Secure access to your Microsoft 365 applications on any device, anywhere

Identity protection and strong authentication are the cornerstones of good security, but account takeover and credential theft continue to be one of the weakest links in organizational security.  According to Verizon’s 2022 Data Breach Investigation Report, 43% of the reported business email compromise attacks involved the use of stolen credentials against the victim organization.  Multifactor Authentication (MFA) adds an additional layer of security, but cybercriminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their attack methods.

Move beyond multi-factor authentication and toward Zero Trust Access to prevent advanced account takeover attacks and continuously authenticate and authorize users and devices.

Can multifactor authentication (MFA) help?

Many organizations see multi-factor authentication (MFA) as one of the most crucial security defenses for Microsoft 365, but attackers are stepping up their efforts to target multifactor authentication methods to compromise accounts.

Some organizations have leveraged hardware-based MFA; while they seem to improve security, they come with high operational costs and intrusive user experience. Also, there are many ways of compromising the authentication tokens through social engineering:

• Phishing
• SMS OTP Attacks
• Accidental Push Accept
• Man-in-the-Middle Attacks
• Sim Swapping

The “pass-the-cookie” attack

According to the Microsoft 365 Defender Research Team, the adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) phishing campaign, has attempted to target more than 10,000 organizations since September 2021.  By using pass-the-cookie techniques, attackers can access web applications without knowing credentials and even the one-time password from a multifactor system.  In early 2021, US cyber authority CISA also released an Analysis Report (AR21-013A) about how threat actors defeat MFA methods.

Protect your Microsoft 365 applications

Mitigate breach risks for your employees and contractors and reduce your exposure to lateral attacks by deploying continuous verification of user and device identity and trust.  While threat actors are stepping up their efforts to target multifactor authentication methods to compromise accounts, it’s important to understand that MFA implementation remains a crucial pillar in identity security. Organizations can make their MFA implementation “phish-resistant” by using Barracuda CloudGen Access.

CloudGen Access requires a valid and cryptographically secure device certificate to identify a valid device before the user can authenticate to your apps. These certificates enable the concept of device identity and require the combination of user and device identity to be paired for remote users or even machines to be able to access your internal resources. A rogue attacker with just the user credentials will not be able to be authorized by CloudGen Access, and attempts to authenticate as the compromised user will be denied.  The secure device certificates are stored in the devices’ TPM or SEP modules to make it near impossible to
extract, copy or clone them.

Even if credentials are stolen and MFA is bypassed, threat actors will not be able to gain access to company applications without the trusted device.

Quick to deploy, easy to manage Zero Trust Access for Microsoft 365 applications

Security starts with access. Barracuda’s Zero Trust Access model establishes unparalleled access control across users and devices — from remote and hybrid to company-owned and employee- and contractor-owned.  It provides remote, conditional, and contextual access to resources and reduces over-privileged access risks.  With Zero Trust Access, employees and partners can access Microsoft 365 applications without creating additional attack surfaces.

Secure third-party access to your business

Mitigate the risks associated with third-party access to your business with Zero Trust.  Improve visibility into device and user activity and enable role-based access to applications and data.  Deploy Zero Trust Access and secure access to Microsoft Outlook, Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint, and other apps for your outsourcers, partners, contractors, and post-M&A subsidiaries.

Protect your employees with Certificate-Based Authentication (CBA)

Turn your endpoint devices into an additional layer of defense against Microsoft account compromise. With Certificate-Based Authentication (CBA), you can increase security and decrease the possibility of phishing or brute force attacks from threat actors, onboard and train users without additional hardware to distribute and manage.

Simplify compliance reporting

Meet SOC Type 2 and other compliance requirements with no extra work.  Zero Trust Access creates a clear system of record for your Microsoft 365 applications, delivering streamlined reports of system access across the organization. Manage, track, and verify the who, what, and when of privileged access in one product.

To discuss the best Zero Trust Access Solution for your organisation - email sales@pmddatasolutions.co.uk now.