Connecting to Cloud App Security API

As I have said previously, I believe Microsoft Cloud App Security is a must have for every tenant:

A great security add on for Microsoft 365

You can also manipulate it via an API and PowerShell. Most of this manipulation is currently mainly to read not set information but that is still handy. Here’s how to set that up.

You’ll firstly need to go to the Microsoft Cloud App Security console and select the COG in the upper right corner of the screen. From the menu that appears, select Security Extensions as shown.

The option for API tokens should be selected, if not select this. Now select the + button in the top right to generate a new token.

Enter a name for this new token and select the Generate button.

Your API token should be generated as shown. Copy both the token and the URL and select the Close button. Note, you’ll need to take a copy of you token here as it won’t be available once you move forward.

You should now see the token listed in the Microsoft Cloud App Security portal as shown above.

This token can now be utilised to access Microsoft Cloud App Security via PowerShell. I have created a basic script for you to use here:

https://github.com/directorcia/Office365/blob/master/o365-mcas-api.ps1

that will basically return all of the data current in there.

You’ll then need enter the values from this configuration into the script prior to running it:

but in essence what that script does is take the token and uri and apply to the invoke-rest method to get a response. That return response contains a whole range of data from Microsoft Cloud App Security.

To see what you can and can’t do with the API visit the Microsoft Cloud App Security portal again and select the Question mark in the upper right this time. Select API documentation from the menu that appears.

In there you’ll find a range of information about the API.

As I said, most of the available command current just “get” information. Hopefully, commands that “set” information aren’t too far away.

Tracking failed logins using Cloud App Security

Previously, I have said that Office365/Microsoft Cloud App Security is

A great security add on for Microsoft 365

I’ve also detailed the differences in the plans here:

Cloud App Discovery/Security

What many people want to know more information about is failed logins to their tenant, so Cloud App Security to the rescue!

Start by navigating to the Cloud App Security Activity log as shown above. Then select the Advanced option in the top right as shown.

Doing so should reveal the ability to define filters as show above.

I’d also recommend that you go and define a “safe” range of IP addresses like I have detailed here:

Define an IP range in Cloud App Security

In my case I have defined some known safe IP’s as “Corporate”.

So the first line of my query basically excludes any of these known IP addresses in the results. That is, I’m looking for failed logins outside my corporate environment. This will generally exclude average users failing to login to their accounts inside my environment, which happens a lot. The idea with this is simply to reduce the noise of lots of alerts, but if you want to know about all failed logins to your tenant, just exclude this condition.

The second part of the filter is to show activities that equal ‘Failed log on’ as shown. You can customise this further if you want to make it more granular, but for now let’s track any failed login to the tenant.

So the final query should look like the above.

You should be not surprised to see the number of results you get as shown above. In my case, there are failed logins from the US, China, Russia, Italy, etc.

Now of course, I can drill into each item for more details but what I really want is a way for me to be alerted about these when they happen. Cloud App Security to the rescue again.

At the top of the results you should find a button as shown that says New policy from search, which you should select.

You should now see a page like shown above where you can define your policy. You’ll need to give it a name and description. You may want to increase the severity or change the category to suit. You can also select between single or repeated activity.

Now if you want an email alert then you’ll need to select the option Send alert as email and put in your email address as shown above. You may also want to change the Daily alert limit to suit your needs.

When you have completed the configuration, scroll to the bottom of the page and select the Create button.

You should now see that policy in the list in your tenant as shown above.

Cloud App Security is a really powerful tool that I believe is a must have for every Microsoft 365 tenant, because not only can you create your own custom queries but you can also convert those into alerts as I have shown.

Cloud App Discovery/Security

Microsoft has a range of security options available, delivered in a variety of ways from the cloud. I’m going to focus on three items that tend to get lumped together and with which I see much confusion. These services are:

1. Azure AD Cloud App Discovery

2. Office 365 Cloud App Security

3. Microsoft Cloud App Security

Here’s a summary of the differences between the products:

1. Azure AD Cloud App Discovery

This is the most basic of the three services and is only available when you purchase and license Azure AD P1, there is no stand alone version of just Azure AD Cloud App Discovery. This is a description of the product:

Azure Active Directory Premium P1 includes Azure Active Directory Cloud App Discovery at no additional cost. This feature is based on the Microsoft Cloud App Security Cloud Discovery capabilities that provide deeper visibility into cloud app usage in your organizations. Upgrade to Microsoft Cloud App Security to receive the full suite of Cloud App Security Broker (CASB) capabilities offered by Microsoft Cloud App Security.

Thus you receive Azure AD Cloud App Discovery when you purchase the following:

– Azure AD Premium P1 (stand alone)

– Azure AD premium p2 (stand alone)

– Microsoft 365 E3 (which includes Azure AD P1)

– Enterprise and Mobility Suite (EMS) E3 (which includes Azure AD P1)

When you visit the portal you will see:

Firstly, note that the banner reads Cloud App Security like so:

2. Office 365 Cloud App Security

This is available as a stand alone purchase for existing Office 365 / Microsoft 365 tenants.

You can also get Office 365 Cloud App Security as part of:

– Office 365 E5

You’ll see Office 365 Cloud App Security in the top left of the portal like so:

The biggest advantage I believe of Office 365 Cloud App Security over Azure AD Cloud App Discovery is the Activity policies like so:

These activities includes built in anomaly detection for things like Impossible travel like so:

You also get a number of default activity policies like Logon from a risky IP address:

as well as the ability to create your own unique activity policies and alerting.

3. Microsoft Cloud App Security

This again, is available as a stand alone add-on to any Office 365 / Microsoft 365 tenant, being a tad more expensive that office 365 Cloud App Security:

It is also available when you purchase:

– Microsoft 365 E5

– Microsoft 365 E5 Security

– Enterprise and Mobility Suite (EMS) E5

As you can see from the table at the top of this article, Microsoft Cloud App Security includes everything (plus more) that is in Azure AD Cloud App Discover and Office 365 Cloud App Security. Thus, think of Microsoft Cloud App Security as Azure AD Cloud App Discovery + Office 365 Cloud App Security.

This is what you see when login to Dashboard:

You’ll see it look very different even though the top left says “Cloud App Security” again. You get far more options that with either of the other two including more options under Investigate like so:

Summary

Not everything is quite as simple as I have outlined here. Deeper detail about the licensing can be found here:

https://query.prod.cms.rt.microsoft.com/cms/api/am/binary/RE2NXYO

or on:

Microsoft Cloud App Security

In my opinion Azure AD P1 is a must have for all tenants to get features like conditional access and trusted IP’s. That will give you Azure AD Cloud App Discovery. However, I’d also recommend also adding Office 365 Cloud App Security as a minimum to get access to the Activity alerts. if you want even more power then add Microsoft Cloud App Security instead.

The final question I get is whether you require a license for all users in your tenant? For that I will leave you with the official word from Microsoft on that topic which is:

“Each user must be licensed for Microsoft Cloud App Security to use or benefit from it. For customers who license a subset of users, services enforced at the tenant level are not licensed for the other users. They are not entitled to use or benefit from the service, regardless of whether the service is technically accessible.”