Originally published on April 22, 2024
Mastering a Microsoft Intune deployment begins with defining your goals, as well as clearly understanding and incorporating proven best practices for mobile device management (MDM) and mobile application management (MAM). Like any technology deployment, not having apparent success factors combined with not leveraging proven deployment strategies leads to a project that never ends.
This article discusses the value and importance of best practices to help guide your next Intune deployment project. Leveraging MSSPs like Hypershift and their experienced engineers helps reduce time and cost in Intune for MAM and MDM by executing a proven deployment plan.
If you're looking for the 10 most common deployment challenges and how to avoid them, check out our guide here!
Mistakes happen during many IT deployments. These are often the result of poor planning, challenges aligning the solution to the objectives, and a lack of experienced engineers to manage the deployment.
A lousy deployment can lead to problems with device compliance, unauthorized access to the Intune company portal, or hackers hijacking the device management process or altering the app protection policies.
Here is a list of common mistakes made during a Microsoft Intune Deployment that everyone should know.
Defining and Provisioning Conditional Access During Device Enrollment
Conditional access is helpful for company-owned devices or bring-your-own-device (BYOD). By setting this policy, devices that do not meet security standards defined within Intune will be granted limited access to applications, networks, and data. However, if this policy is not set correctly, devices that fail in their security posture assessment or become compromised by hackers will continue to operate normally.
Failure to Update Policies and Security Patches After the Initial Configuration
Security operations engineers often update MDM and MAM policies based on either an immediate threat or to grant access to new cloud infrastructures and SaaS-based applications. Devices that cannot receive new policy updates, including software updates to reduce exposure, quickly become liabilities.
SecOps engineers should validate that policy updates work as expected to ensure this condition doesn’t put the organization at risk. SecOps engineers should also ensure that continuous policy updates and the deployment of tested security patches stay enabled to reduce the risk of emerging threats while helping meet compliance mandates.
Common Issues with Firewall Configurations After the Initial Deployment
During an Intune deployment, firewall changes are required to ensure the proper ports open for user devices to access the various platforms. Policy updates to the devices must have the correct firewall ports open. In time, SecOps engineers will update their firewall with new firmware or, responding to a security audit, may shut down currently unused ports. These mistakes result in the failed delivery of new policies to devices or the inability to receive attack telemetry information.
Misconfiguring Multifactor (MFA) Authentication Methods for Intune
Hackers stealing credentials through an email phishing campaign is highly common. M365 is a frequent target of hackers because they subscribe to M365! They use their M365 accounts to send out their credential campaign attacks. Microsoft and CISA recommend enabling MFA to help minimize the risk of account takeover. Like other security features, failure to configure MFA could cause a breach of the management console, impacting the organization's enterprise network, hosts, and cloud applications.
Misconfigured Settings By Mistakenly Giving Users Admin Rights
A common mistake for deployment SecOps engineers is forgetting to deactivate the default admin accounts and passwords or mistakenly adding every user to the admin group in the Active Directory. After an Intune deployment, organizations recommend hiring a third-party security assessment firm to look for vulnerabilities and exploitations. The third-party testing firm will discover this misstep in configuration.
Misconfiguration of Compliance Policies During the Enrollment Process
One of Intune’s most valuable features is configuring compliance policies. MDM and MAM compliance policies within Intune help organizations comply with HIPAA, PCI-DSS, GPDR, and other regulations. Misconfiguring policies on user devices could affect compliance status.
Getting the most out of any cybersecurity adaptive control deployment starts with completing the installation correctly. Organizations want to operate in a compliant environment for their applications and devices with correct implementations. Deploying Microsoft Intune will cause non-compliant devices to access sensitive applications and data sources. Here are the positive results that companies can experience when deploying Intune with best practices.
Fact: Enabling and sustaining best practices for endpoint and device security enhances productivity with less downtime, greater flexibility of services, and a proven strategy for recognizing actual cost savings.
Here are the positive results that organizations can experience when deploying Intune with best practices:
Early Success with Enhanced Productivity.
Intune provides a centralized platform for operations teams to manage multiple devices like smartphones, tablets, and laptops. This streamlined approach simplifies the deployment of applications, updates, and configurations, enhancing productivity by ensuring all team members have access to necessary tools.
More Flexibility for New or Existing Application Deployment on BYOD and Corporate Devices.
Flexibility and accessibility are essential aspects of the modern work environment. Intune enables employees to use their preferred devices, leading to greater employee satisfaction, collaboration, and innovation.
Realizing Actual Cost Savings.
Using Intune to automate application delivery to compliant devices with less human interaction can help reduce operational costs and license app delivery by the department.
Streamlining Device and Application Management for BYOD.
Intune BYOD is essential for optimizing workflows. It offers productivity, device flexibility, security, and cost savings, aligning well with modern operations needs. It helps manage diverse devices efficiently, resulting in a successful operation.
The first step in avoiding mistakes is to develop an alliance with a technology firm that delivers real-world experience with every Intune/SCCM deployment.
Developing a relationship with Hypershift is a solid step in your Intune/SCCM journey. Working with our experts in MDM and MAM, along with ongoing enterprise patching, asset inventory, and compliance, will help you develop the correct strategy. Deciding between Intune and SCCM has much more to do with meeting business requirements and less with which tool is better. Organizations wanting an MDM capability with an on-premise instance will benefit significantly from both solutions.
Hypershift's assessment services for Microsoft Intune/SCCM are the first step in assisting clients when developing any new strategy. Additionally, for organizations struggling to keep experienced talent to manage Intune and SCCM, Hypershift's various managed services offering could provide the ongoing support needed.
Deployment of Microsoft Intune is one of the most critical projects for any organization. Securing devices, user access, and applications is paramount to meet its compliance regulations. A successful Intune deployment shows your organization’s commitment to protecting its information.
Do you have enough qualified security engineers to manage your Intune or SCCM environment? Most organizations don’t. Our firm’s focus and experience in managed services for Microsoft solutions are one pillar of its success.
Contact our Microsoft managed services solution specialist to schedule a call and learn more.