United States | Block External Users from Downloading Files in Office 365 Using Conditional Access

Ross Kirk - 20.03.2023

Block External Users from Downloading Files in Office 365 Using Conditional Access

United States | Block External Users from Downloading Files in Office 365 Using Conditional Access


I have been working on several M365-related security projects recently. These primarily consisted of increasing the organization’s security posture and working towards a Zero Trust architecture. For everything you need to know about Zero Trust please take a look at the Ultimate Guide to Zero Trust   

Requirement

The customer (let’s call them Contoso) has utilized external collaboration quite extensively. Contoso were happy to add external users to Contoso’s internal Teams, however, they did not want external users to have the option to download any files so they can be used outside of Contoso’s environment. Contoso are still on their Information Protection journey so any kind of fancy labeling etc. was unfortunately not an option. With this in mind, we had to completely block access for external users. To achieve this requirement, the solution was to create a Conditional Access policy. As always, there are a few prerequisites that are needed before Contoso can achieve the desired solution

  • Azure AD Premium P1 
  • Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps

Solution

To implement this solution you need to have one of the below Azure AD admin roles assigned to your account 

  • Conditional Access Administrator (least privilege)
  • Security Administrator
  • Global Administrator

All the configuration takes place within Microsoft Entra admin centre > Protect & secure > Conditional Access. To create this policy, please follow the below steps

  • Create a new policy 
United States | Block External Users from Downloading Files in Office 365 Using Conditional Access

Give the CA policy an appropriate name, preferably in alignment with Microsoft CA naming conventions, for example, “CA001: BLOCK – Block external users from downloading files in Office 365” 

United States | Block External Users from Downloading Files in Office 365 Using Conditional Access
  • Within Users > Assignments select “Guests or external users” and all for “Specify external Azure AD organizations (preview)” 
United States | Block External Users from Downloading Files in Office 365 Using Conditional Access
  • Within Cloud apps or actions > Select apps and choose “Office 365”. This will apply to all M365 services, if you require something more granular, for example, Exchange Online, then just select Exchange Online
United States | Block External Users from Downloading Files in Office 365 Using Conditional Access
  • Within Access controls > Grant select the following options. This will ensure external users must use MFA and can only access M365 services using an approved client app 
United States | Block External Users from Downloading Files in Office 365 Using Conditional Access
  • Lastly, within Access controls > Session select the follow options. This will ensure the external users cannot download a local copy from any Contoso Teams they have been added to 
United States | Block External Users from Downloading Files in Office 365 Using Conditional Access

That is you good to go! I would recommend enabling this policy as “Report-only” for a few days and keep an eye on the logs to ensure the CA policy is behaving as you expect it. Once you have confirmed The CA policy is meeting your expectations, you can enable the policy to “On” and you can now relax that external users cannot download any M365 files. 

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, implementing a Conditional Access policy can help organizations like Contoso block external users from downloading files in Office 365, while ensuring their information is protected. Following the steps outlined in this article and enabling the policy as “Report-only” before going live can ensure the policy is working as expected. With this policy in place, organizations can confidently collaborate with external users while maintaining control over their data. Hopefully, this has been informative and helpful! If you need any further clarification, or a no thrills chat, contact us at Insentra or read more of my Insentra Insights.

RELATED ARTICLES

Protecting Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) with OKTA and Microsoft Azure Active Directory Conditional Access

How to allow only work account access to apps using Intune

Securing and Optimising Access to Azure Storage Accounts with Azure Endpoints

Protecting Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) with OKTA and Microsoft Azure Active Directory Conditional Access

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUBMISSION!

United States | Block External Users from Downloading Files in Office 365 Using Conditional Access

The form was submitted successfully.

Join the Insentra Community with the Insentragram Newsletter

Hungry for more?

If you’re waiting for a sign, this is it.

We’re a certified amazing place to work, with an incredible team and fascinating projects – and we’re ready for you to join us! Go through our simple application process. Once you’re done, we will be in touch shortly!

Who is Insentra?

Imagine a business which exists to help IT Partners & Vendors grow and thrive.

Insentra is a 100% channel business. This means we provide a range of Advisory, Professional and Managed IT services exclusively for and through our Partners.

Our #PartnerObsessed business model achieves powerful results for our Partners and their Clients with our crew’s deep expertise and specialised knowledge.

We love what we do and are driven by a relentless determination to deliver exceptional service excellence.

United States | Block External Users from Downloading Files in Office 365 Using Conditional Access

Insentra ISO 27001:2013 Certification

SYDNEY, WEDNESDAY 20TH APRIL 2022 – We are proud to announce that Insentra has achieved the  ISO 27001 Certification.