If members of your team use multiple endpoint devices for their daily tasks, you’ll need a centralized platform like Microsoft Intune to manage them and ensure their safety. It’s no secret that many attackers exploit vulnerabilities in endpoint devices to access the IT infrastructures of organizations, which is why endpoint management and security is an important topic.
Studies have shown that more than 33% of US employees use their personal laptops and smartphones for company work. The increased reliability of personal devices increases the Surface of Attack that hackers can utilize to cause harm to your organization. Microsoft Intune is one of the most reliable endpoint management platforms, which is why over 11,000 organizations globally use it.
To help you understand more about how this tool works, this article will discuss everything you need to know about how to use Microsoft Intune to manage and secure your mobile devices. Let’s get started without any further delay!
What is Microsoft Intune, and how does it work?
Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) tool designed to help organizations efficiently manage the mobile devices employees use to access corporate data and applications. In essence, it streamlines the management and enhances the security of these mobile devices, ensuring that they are used effectively and securely in the workplace or when working remotely.
This tool works by using native protocols and APIs within mobile operating systems to manage and secure mobile devices effectively. It begins with device enrollment, creating an inventory for IT personnel to track devices accessing enterprise services. Intune also configures devices to meet corporate standards, including certificates, Wi-Fi, and VPN profiles.
Robust compliance reporting ensures adherence to security policies. It also integrates with Azure AD (Active Directory) to enhance access control for a zero-trust environment. Additionally, Intune manages mobile apps by assigning them to employees, configuring settings, and maintaining data security.
When this tool is used alongside other EMS (Enterprise Mobile Security) suite services, it provides advanced features like single sign-on and multifactor authentication, bolstering overall security in the organization. To help you further understand how this tool works, let’s share with you some of its core features.
Key features of Microsoft Intune
- Device Management: This feature allows you to manage both personally-owned and company-owned devices, covering the most common platforms such as Android, iOS, iPadOS, Linux, macOS, Windows, and ChromeOS.
- Secure Data Access: Intune provides a secure gateway for employees to access company data on their devices. It ensures that data remains protected even on personal devices by implementing security policies and access controls.
- App Lifecycle Management: Intune manages the entire lifecycle of applications on managed devices. This includes app deployment, updates, and removal.
- Mobile App Management: It offers the capability to manage mobile apps, ensuring they meet company standards for security and functionality. Additionally, Intune enables secure access to company data through these apps, safeguarding sensitive information.
- Self-Service Functionality: Intune facilitates self-service functionalities through the Company Portal app. Employees can reset PINs or passwords, install necessary apps, and remove devices from the management system.
- Integration with Threat Defense Services: For enhanced endpoint security, Intune can integrate seamlessly with mobile threat defense services. This integration actively monitors and protects these devices against threats, bolstering the overall security posture of managed devices.
- Insightful Reporting: Microsoft Intune provides robust reporting capabilities, offering valuable insights into the organization’s device and application environment. These reports cover policies, profiles, updates, app usage, and more.
Using Microsoft Intune to manage and secure endpoint devices
Now that you know how Microsoft Intune works and some of its core capabilities, let’s discuss how you can use it to manage and secure the endpoint devices of your organization;
Getting Started with Microsoft Intune
Here are the five key steps you must follow to get started with Microsoft Intune;
- Set Up Intune Subscription: Setting up your Intune subscription is the first crucial step in managing your organization’s devices and apps effectively. To begin, access the Intune admin center using your administrative credentials, usually through the Microsoft 365 portal. Once inside, you can now choose the subscription that suits your organization’s needs.
- Add, Configure, and Protect Apps: After subscribing, you can proceed to add, configure, and protect apps within your organization. Begin by adding apps to the Intune platform. This includes both Microsoft and third-party apps. After adding apps, tailor their settings and configurations to align with your organization’s requirements.
- Create Compliance Policies: Begin by defining the compliance requirements your organization needs devices to meet. These criteria often include device encryption, up-to-date software, and secure configurations. Once defined, configure these policies in Intune to enforce compliance on devices.
- Configure Device Features and Security Settings: Device configuration policies allow you to set specific parameters, including security settings and network configurations, across your device fleet. Additionally, deploy security baselines within Intune to establish a fundamental security posture for your devices.
- Enroll Devices: Devices can be enrolled in various ways, depending on your needs, including user-driven enrollment, automatic enrollment for corporate-owned devices, and bulk enrollment for large-scale deployments.
Application Management
Microsoft Intune offers comprehensive application management capabilities to IT administrators, ensuring that end-users have access to the necessary apps while maintaining security and compliance. Managing apps is essential due to the diverse range of device platforms, various app types, and the need to handle both corporate and personal devices securely.
Intune’s Mobile Application Management (MAM) features empower administrators to publish, configure, secure, and monitor mobile apps. It also enables IT admins to manage and protect organizational data within applications, including popular productivity apps like Microsoft Office.
MAM can be applied in two configurations, including Intune MDM + MAM for enrolled devices with mobile device management (MDM) and MAM for unenrolled or third-party EMM-enrolled devices. This flexibility allows organizations to secure data across a wide spectrum of device scenarios.
Fortunately, this platform allows the management of apps from all the major operating systems, including Android, iOS/iPadOS, macOS, and Windows 10/11. Administrators can add, assign, configure, and monitor apps, even on devices not enrolled with Intune. Additional features include app protection policies, selective removal of corporate data (app selective wipe), and the ability to assign and track volume-purchased apps.
Within the app management dashboard, admins can access the Microsoft Intune admin center, which offers a centralized hub for app-related tasks. Such tasks include monitoring app assignments, managing app licenses, discovering installed apps, checking app installation status, and enforcing app protection policies.
Data protection and compliance
Microsoft Intune is a powerful solution for data protection and compliance in organizations. It offers a robust set of features to secure managed devices and safeguard sensitive data from potential threats. With Intune, administrators can exercise control over how users interact with an organization’s data, whether on managed or unmanaged devices and can even block data access from compromised devices.
Intune can also integrate with Configuration Manager to manage on-premises devices, ensuring consistent policy enforcement across the entire device ecosystem. This comprehensive approach helps organizations establish a robust defense against data breaches and maintain compliance with regulatory requirements.
Intune also enables administrators to enforce data protection and compliance through device configuration and compliance policies. These policies allow for the fine-tuning of device settings, authentication methods, VPN configurations, software updates, and security baselines.
Monitoring and reporting
Microsoft Intune offers an extensive suite of monitoring and reporting tools to help organizations efficiently manage and secure their endpoints. These tools encompass a wide range of reports, each tailored to specific needs. Some of the major reports it provides include;
- Device Compliance Reports: This report includes everything from broad device compliance trends to granular noncompliant settings. These reports empower administrators to ensure devices adhere to security and compliance policies, identify issues promptly, and take necessary actions.
- Device Configuration Report: This report simplifies policy management.
- Device and User Check-In Status Report: This report combines device and user check-in data for streamlined device configuration monitoring. Furthermore, Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) permissions ensure that only authorized personnel can access sensitive reports.
Conclusion
This article has covered all the basics you need to know to get started with Microsoft Intune to secure your team’s endpoint devices. To make the most of this tool, your security or IT team should become familiar with how it operates and its interface. They can also explore the Microsoft Intune Documentation to learn more about its functionality and any recent updates made by Microsoft.
If you lack the expertise to use tools like Microsoft Intune, you can opt for our hands-free Endpoint Device Management service. Our experienced team has the skills needed to ensure that all your endpoint devices are kept safe and secure.
