Windows 11

Easier managing Device Control in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint using Microsoft Intune

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This week is all about easier managing the basics of Device Control in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint using Microsoft Intune. It was already possible for a while to configure the different aspects of the Device Control feature on Windows devices, the configuration of some aspects just became a lot easier. In general, the Device Control features enable IT administrators to control whether users can install and use peripheral devices, such as removable storage, printers, or Bluetooth devices. In the end, the Device Control feature provides IT administrators with more tools to protect organizations from cyberthreats, such as potential data loss, or malware, by reducing the attack surface. Nowadays there are many different configuration options and different configuration profiles. This post will focus on the basic …

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Understanding Device query for multiple devices

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This week is all about Device query for multiple devices. A long awaited feature. With that, this will also be a follow up on this post about getting started with Device query and this post adding additional hardware properties to the device inventory. Especially the latter might be a little bit surprising, but will be explained throughout this post. Device query for multiple devices provides IT administrators with the ability to easily query for devices with specific properties and values (e.g. all Windows devices with specific application crash events) and the ability to easily summarize data about devices (e.g. count all devices with a specific CPU). Those queries, however, are not performed in real-time on the Windows devices within the environment, but are relying on …

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Expediting Windows quality updates

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This week is all about expediting the installation of the latest Windows quality updates. Expediting the installation of the latest Windows quality updates can be useful to quickly mitigate security threats when the normal update process wouldn’t facilitate in that deployment yet. That can be achieved because the deployment of expedited Windows quality updates is done without needing to pause or edit the existing update process. It basically enables the IT administrator to temporarily override the deferrals and deadlines to install the specified update as quickly as possible. And that can be used for the most recent monthly quality update as well as an out-of-band security update. This post will look closer at the concept of expediting Windows quality updates, followed with the steps to …

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Configuring a single app, full-screen kiosk with Microsoft Edge on Windows 11

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This week is all about configuring a single app, full-screen kiosk with Microsoft Edge on Windows 11 devices. A kiosk is nothing new and the Microsoft Edge browser not either. And even the combination of both is nothing new. That being said, there are often unknowns in the configuration options and what actually happens with Microsoft Edge when configuring it as the kiosk application. And that often causes questions. So, this post should take some of those questions away. One of the things that’s often forgotten, for example, is that the Microsoft Edge browser will also run in kiosk mode. And that puts limitations on its capabilities. This post will focus on configuring a single app, full-screen kiosk with Microsoft Edge on Windows 11 devices, …

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Working with in-browser protection in Microsoft Edge for Business

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This week another blog post focused on the security capabilities within Microsoft Edge. With the introduction of Microsoft Edge for Business, there is a larger focus on providing a Microsoft Edge experience for work. That experience provides IT administrators with the ability to give their users a productive and secure browser for work, across managed and unmanaged devices. With that, Microsoft Edge can be the secure enterprise browser for many organizations. Especially with the focus of Microsoft Edge on security, privacy, and manageability. And not just that, it includes enhanced productivity alongside the security features. That brings us to the focus of this week and that is in-browser protection. In-browser protection is a great example of that combination as it reduces the need for proxies, …

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Tightening browser security with Enhanced Security Mode in Microsoft Edge

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This week is all about tightening security in Microsoft Edge and making sure that it’s one step closer to a secure enterprise browser. Especially nowadays when users spends most of their time in a web browser, it’s important to make sure that the right controls are in place to protect the users and the corporate data. That can be achieved by having a closer look at the different security features that Microsoft Edge brings to the table. And that are many different features. When specifically looking at protecting the user, think about features like Microsoft Defender SmartScreen, typosquatting protection, and Enhanced Security Mode. Three different security features, all with their own focus. Microsoft Defender SmartScreen to protect against phishing and malware, typosquatting protection to warn …

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Managing Microsoft Edge browser extensions on Windows devices

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This week is all about browser extensions. And more specifically, about Microsoft Edge browser extension on Windows devices. There are many reasons why organizations might want to look into managing and controlling Microsoft Edge browser extensions. Most of those reasons, however, are security related and focussed on staying in control of corporate data. Lately, there have been multiple examples of malicious browser extensions – not specific to the Microsoft Edge browser – that would collect user data and exfiltrate it to a malicious website. A good reason to get in control of the browser extensions that are being used within the organization. Either by fully controlling which browser extensions can be installed, or by at least blocking unwanted browser extensions. This post will look specifically …

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Working with tamper protection on Windows devices to protect security settings

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This week is all about working with tamper protection on Windows devices. Not because it’s something new, but mainly to give it some more attention. It does, by the way, introduce new management functionality. That new functionality is the ability to configure tamper protection on unmanaged devices. So, devices that are not managed by Microsoft Intune, or Configuration Manager, but that are managed via Microsoft Defender for Endpoint security settings management. Besides that, it’s just important to highlight the functionality of tamper protection again, to make sure that the functionality and usage is known. Especially as it’s nowadays enabled by default when using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. Because it’s enabled by default, people easily forget that it’s configured and what it’s used for. This post will …

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Getting started with Microsoft Connected Cache

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This new year starts with an introduction to Microsoft Connected Cache and is sort of a follow-up on this post of about 4 years ago. That time it was about the addition of Connected Cache for Win32 apps in Configuration Manager. Now, 4 years later, Connected Cache is available as a standalone product and can be used to serve content for Windows feature and quality updates, Microsoft 365 Apps and updates, Intune apps, Store apps, and Windows Defender definition updates. Basically, Connected Cache is a software-only caching solution for delivering Microsoft content within the environment. It can be managed via the Azure portal and it can be deployed to Windows and Linux hosts. No matter if those hosts are physical or virtual. Connected Cache basically …

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Getting started with Administrator protection

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This week is all about the new functionality on Windows devices to help protect administrator users. That new functionality is Administrator protection. Administrator protection is aimed at protecting the users while still allowing them to perform their required elevated actions with just-in-time administrator privileges. That makes sure that when dealing with users that have local administrator privileges, instead of those users always having those high privileges, Administrator protection makes sure that those users must consent to actually activate those higher privileges. That makes sure that, by default, the user is now operating according to the least privilege concept and only gets those higher privileges when actually needed. In the end that lowers the attack vector for those users and makes sure that nothing happens without …

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