and not in a lab where you usually (I do) almost blindfolded click next and accept everything, without any precautions.

This is a stand-alone primary site in an enterprise environment of a midsize company in Denmark, running on Windows Server 2016 (I most recently did an in place upgrade of the OS from 2012. Another blog post incoming soon), and for your inspiration, this is the exact steps I went through. Curious? Read on 🙂

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Provide Internet access to your private lab in Hyper-V using a Windows Server 2016 router

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Introduction

This is a post on a subject I’m usually not addressing on my blog, but I think having a lab is crucial and super important for any IT pro. A lab for testing and screwing up before screwing up in production is key!

In my example, I’m running a lab in a private and isolated network, but I’m still very interested in providing Internet access for the servers and workstations running inside the lab. This is how to do just that, using the routing feature within Windows Server 2016. (I’m aware that Hyper-V in Server 2016/Windows 10 has a new NAT feature which can do this too, where a router is preferred in a more complex lab with several networks).

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Change device ownership in Microsoft Intune standalone using Microsoft Graph API and Powershell

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Introduction

When enrolling devices into Microsoft Intune using the Company Portal, the devices end up enrolling as personal owned. This can be changed manually on each device directly in the Intune portal after enrollment. Making sure that all devices are company owned refines management and identification, as well as enabling Intune to perform additional management tasks. Also, for additional security, you can configure device restrictions to block enrollment of devices that are not company owned.

But what if we don’t like to do stuff manually and have hundreds or thousands of devices? Automation through Microsoft Graph API and Powershell to the rescue.

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Conditional Access: Require MFA for accessing Exchange Online Webmail if browsing from a private device

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Introduction

While brewing on a much more detailed post on how I moved my devices from Intune Hybrid with ConfigMgr to Intune standalone, I thought I’d share how you can offer webmail for your users, while requiring MFA (Multifactor Authentication) if not coming from a company device, using Conditional Access.

In this post I will only cover the actual steps in Intune, but for this to work, you will have to have your Windows devices registered with Azure AD. There will be some requirement for your on-prem AD and for your ADFS, if that’s how you federate with Azure/O365. These requirements are explained in details in this Microsoft article: https://docs.microsoft.com/da-dk/azure/active-directory/device-management-hybrid-azuread-joined-devices-setup

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Create required registry key for Intel vulnerability (#Meltdown #ADV180002) using Compliance Settings in SCCM)

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Introduction

Unless you have been hiding under a rock since Christmas, you should have heard about the new CPU vulnerability found in Intel and AMD chips: https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/ADV180002

Long story short, following this vulnerability Microsoft instantly made changes to their OS, requiring all AV (Antivirus) products to be compatible with these new changes.

Everything in details in this link: https://support.microsoft.com/da-dk/help/4072699 

What the article also mentions is that any Windows OS won’t be offered the January Security Updates (and any subsequent) until a very specific registry key is present on the systems. This is seen, when computers in your environment doesn’t request the update when you expect it to, and when compliance reports in ConfigMgr tells you that the update show up as Not Required when you know it is.

Most AV products by this time do create the registry key already, but what if you do not use any AV (for whatever reason that may be), and what if you want to make sure the registry key is there already and always is. Use Compliance Settings in ConfigMgr. Usually for on-prem domain joined computers, I would stick to Group Policies, but for this in particular, Compliance Settings in ConfigMgr does a way better job in regards to remediation and reporting of compliance.

Configuration

  • Create a new Configuration Item in ConfigMgr following these snippets (Assets and Compliance tab)

  • Add the newly created Configuration Item to Configuration Baseline, and deploy the baseline to selected collections.

Finally

Go to the Monitoring tab of the ConfigMgr console and expand Reporting -> Reports -> Compliance and Settings Management and find the report: Summary compliance by configuration baseline and lean back and watch how your clients are reporting back compliance. (Might take a while depending on your Client Policy Settings)