Understanding Application Guard for Office, Now Generally Available

Sat, 30 Jan 2021 22:13:50 +0000

Application Guard first appeared in Windows 10 1709 (“Fall Creators Update”) to isolate Edge browser activity within a Hyper V container. Microsoft now extends that same idea to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in Office 365 ProPlus Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise on Windows 10…

… if you have Microsoft 365 E5 or E5 Security. You knew that was coming!

With Application Guard for Office, your files can open in a sandbox without access local or network storage. This provides an additional layer of protection against threats such as ransomware, for which Office apps are infamous as an attack surface. There’s a significant catch: a standard configuration of Application Guard will allow users to bypass it if they say they trust the file, therefore executing it in the normal way; resource access included. You can change this default behaviour though, so keep reading.

Microsoft 365 Updates from Build 2020

Thu, 21 May 2020 17:55:43 +0000

Build 2020 had some nice bits of M365 related news. Microsoft deserves commendation for sticking to the schedule and pulling this off (remotely) during the COVID-19 lockdown - Apple has delayed WWDC and Google just gave up on I/O. I’ve summarised (bullet points!) my favourite updates below. I will update it I find I’ve missed something good.

Azure AD

Publisher Verification lets developers verified through the Microsoft Partner Center stick a verified badge on their AAD apps. There is a new setting in AAD > Consent and permissions to Allow for apps from this organisation and verified publishers, which is Microsoft’s recommendation (as opposed to allowing user consent for all/none).
External Identities is now in public preview. This allows invited external users to ‘bring their own identity’ (BYOI) and sign in with a federated service like Google, Facebook, or another SAML2/WS-Fed IdP.
Microsoft Authentication Libraries (MSAL) now support Angular and the ASP.NET web libraries are in public preview.

Development

News on Ru Campbell MVP

Understanding Application Guard for Office, Now Generally Available

Microsoft 365 Updates from Build 2020