Configuring Dynamic Access Controls and File Classification-Part4-#winservr 2012 #DAC #microsoft #mvpbuzz

Part1: The Windows Server 2012 new File Server–part 1- Access Condition http://goo.gl/9miY1

Part2: The Windows Server 2012 new File Server–part 2- Install AD RMS http://goo.gl/dRHro

Part3: The new file server part3 using file classification & AD RMS: http://goo.gl/A4JlC

In previous parts we have walked through the new file server features and permissions wizard, Data Classification, AD RMS installation and File Classification and AD RMS integration, in the final part of this series we will take about how to implement a new feature of Active Directory called claim based authentication and utilize it for something called Dynamic Access Control.

but wait a minute, what is the claim based authentication, from this reference: http://www.windowsecurity.com/articles/First-Look-Dynamic-Access-Control-Windows-Server-2012.html

Claims-based authentication relies on a trusted identity provider. The identity provider authenticates the user, rather than every application doing so. The identity provider issues a token to the user, which the user then presents to the application as proof of identity. Identity is based on a set of information that, taken together, identifies a particular entity (such as a user or computer). Each piece of information is referred to as a claim. These claims are contained in the token. The token as a whole has the digital signature of the identity provider to verify the authenticity of the information it contains.

Windows Server 2012 turns claims into Active Directory attributes. These claims can be assigned to users or devices, using the Active Directory Administrative Center (ADAC). The identity provider is the Security Token Service (STS). The claims are stored inside the Kerberos ticket along with the user’s security identifier (SID) and group memberships.

Once the data has been identified and tagged – either automatically, manually or by the application – and the claims tokens have been issued, the centralized policies that you’ve created come into play.

Now you can turn user’s attribute whatever they are, into security controls, now we have the power to control the access to files and set the permissions to files using attributes, we no longer controlled by group permissions only.

With that in mind, you can set the permissions on the files based on department attributes, connecting machine, location or any other attribute in Active Directory and you don’t have to create specific groups for that, also the permissions will be set on the fly, not only that, but you can set the permissions not based on the user’s properties but also based on the device the user is using, you can set the permissions to full control from corporate devices, but readonly from kiosk or non-corporate devices.

Not only that, but you can also include the attributes of the resources that is being accessed in the permissions equation, so you want “on the fly” to examine the resource classification and allow only specific users with specific attributes to access the resource (so files classified of country classification “Egypt” will be accessed by only users who are in country “Egypt” for example).

Dynamic Access Control (DAC) is a new era for permissions, I am blown by the power of DAC and how flexible it is, mixed with AD RMS you can have ultimate control on data within your corporate.

Lab Setup:

We will use the steps described here in this TechNet article: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh846167.aspx#BKMK_1_3 , the steps here are illustration of the steps, and prior parts of the blog series (part 1 to 3) are used as foundation to demonstrate the final environment:

Implementation steps:

the first ting to configure is the claim type, claim types represents what are the data queried in the user/device/resource attribute and then used in the permission evaluation, you want to query about the country, you create a claim type for that, you want to use department you create a claim type for that.

In our Lab we will create a claim type of Department and Country:

to create a claim type open the AD Administrative Center  and go to Claim Types, and from the menu select new:

 

Create a new claim for Department :

and for Country :

In the Country, Supply suggested values (to specify values for the claims as Egypt and Qatar):

Note: By defaults claims are issues to users, if you want to issue it for computers you must select that on the claim

Create a new reference resource property for Claim Country:

Now got to Resource Properties  and enable the department claim;

Now let us create a Central Access Rule, This rule will include the template permissions that will be applied when the claims are matched with the rules defined in the CAR:

In the rule, specify the security principle you want to use, in this demo we will grant access to Finance Admins full control and Finance Execs read only access, and this will be applied to all files “resources” that is classified in the Finance Department, we can also go with devices claims and specify the country of this device or any other property that we can to query about the device:

The Final rules will be :

Now create a Central Access Policy that will be applied using GPO to all file servers and the Administrator can select and apply them on individual folders:

In the CAP, include the finance data rule:

No you need to apply this CAP using GPO and make it available to file servers, now create a GPO and link it to the file servers OU:

In the Group Policy Management Editor window, navigate to Computer Configuration, expand Policies, expand Windows Settings, and click Security Settings.

Expand File System, right-click Central Access Policy, and then click Manage Central access policies.

In the Central Access Policies Configuration dialog box, add Finance Data, and then click OK.

You need now to allow the Domain Controllers to issue the Claims to the users, this is done by editing the domain controllers GPO and specify the claims settings:

Open Group Policy Management, click your domain, and then click Domain Controllers.

Right-click Default Domain Controllers Policy, and then click Edit.

In the Group Policy Management Editor window, double-click Computer Configuration, double-click Policies, double-clickAdministrative Templates, double-click System, and then double-click KDC.

Double-click KDC Support for claims, compound authentication and Kerberos armoring. In the KDC Support for claims, compound authentication and Kerberos armoring dialog box, click Enabled and select Supported from the Options drop-down list. (You need to enable this setting to use user claims in central access policies.)

Close Group Policy Management.

Open a command prompt and type gpupdate /force.

Testing the Configuration:

Going to the file server, and clicking on our finance data file, we can now find the data classification that we specific in the Claims:

Now let us classify the data as Finance Department.

Note: In order to allow DAC permissions to go into play, allow everyone NTFS full control permissions and then DAC will overwrite it, if the user doesn’t have NTFS permissions he will be denied access even if DAC grants him access.

Now checking the permissions on the folder:

going to the Central Policy tab and applying the Finance Data Policy:

now let us examine the effective permissions:

for the Finance Admins:

If the user has no claims (so he is a member of the group but not in the finance department and is not located in Egypt) he will be denied access:

Now, let us specify that he is from Finance Department, no luck, Why?!

This is because he must access the data from a device that has claim type country Egypt:

Now test the Finance Execs Permissions and confirm it is working.

You can test applying this rule also when the following condition is set, and wee what happens:

Note: the above rule will grant use access when his department matches the file classification department, so you can have a giant share from mix of departments and permissions will be granted to files based on users’ departments.

Conclusion:

Mixing DAC with AD RMS and file classification is a powerful mix that helps organizations with the DLP dilemma, and with Windows Server 2012 organization has total control for the first time on the files and data within the files. please try the lab and let me know your feedback

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