Understanding Microsoft Intune Security Baseline: An In-Depth Guide Based on Real-World Experience
As organizations increasingly rely on cloud-based management tools, Microsoft Intune has become a pivotal part of managing device configurations, ensuring security, and enforcing compliance across various platforms. One of the most crucial aspects of Intune security management is the Security Baseline Policies. These policies, which are predefined sets of security settings provided by Microsoft, help ensure that devices comply with best security practices. However, as I’ve learned through firsthand experience, security baselines can sometimes present challenges, especially when they inadvertently block applications or cause issues with device behavior. In this article, I will share my experiences and insights on working with Intune Security Baseline Policies, troubleshooting common issues, and providing practical solutions for effective management.
What Are Intune Security Baseline Policies?
Security baselines in Intune are a set of predefined security configurations based on industry standards and best practices, aimed at ensuring the security of devices and data within an organization. These baselines cover key areas like:
By applying these security baselines, organizations ensure that their devices are configured securely without needing to manually configure each individual setting. However, as I’ll explain, there are challenges that can arise when these settings conflict with certain software or device configurations.
Common Challenges with Security Baseline Policies
In my experience, when security baseline policies are deployed across a broad range of devices, they sometimes cause unintended consequences. One of the primary concerns that often comes up is the blocking of legitimate applications. This can occur for several reasons:
1. Conflicts with Existing Applications:
Some applications may not be fully compatible with specific settings in the security baseline. For example, Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) or Exploit Protection can block legitimate applications if they are not whitelisted or recognized by these security measures.
2. Overreaching Settings:
Some security settings may be too restrictive, such as SmartScreen filtering or Windows Defender Antivirus policies, which could block an application or even certain functions on a device without providing clear feedback. This can cause productivity disruption and lead to confusion among users.
3. Misalignment with Business Requirements:
Certain security configurations might not align with the specific needs of the business or users. For instance, an enterprise might rely on third-party applications that conflict with Intune's predefined settings, or have use cases where certain security measures need to be relaxed temporarily.
How to Exclude Applications from Security Baselines
While these security policies are critical, there are times when you need to exclude specific apps from being impacted by these baselines. The challenge comes when you need to strike a balance between enforcing security while also ensuring that legitimate business applications run without issues. Based on my experience, the most effective way to handle this is to exclude applications from specific security features or customize the security baseline settings.
Steps to Exclude Applications:
What to Do When Security Baseline Policies Block Genuine Applications
Even after exclusions and modifications, if security baselines still block applications or functionality, it’s important to consider additional troubleshooting steps. Here’s a list of what I typically do when facing such issues:
1. Review the Impacted Policies:
Sometimes it’s not just one policy but a combination of settings in the baseline that’s causing the problem. I recommend going through each security policy, such as Windows Defender Antivirus, Exploit Protection, or App Control, and determining which one might be preventing the application from running.
2. Use Logging and Reporting:
3. Modify or Relax Security Policies Temporarily:
Sometimes, if it’s critical to run a specific application, I temporarily relax or disable certain baseline settings on a small group of test devices to ensure the application functions properly. This helps confirm the cause and allows you to decide whether the policy needs an exemption.
Challenges with Re-enrollment and System Repair
In some cases, after applying or adjusting security baselines, devices may still face issues with policies not being applied properly. During my work with Intune, I found that the only way to completely clear security baseline settings was to reenroll the device in Intune or perform a system repair (using tools like Windows Autopilot Reset or In-place upgrade).
Why Re-enrollment and System Repair Work:
Best Practice for Preventing These Issues:
Before applying security baselines broadly:
Best Practices and Lessons Learned
From my experience working with Intune security baselines, here are some best practices:
Conclusion
Intune security baselines are an essential tool for ensuring the security of your organization’s devices, but they can present challenges, especially when they block legitimate applications. Through my experience, I've learned that these issues can be resolved by fine-tuning security settings, using exclusions, and carefully monitoring the impact of security policies on devices.
If you encounter persistent issues, remember that re-enrollment or system repair may be necessary to fully reset and clear conflicting security settings. As long as you follow a structured approach—testing, monitoring, and selectively applying policies—security baselines can provide robust protection without hindering productivity.