As technology continues to migrate to cloud-based networking, many organizations have sought to take advantage of efficient cloud solutions. As a result, Microsoft-based organizations have been transitioning to Azure for their directory services because Active Directory does not work natively in the cloud. But what are the cloud capabilities of Azure, and can it be used to implement Group Policy Object (GPO) on your network?
GPO in Practice
The primary function of GPO is to enable stringent control over configuration settings and network policies. GPO allows network admins to set numerous access settings to segment users within a network and oversee who has access to which resources.
When a user requests access to the network, the authenticating RADIUS will communicate with GPO to determine a user’s network group. If they are an approved network user, they will be granted access to the network but only with the resources a user in that group would need. This means that a member of the marketing team will only have access to the marketing teams assets, not any assets associated with say the IT department.
The importance of network segmentation cannot be understated. Organizations face endless theft threats from external and internal actors. While internal threats can be malicious or accidental, it does not affect the potential costs in loss data and recovery time. If every user has access to all resources, the threat is compounded dramatically.
Can GPO and Azure Be Used Together?
The simple answer is yes, combining Azure and GPO is an excellent strategy for exerting control over your network and protecting against potential data theft. From a user experience standpoint, it’s an excellent addition to the network because they have no role in the configuration process – they are segmented based on their user group.
From the perspective of network admins, using GPO and Azure together brings a host of efficiency benefits. GPO settings are not complex to configure and can be easily updated on an individual basis. For example, if a user receives a promotion and needs new policy settings, admins simply access the IDP and update the user’s status in the organization. Microsoft provides comprehensive guides for configuration and long-term management of GPO and Azure.
Can GPO Be Improved?
The default authentication method used by nearly everyone is credential-based, and it simply is not secure. There are endless workarounds for circumventing password authentication, and they are frighteningly easy to execute. The short version is that passwords alone are a security liability and should not be considered by any organization with something to lose from a hacking attack.
Many organizations have implemented Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) with credentials. While this is a step in the right direction, the best option is to eliminate passwords from the equation all together. Security-conscious organizations have switched to certificate-based authentication and relied upon vendors such as SecureW2 to maximize their effectiveness.
Certificates as an authentication method are superior to credentials in every aspect: overall security, user experience, speed of authentication, lifetime management, and more. With a certificate solutions provider like SecureW2, there’s no limit to what certificates can do.
SecureW2’s software can be integrated into any network with no forklift upgrades to the infrastructure. That means you can quickly integrate certificates with Azure and configure them with highly detailed GPO settings to ensure each user is safely authenticated and has easy access to the resources they need.
In the case of a user needing new policy settings, this was a shortcoming for certificates in the past. Since certificates cannot be edited once distributed, a user would need to be issued all new certificates to reflect new access settings.
Dynamic Cloud RADIUS allows for direct communication with the IDP during authentication. Network admins can edit a user’s policy settings to allow the user to authenticate and gain access to new resources in real time. There’s no need to issue new certificates to any device. The process couldn’t be simpler for the end user or network admin.
Network management is getting smarter and allowing for new and dynamic methods of controlling who has access to what within your secure network. Configuring GPO with Azure allows for admins to benefit from cloud-based networking while easily segmenting users. And combining this duo with SecureW2 ensures that no unauthorized users are able to gain access to your resources. Check out our pricing page to see if our certificate solutions are right for your growing cloud-based network.
