Forefront Team Blog : cloud

David Cross on TMG

Forefront Blogger — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:51:00 GMT

For more about Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010, check out David Cross' blog on the Microsoft Because It's Everybody's Business site. As product unit manager, David oversaw the development and release of TMG. He discussed the solution in-depth in a TechNet Edge video here, too.

And there's a good Edge video here about migrating from ISA 2006 to TMG.

New Forefront enterprise security solutions for safe, productive web surfing and remote access

Forefront Blogger — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:00:00 GMT

Following the last month’s launch of Forefront Protection for Exchange, today we are announcing more progress for our Business Ready Security strategy with the release of two new solutions: Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010 (TMG) and Forefront Unified Access Gateway 2010 (UAG.)

These solutions address two key endpoint security challenges. TMG, available for evaluation and purchase now, helps companies provide safe employee web browsing. UAG, which will release to manufacturing in mid December and be generally available shortly thereafter, enables organizations to give employees (and trusted partners and vendors) secure remote access to corporate resources.

Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010

Today’s information workers require web access to do their jobs, but web-based threats continue to rise. For example, the recent Microsoft Security Intelligence Report indicated that phishing rose significantly in the first half of 2009, quadrupling in May, and that social networking sites accounted for 76% of all phishing impressions. Securing web use is traditionally challenging for security administrators. Multiple products and vendors create high costs and management difficulty through “security sprawl.”

TMG is a secure web gateway that enables safe employee web use through comprehensive protection against malware, malicious web sites and vulnerabilities. Building on its predecessor, ISA Server 2006, TMG provides new URL filtering, anti-malware, and intrusion-prevention technologies to protect businesses against the latest web-based threats. These technologies are integrated with core network protection features such as firewall and VPN to create a unified, easy-to-manage gateway.

One of the most exciting features of TMG is its use of Microsoft Reputation Services – a new cloud-based system hosted by Microsoft which maintains a centralized database of 45 million (and growing!) web domains and billions of web pages to help customers identify and block malicious web sites. It pulls data from multiple sources, such as Hotmail, the same technology that powers SmartScreen in Internet Explorer 8, the Windows Live Security Platform, and more than 10 partners, such as Brightcloud, M8e6 and FutureSoft. The TMG/ISA blog provides a great overview of TMG and its URL filtering capabilities.

Forefront Unified Access Gateway 2010

Building on its predecessor, Intelligent Application Gateway, UAG enables remote access via managed and unmanaged PCs and mobile devices. Integrating a deep understanding of applications, the health state of end user devices, and the user’s identity – UAG enforces granular access controls, ensures security, and reduces management costs and complexity.

While UAG provides a variety of connectivity options such web publishing and SSL VPN tunnels, one of the best new features is UAG’s support and enhancements for Windows DirectAccess (DA). DA is the future of remote access allowing for seamless, always-on connectivity. Always-on keeps users happy as they are continually productive, but it also keeps administrators content as users are “always-managed.” UAG helps make DA deployments simpler, more extensible and easier to scale.

Follow Forefront on Twitter

Forefront Blogger — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:11:00 GMT

If you are a Twitter fan, be sure to follow us at http://twitter.com/MS_Forefront ! Our own John "JG" Chirapurath, senior director in the MSFT Identity and Security Business Group, is leading the Forefront Tweet charge in his typically pithy way. Come join the conversation about all things identity and security.

Joel Sider

New release of Forefront Online Protection for Exchange

Forefront Blogger — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:46:00 GMT

This week we released an update to Forefront Online Protection for Exchange (FOPE) - our hosted service providing anti-malware and anti-spam for both on-premises Exchange and Exchange Online. FOPE can be used as an alternative to the new Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server, or in tandem with it for messaging defense-in-depth.

The new release of Forefront Online Protection for Exchange offers enhanced policy control capabilities (such as enhanced regular expressions support, custom dictionaries) for IT admins to more effectively adhere to compliance needs. In addition, it supports advanced globalization/localization by supporting 13 languages in the Admin Console, in documentation and via telephone support. These enhancements were a direct result of feedback from Forefront Online Protection for Exchange customers, who expressed a need for more options when they created custom company policy rules for filtering, and more flexibility to manage these rules.

Additional enhancements with the new release:

· Policy rule syntax options: The new release provides the option to use either a basic syntax, which is a mixture of comma-separated values (CSV) and simple string-wildcard syntax or Regular Expressions.

· New Policy Rules e-mail header match option: FOPE now allows you to match e-mails based on e-mail header name and value.

· More flexibility for outbound forced TLS rules: The Policy Rules editor now offers a check box to enable Opportunistic TLS for recipients not specifically identified by the policy rule. Custom policy rules filters now feature the following enhancements:

The ability to upload dictionaries of custom-created lists or content for use in policy rules

The ability to apply the dictionaries across multiple rules and domains

Available now: Windows Identity Foundation for building more secure, simplified access to cloud applications

Forefront Blogger — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:35:00 GMT

Today at our Professional Developers Conference Microsoft announced the availability of Windows Identity Foundation (WIF), a new extension to the .NET Framework that makes it easier for developers to create more secure applications with interoperable, identity-based access.

The software and documentation are available here. You can watch a video discussion about WIF on Channel 9 here.

WIF is ideal for both on-premises and cloud apps, and it ties closely to today’s launch of the Windows Azure, Microsoft’s cloud services platform. As part of our open platform for simplified access to both on-premises and cloud applications (formerly known as codename “Geneva”,) WIF is a key element of how Microsoft is addressing customer needs around cloud security. It also represents more progress for our Business Ready Security strategy.

Extending single sign-on from on-premises infrastructure to cloud applications is an important customer need, to simplify user login and ensure productivity. But the complexities of identity and access often block developers from quickly delivering this capability. There are too many identity technologies to choose from. Custom development of identity functionality is slow, expensive and requires developers to be identity and security experts.

WIF changes this, by providing developers with a standard approach to building identity-based access into on-premises and cloud applications using the claims-based architecture. It boosts developer productivity through a single, simplified identity model within familiar tools, such as .NET and Visual Studio.

For example, Quest Software says it was able to reduce authentication/authorization development time by 80% using WIF for its new OnDemand IT management solution hosted on Windows Azure – announced today. Quest OnDemand relies on ADFS 2.0 (beta) for authentication, too.

Online travel service leader Hogg Robinson in the UK is using WIF and ADFS 2.0, as well. Lead architect Jon Simpson said the technologies "masked many complexities, yet offered extension points throughout the solution such that we could implement all of our requirements. We welcome this new, open approach from Microsoft. We didn't have to compromise our solution anywhere!"

WIF enhances application security because it provides consistent, proven means for single sign on, federation, strong authentication and identity delegation. With WIF developers don’t have to continually re-build authentication logic, and applications can call each other securely. And, because WIF allows developers to externalize identity logic from applications, re-coding is less likely to be required as identity needs change.

Additionally, WIF is based on industry standard protocols for interoperability across heterogeneous cloud and enterprise environments.

Complementing WIF are the upcoming Active Directory Federation Services 2.0 – a role in Windows Server that allows customers to extend their existing investment in identity infrastructure to cloud applications – and Windows CardSpace 2.0, which helps end users easily navigate multiple logins and manage different personas.

Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server launches

Forefront Blogger — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:56:00 GMT

Today at the TechEd Europe conference, in conjunction with the launch of Exchange Server 2010, Microsoft launched Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server. The product and evaluation software is available now.

Part of our Business Ready Security strategy, Forefront Protection for Exchange (FPE) offers multiple anti-malware engines for 38 times faster detection than single engine solutions, and 99% guaranteed spam protection with only one in 250,000 spam false positives. Customers also have the choice of using the hosted Forefront Online Protection for Exchange service, or both offerings together for defense-in-depth.

Like all of our Forefront solutions, FPE is designed to help companies balance the needs of business with security requirements. Email is an extremely critical application, of course, and it presents challenges to both businesspeople and IT managers. Employees (and non-employees) needs secure access to messaging and documents from anywhere, as well as a spam-free inbox and protection from malware. On the other hand, IT must manage multiple sites and devices, ensure information protection and compliance, and ward off financially-motivated threats.

Combined with Exchange 2010 and other Microsoft identity and security technologies, FPE is part of Microsoft’s comprehensive solution for secure messaging. (It’s worth watching a video presentation on the whole solution here, in fact.)

New features in Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server include:

· Premium antispam protection, with 99% detection rate, less than 1 in 250,000 false positives, and backscatter filtering

· New user interface with dashboard view of detection statistics and health monitoring

· Antispyware scanning provided by the Microsoft Antimalware Engine

· Support for Exchange 2010, Windows PowerShell, and Hyper-V

· Standardized installation using MSI installer

Already a number of customers have deployed FPE with success. Quotes from two:

“Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server goes hand-in-hand with Exchange Server 2010. We wouldn’t put anything else for e-mail security on our Exchange Server 2010.” Jonathan Wynn, IT Manager– Del Monte Foods.

“Implementing Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server was an easy decision for us following the success of our previous Forefront Security for Exchange Server implementation.” George Podolak, Director of IT, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners

Developers: Try out the Windows Identity Foundation Release Candidate

Forefront Blogger — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:46:00 GMT

Windows Identity Foundation (formerly called code name Geneva framework) is a new Microsoft .NET Framework technology that gives developers a programming model and SDK to create new advanced identity capabilities in .NET applications. It provides developers pre-built .NET security logic for building claims-aware applications, enhancing either ASP.NET or WCF applications. Windows Identity Foundation makes it easeir to build richer, more secure applications (cloud and on-premise) without being a security and identity expert. It will boost developer productivity, as a result, and enhance app security through a standard approach to federation, strong authentication and identity delegation.

The RC is available here.

Look for more information about "WIF" coming out of Microsoft's Professional Developer Conference, the week of Nov 16.

Forefront secure messaging screencast & interview

Forefront Blogger — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:15:00 GMT

Cristian Mora Aguilar, Forefront Technical PM, starts off by briefly telling us about Microsoft's secure messaging solution and what business problems it resolves. He then gives us a screencast / demo of some of the cool scenarios enabled and problems solved with the secure messaging solution. Find out how Microsoft products help secure Microsoft Exchange Server.

http://edge.technet.com/Media/Forefront-Secure-Messaging-screencast-and-interview/

MSFT Identity and Access news: Forefront Identity Manager RC1 and ADFS 2.0 SAML interoperability

Forefront Blogger — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:00:00 GMT

The RC1 release of Forefront Identity Manager 2010 (FIM) is available today here. The next version of Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007, FIM 2010 dramatically improves enterprise identity management by delivering powerful self-service capabilities for Office end-users, rich administrative tools and enhanced automation for IT professionals, and .NET and WS-* based extensibility for developers. The final release is slated for the first quarter of 2010.

What’s new in FIM RC1:

· Significant performance and scalability improvements across the product.

· Key feature enhancements, including management policy rule (MPR) explorer and capability to enable/disable MPR’s, usability improvements in the portal and ability to disable batch approve/reject of membership requests if needed. Also, a System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) management pack and configuration migration tools are new for RC1.

· The FIM 2010 user interface has enhanced usability and layout in many areas, resulting directly from RC0 customer feedback.

· The product is now rebranded as Forefront Identity Manager 2010, with a few exceptions, replacing the old “ILM 2” codename.

FIM is part of Microsoft’s continued, far-reaching commitment to enabling more secure, identity-based access to applications - on-premises and in the cloud, from virtually any location or device.

This commitment includes other solutions, such as Forefront Unified Access Gateway, and capabilities in the Windows platform, such as Active Directory Federation Services 2.0 (formerly known by codename “Geneva.”) ADFS 2.0 uses identity federation to extend Active Directory authentication and single sign-on to cloud-based services, hosted by Microsoft or others, so IT can gain flexibility and cost savings but avoid managing extra user accounts and passwords.

Another key part of our efforts in identity and access management is work across the industry to ensure interoperability. Today, for example, Microsoft was part of a Kantara Initiative and Liberty Alliance announcement. ADFS passed SAML 2.0 interoperability testing, meaning it will interoperate with heterogeneous environments and provide federation.

And, also, this week the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) is holding its Identity Management 2009 conference. Microsoft is a sponsor and participating in sessions and discussion around helping governments transparently manage citizens' identities and access to information. Lee Nackman, Microsoft vice president of the Identity and Security Division, is quoted in the OASIS press release.

"Promoting widespread use of secure and trustworthy digital identities, while preserving personal privacy and protecting civil liberties, is a critical challenge for governments and the technology industry. Working with government leaders, industry partners and consortia like OASIS, Microsoft is committed to the technical and policy innovation needed to provide citizens with safe access to resources and services, in both the public and private sectors. Identity Management 2009 will provide an ideal forum for knowledge sharing and collaboration in this area."

Steve Ballmer on The New Efficiency

Forefront Blogger — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:56:00 GMT

Making business decisions regarding IT investment is tougher than ever. To help, today Microsoft hosted a special VIP Business Leadership Roundtable event. CEO Steve Ballmer and moderator Robert Youngjohns, President of the Microsoft US Subsidiary, discussed major trends in the new role of technology in the workplace. Ballmer and Youngjohns were joined by a panel of early adopter customers representing key industries like automotive, hospitality, transportation and IT. Attendees got a close look at how real companies are making IT investments across the desktop, server, network and beyond.

How IT needs to keep pace with increasingly sophisticated users
The ever more mobile and distributed workforce, and
The impact of greater industry regulations and ongoing threats to data.

Forefront identity and security solutions, and our Business Ready Security strategy, are core parts of the way Microsoft is helping customers tackle these issues. You can view highlights of today's event and get lots of info on the range of Microsoft IT solutions - including a Business Ready Security overview, Secure Messaging, Secure Collaboration, Identity and Access Management and Information Protection at www.TheNewEfficiency.com

Video: FPE vs FOPE and Exchange 2010 – Secure messaging with Forefront

Forefront Blogger — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:08:00 GMT

Over on TechNet Edge Mike Chan, product manager for the Forefront team, breaks down the differences between security protection for Forefront Protection for Exchange (FPE), Forefront Online Protection for Exchange (FOPE), and the built-in protection which exists in Exchange 2010. We start out with a brief history of the messaging products and then dig into the details of differences between FPE, FOPE, and Exchange 2010 on the whiteboard at [4:22]. Should you run FPE alone or FPE and FOPE? Watch and decide.

Watch the video here: http://edge.technet.com/Media/FPE-vs-FOPE-and-Exchange-2010--Secure-messaging-with-Forefront/

The ID Element

Forefront Blogger — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:56:00 GMT

If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to pay a visit to The ID Element - the one stop shop for all things identity on Channel 9 - where you will find all kinds of material on Identity and Access Control: weekly interviews with product team members, developer how-tos, news, aggregated resources and more. There will be content for identity experts and those just getting started with the topic; content for developers and for IT Pros; discussions at the architecture level and step-by-step code guides. Most recent videos include: Alex Weinert on Forefront Identity Manager 2010 and Donovan Follette on making the shift from ADFS v1 to Geneva Server . Enjoy!

ID and Security in the Cloud

Forefront Blogger — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:50:00 GMT

Many companies and IT leaders are eager to realize the benefits of cloud computing, but security is often a concern. For example, a recent study by Maritz Research found that 59% of IT leaders in the US rated security as the biggest risk with cloud.

As part of our Business Ready Security strategy , we are taking a comprehensive approach to security across on-site and cloud infrastructure. This encompasses protection, access and management, all built around user identity and integrated with a highly secure, interoperable platform for a broad set of partner solutions. (At the Worldwide Partner Conference on 7/13, we also announced the official names of the products comprising the Forefront Protection Suite, previously known as codename “Stirling”, in an effort to align our portfolio with this broader definition of security.)

We are delivering both standalone security services and security technologies within Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure. Forefront Online Protection for Exchange is an example of a standalone service solution, providing email security for both on premise Exchange Server and Exchange Online (and other on-premise messaging systems.) Another example is System Center Online Desktop Manager, available in beta by the end of the year. It is an integrated security and management tool that will provide desktop management capabilities in the form of an online service.

Identity is a core part of our strategy, because it allows for more contextual protection and access to information and resources. With our Forefront platform, on-premise identities, such as those in Active Directory, work with cloud services. That enables simplified, secure user access to applications, such as Exchange, regardless of where the application is hosted.

Forefront's identity provisioning/de-provisioning and access management empower customers to integrate their investments in Active Directory and existing identities with cloud infrastructure. And, with solutions like Rights Management Services, in the future customers will be able to enforce persistent, identity-based policies around data anywhere it is stored, sent, or accessed - including the cloud.

We are also providing fundamental identity components for Microsoft cloud services, such as the Azure Services Platform. The Microsoft Services Connector, for example, extends identities from on premises systems to cloud services. The .Net Access Control Service issues and manages identity “claims.” Both are based on the next generation of Active Directory Federation Services, Windows Cardspace, and Windows Identity Foundation which comprise an open platform for simplified user access that works across organization boundaries for on-premise and cloud-based applications. Beta 2 of all three components is currently available.

Pushing Information Cards forward

Forefront Blogger — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 01:38:00 GMT

Earlier this week the international open standards consortium OASIS announced that its members - including Microsoft, IBM, EMC, CA, Novell and others - have approved Identity Metasystem Interoperability (IMI) version 1.0 as an OASIS standard. The IMI standard is an important step toward broader adoption of Information Cards - a new way for people to register, login and share information with web sites without a username and password for each site.

From the press release:

"Information Cards offer the best of both worlds—greater privacy and easier access," said Marc Goodner of Microsoft, chair of the OASIS IMI Technical Committee. "As an approved OASIS Standard, IMI assures interoperability across platforms and services, which will result in Information Card usage becoming even more widespread."

Information Cards are the digital equivalent of the cards people carry in their wallet or purse. They are stored in a new application called a card selector and carry information about a person's identity and relationship to the card provider, such as their employer, bank, library, store, etc.

Forefront Unified Access Gateway beta 2

Forefront Blogger — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:04:00 GMT

I’m very pleased to announce that today Forefront Unified Access Gateway Beta 2 is available for download from www.microsoft.com/uag . This beta release marks an important milestone in Microsoft’s remote access strategy as it brings together a host of access technologies into one environment.

Chances are you are reading this post from your laptop… and if you’re not currently outside of the corporate network, chances are you will be later today… You might be at home checking your email and getting some last minute work items done… That’s what UAG is all about! It’s about making sure that you, the user, remain as productive as you need to be regardless of what machine or network you are accessing from. Of course, it’s also about making sure that your company’s network and assets remain secure as you work remotely.

We know that when they say that “one size fits all”, it usually means that it fits some people well and the rest of us need to compromise. The same is true with remote access... Each technology is best suited for a different scenario/environment and the trick is to make sure you get the right one for the right task. A VPN client would be overkill for casual access from a kiosk or stealing a minute of time on your friend’s PC at home to check email… On the other hand, being limited to web-access only from your corporate laptop will leave you unfulfilled and wanting more. Unfulfilled, in this case also means: unproductive. That said, having multiple methods of remote access also translates to multiple $$$’s. Each environment needs to be well-managed, supported, scaled, etc. No less important is that each user needs to remember which environment is best to use in which scenario to easily achieve productivity. This means you’re doing less with more and that’s not good… and not just in this economy.

So here’s how UAG solves the problem…. It brings together a variety of remote access technologies such as DirectAccess, SSL VPN, Remote Desktop, web publishing, etc. under one roof and one user/admin experience. This way, administrators can easily roll out access to every type of user (employees, partners, etc) from virtually every location (corporate laptop, home PC, borrowed PC, kiosk, PDAs, etc). Users, in turn, get a simple and straightforward experience that adapts to the level of security of device they are using. If they come in from a corporate machine, they can get full connectivity through DirectAccess or for down-level PCs - SSL VPN. If they come from home PCs or borrowed PCs access policies will be tailored to their specific security. For instance, if they don’t practice safe-computing and don’t have an Anti-Malware software installed, running and up-to-date – UAG can decide to block access to uploads so no potentially harmful files will reach the network. If the user has an updated AV we may allow uploads but consider blocking downloads based on whether or not the Endpoint Session Cleanup (formerly: Attachment Wiper) can run to clean up any residue or temp files.

The policy options are limitless but they are also simple. Built in policies and administrative wizards help guide through setting up SharePoint, Exchange, DirectAccess, Terminal Services and much more….

The features I’m most excited about in UAG are our enhancements for DirectAccess. DirectAccess is really the next step of remote access and provides the best user experience possible. Wherever you may roam, you are simply connected, always-on, to corpnet. There is no need to open a VPN client, wait for connectivity, etc… You simply login and you are connected! What UAG brings to the table is a variety of capabilities to help simplify deployment and management, extend access to older servers and clients and grow the scale of the deployment. If you’re not yet looking at DirectAccess for your organization, you should…. And if you’re looking at DirectAccess you should look at UAG!

I could go on and on about the features and capabilities but why hear it from me?! Go and download the beta and see for yourself.

For more information you may want to try:

· The UAG engineering blog

· UAG website

· UAG TechNet Center

· DirectAccess site and UAG DirectAccess page.

Uri Lichtenfeld

Product Manager - UAG