Active Directory

Improve your Azure Multi-Factor Authentication Notifications

Improve your Azure Multi-Factor Authentication Notifications

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Recently, Uber appeared to be hacked in what is called a MFA Fatigue attack. The attacker continuously sent MFA requests to an end user hoping they would accidentally approve one of them. Microsoft has several items to help prevent MFA fatigue attacks that you can configure and enable for your end users. Traditionally, MFA notifications are push notifications where a user can either accept or deny the request. Some improvements to this have been multiple number options where the end user must select one of four numbers that is presented on the screen they are logging into. The problem with this is that leaves a 1 in 4 chance an accidental selection may result in unauthorized access.

Configure Fraud Alerts

Fraud Alerts allow your users to report fraud if they receive a two-step verification request that they didn’t initiate and automatically block their account from sign-on.

Go to the Azure … Continue...

Easily Enable End Users to Manage Active Directory Users with PowerShell GUI

Easily Enable End Users to Manage Active Directory Users with PowerShell GUI

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Recently I got a request to find a way to let managers or Human Resources the ability to modify basic user attributes in Active Directory. Like anyone else, I presented the idea of using RSAT to let them modify users in ADUC or ADAC. This was not an ideal solution because ADUC can become overwhelming to someone that isn’t technical. They wanted something that was extremely basic, easy to follow and work in without any guidance or instructions, and did not show the user anything else that they could not modify or needed to see.

The decision was made to create a custom program with the pre-requisite of having RSAT installed so we could use the AD modules underneath the hood. We could then control permissions on the Active Directory side.

Improvements from ADUC

Because I built this with a specific audience in mind, I was able to make some … Continue...

Configure Autopilot Hybrid Azure-AD and ADDS Domain Join

Configure Autopilot Hybrid Azure-AD and ADDS Domain Join

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Prerequisites

Hybrid Azure AD join requires devices to have access to the following Microsoft resources from inside your organization’s network. These addresses must be accessed using the SYSTEM context. If you are using Auto Pilot this will be accessed during the enrollment status part:

  • https://enterpriseregistration.windows.net
  • https://login.microsoftonline.com
  • https://device.login.microsoftonline.com
  • https://autologon.microsoftazuread-sso.com (If you use or plan to use seamless SSO)

To verify if the device is able to access the above Microsoft resources under the system account, you can use Test Device Registration Connectivity script.

Review AD DS UPN support for Hybrid Azure AD join

The table below provides details on support for on-premises AD UPNs in Windows 10 Hybrid Azure AD join

Type of on-premises AD UPN Domain type Windows 10 version Description
Routable Federated From 1703 release Generally available
Non-routable Federated From 1803 release Generally available
Routable Managed From 1803 release Generally available, Azure AD SSPR on Windows lockscreen is not
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Master User Creator [PowerShell GUI Software] v2 Update

Master User Creator [PowerShell GUI Software] v2 Update

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I usually do not post articles on updates to software that I write but there are so many great updates in Master User Creator V2 that I had to make another write up. Master User Creator (MUC) is a piece of software that makes creating Active Directory and/or Office 365 users easier and more efficient.  One of the drawbacks of creating a user in Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC) is that you have to first create the user, and then find the user and edit their attributes, modify group membership, and so on. Master User Creator give you one single interface that allows you to modify membership, permissions, licenses, attributes, and so on. You can create an AD and Office 365 user at a single time as well, even copying your AD User attributes with a single click of a button.

Since publicizing the software, I have gotten many … Continue...

Create an Interactive Active Directory HTML Report With PowerShell

Create an Interactive Active Directory HTML Report With PowerShell

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I have covered the PowerShell module, “ReportHTML” in a previous article (Create an Interactive HTML Report for Office 365 with PowerShell) where I used it to generate Office 365 tenant reports. The module takes a little bit to learn the syntax and formatting but it’s great if you are not familiar with CSS/HTML as it does most of the heavy lifting for you. I like to generate reports using HTML because the data can be interacted with. You can filter your tables, search for items, change the ordering of the table, and also gather your data in bar and pie graphs.

My end goal was to create an Active Directory overview report using PowerShell. I looked into PSWinDocumentation but ultimately I wanted the report be interactive. I was looking for basic Active Directory items like Groups, Users, Group Types, Group Policy, etc, but I also wanted items like … Continue...

[Tool] Create and Configure Active Directory and Office 365 Users at Once.

[Tool] Create and Configure Active Directory and Office 365 Users at Once.

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One of the things IT Administrators look to automate first is the new user creation process. I recently was going through the process of creating a new hires Active Directory login, Office 365 mailbox, and their Office 365 user account, and I wondered how I could make the process easier and quicker.

My focus was geared towards Managed Service Providers (MSP’s), Human Resource (HR) departments and general Help Desk Technicians. For MSP’s I wanted to create a tool that they could easily use across all of their clients because they may not spend the time to automate new user creations because they have hundreds, if not thousands of clients to tend to, and each client is unique so you can’t just copy the same automation script from one client to another. This would also be a huge asset for Help Desk technicians because they are more often than not the … Continue...

Email Users If Their Active Directory Password is set to Expire Soon

Email Users If Their Active Directory Password is set to Expire Soon

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In this article I will show you how PowerShell can automatically send an e-mail notification to end users when their Active Directory password is set to expire soon. I looked over several other similar scripts on TechNet but ended up writing one from scratch to incorporate several features I needed, as well as improve on the overall script flow.

Some of the requirements I needed to meet were as follows:

  1. Get users email addresses from the Email Address value in Active Directory, if it’s empty look at the default address in the proxyaddresses attribute
  2. Send E-mail to users with passwords that were expiring in 7 days or less
  3. Include directions users can follow to reset their Active Directory password
  4. Send E-mail with high priority
  5. Get E-mail notification if sent or failed
  6. Store the credential in a Cred object so it’s secure
  7. Advanced logging on the script for troubleshooting
  8. Send E-mail
… Continue...