Microsoft Entra Application Proxy (formerly Azure AD Application Proxy) is a secure, cost-effective reverse proxy solution that allows remote users to access internal, on-premises applications without the complexity and security risks of a traditional VPN.
🎯 Key Features and Benefits
- Authenticated Access: Relies on Entra ID’s Security Token Service for pre-authentication, blocking anonymous access and preventing cyberattacks directed at the network perimeter.
- Conditional Access: Enables the application of rich security policies, including Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), location restrictions, and integration with Microsoft Defender, before access is granted.
- Traffic Termination: Functions as a reverse proxy, terminating all inbound traffic in the cloud at the service level. This shields back-end servers from direct HTTP exposure and targeted attacks.
- Outbound Access Only: Eliminates the need to open inbound firewall ports. The proxy connectors use secure, outbound connections to the Entra ID Application Proxy service, removing the requirement for a perimeter network.
- Cutting-edge Security: Leverages Entra ID Cloud Identity and Access Management and global threat intelligence (Digital Crimes Unit, MSRC) to identify compromised accounts and block risky sign-in attempts (e.g., from atypical locations or anonymizing networks).
- Managed Remote Access: As a service owned by Microsoft, it receives automatic patching and security upgrades, reducing the maintenance burden on on-premises IT staff and protecting against vulnerabilities in unpatched software.
- Built-in Azure DDoS Protection: All published applications automatically benefit from real-time mitigation against Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks managed by Microsoft.
Remote working is here to stay since the number of people working remotely from home has grown by 159% since 2009. However, allowing employees to access applications on your company’s internal network remotely poses serious cybersecurity concerns.
Setting up a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to gain access to the applications in your network could mitigate these cybersecurity issues. However, a VPN is complex to set up, requires a lot of pre-requisites, and calls for inflated support and maintenance costs. Outlined below are some reasons why you need to publish your network’s applications through Microsoft Entra Application Proxy, formerly Azure Active Directory Application Proxy.
Authenticated Access
Entra App Proxy’s pre-authentication enables you to decide which authenticated connections can gain access to your network. The application proxy service solely relies on Entra ID’s security token service to authenticate all the connection requests your business’ network receives.Moreover, this application proxy’s pre-authentication blocks all anonymous cyberattacks directed at your organization’s network. This cybersecurity feature, in turn, allows you to safely and securely connect to your network’s applications remotely.
Conditional Access
Entra ID (Azure AD) Application Proxy allows you to apply rich policy controls before establishing connections to your business network. For instance, the Entra ID’s conditional access enables you to define restriction policies on how remote users are allowed to access your network’s applications.Conditional access also allows you to add an extra layer of security to user authentications by configuring multi-factor authentication policies. If that’s not enough, you can route your applications to Microsoft Defender using Azure AD’s conditional access to monitor and control them in real-time.
Traffic Termination
Azure Active Directory (now Entra ID) Application Proxy allows you to terminate all the traffic to the applications in your network in the cloud. The application proxy terminates all the traffic to your back-end applications at the service since it’s a reverse proxy.This traffic termination capability protects your back-end servers from direct HTTP traffic since the session is only re-established with the back-end servers. Consequently, this Entra ID Application Proxy’s configuration protects your business’ network from targeted cyberattacks.
Outbound Access
With Entra Application Proxy Application Proxy, there’s no need to open inbound connections to your corporate network. The application proxy’s connectors use outbound connections to the application proxy service, eliminating the need to open the firewall ports for inbound connections.Traditional proxies needed a perimeter network, gave unauthenticated connections access to the network, and required a considerable investment in firewall products.
However, Entra ID / Azure Active Directory Application Proxy doesn’t require a perimeter network, such as a VPN, since all connections take place over secure channels and are outbound.
Cutting-edge Security Protection
Since Entra ID / Azure AD Application Proxy is part of the Entra ID, it can leverage the Entra ID Cloud Identity and Access Management. The application proxy uses data sourced from the Digital Crimes Unit and Microsoft Security Response Center to identify the compromised accounts and protect your network from risky sign-ins.This Microsoft Entra application proxy also considers various factors to determine high-risk sign-in attempts, such as anonymizing networks, atypical locations, and infected devices. This cutting-edge security protection keeps potential cybercriminals away from your business’ network even when you’re working remotely.
Remote Access Service
With Azure AD Application Proxy, you never have to worry about occasionally patching and maintaining your network’s on-premises servers. While unpatched software accounts for the most significant number of cyberattacks, Microsoft Entra’s application proxy is a remote access service that Microsoft owns.Microsoft occasionally sends you the latest security upgrades and patches when you publish your applications by the application proxy. Besides, the application proxy will block all web crawler robots from archiving or indexing your apps to improve cybersecurity.
Azure DDoS Protection
All the apps published through the Entra ID Application Proxy are secured against all Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) cyberattacks.This protection service that Microsoft manages is automatically enabled in all Microsoft’s data centers, adding to its effectiveness.
Azure DDoS protection service, in turn, provides real-time mitigation and traffic monitoring of the common network-level attacks.
Therefore, you automatically benefit from DDoS protection if you publish your business’ applications using Microsoft Azure application proxy.
Conclusion
Entra ID Application Proxy is a cost-effective and secure remote access solution that you must incorporate into your on-premises applications. The Entra ID service provides a direct transition path to manage remote access to your legacy on-premises apps that don’t have modern protocol capabilities.
Nonetheless, you need an Azure expert to plan, operate, and manage your Entra ID Application Proxy deployment. At 360 Visibility, we’ll help you optimize your organization’s IT infrastructure by implementing Microsoft Azure’s cloud services.