Application Security (part 2 of 3)

By Ashwin Venugopal -

 


To read part 1 please click here
To read part 3 please click here


Microsoft Graph Permissions

Microsoft graph exposes granular permissions that can control the access that apps have to resources, like users, groups, and mails and as a developer you can decide which permissions to request for Microsoft Graph, as well as the apps that don't take a signed-in user, permissions can be pre-consented to by an administrator when the app is installed.

Microsoft Graph has two types of permissions-

  1. Delegated Permissions are used  by apps that has a signed-in user present. Some delegated permissions can be consented by non-administrative users, but some higher-privileged permissions required administrator consent.
  2. Application Permissions are used by apps that runs without a signed-in user present. They can only be consented by an administrator.

Effective permissions are the permissions that your app will have when making requests to the Microsoft Graph and for the delegated permissions, the effective permissions of your app will be the intersection of the delegated permissions the app has been granted (via consent) and the privileges of the currently signed-in user. 

Whereas for application permissions, the effective permissions of your app will be the full level of privileges implied by the permission. 

Microsoft Graph API

You can use the Microsoft Graph Security API to connect the Microsoft security products, services, and partners to streamline security operations and improve threat protection, detection, as well as response capabilities. 

The Microsoft Graph Security API federates requests to all providers in the Microsoft Graph Security ecosystem. This is based on the security provider consent provided by the application, as shown in the following diagram:


The following is the description of the flow:

  1. The application user signs in to the provider application to view the consent form from the provider which is owned by the provider and applies to non-Microsoft providers only to get explicit consent from their customers to send requests to Microsoft Graph Security API.
  2. The client consent is stored on the provider side.
  3. The provider consent service calls the Microsoft Graph Security API to inform consent approval for the respective customer.
  4.  The application sends a request to the Microsoft Graph Security API.
  5. The Microsoft Graph Security API checks for the consent information for this customer mapped to various providers.
  6. The Microsoft Graph security API calls all those providers the customer has given explicit consent to via the provider consent experience.
  7. The response is returned from all the consented providers for that client. 
  8. The result set response is returned to the application.
  9. If the customer has not consented to any of the provider, no results from those providers are included in the response.

The Microsoft Graph Security API makes it easy to connect with the security solutions from Microsoft and partners.

Why use the Microsoft Graph Security API?

  • Write code- Find code samples in C#, Java, NodeJS, and more.
  • Connect using scripts- Find PowerShell samples.
  • Drag and drop into workflows and playbooks- Use Microsoft Graph security connectors for Azure Logic Apps, Microsoft Flow, and PowerApps.
  • Get data into reports and dashboards- Use the Microsoft Graph Security connector for power BI.
  • Connect using Jupyter notebooks- Find Jupyter notebook centers.

Unify and standardize alert tracking

Once connected it can integrate alerts from any Microsoft Graph-integrated security solution and keep alert status and assignments in sync across all solutions and you can also stream alerts to Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solutions, like Splunk using Microsoft Graph Security API connectors. 

Correlate security alerts to improve threat protection and response

Correlate alerts across security solutions more easily with a unified alert schema. This not only allows you to receive actionable alert information but allows security analysts to pivot and enrich alerts with asset and user information, enabling faster response to threats and asset protection.

Update alert tags, status, and assignments

Tag alerts with additional context or threat intelligence to inform response and remediation. You can use Webhook subscriptions to get notified of changes.

Unlock security context to drive investigation

Dive deep into related security-relevant inventory (like users, hosts, and apps), then add organizational context from other Microsoft Graph providers to bring business as well as security contexts together and improve threat response.


To read part 1 please click here
To read part 3 please click here


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