Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS), part of the Microsoft Windows Server operating system, allows for single sign-on access across organizational boundaries for applications through a single sign-on authentication model using a claims-based security system. ADFS uses a claims-based authentication method to protect application security.
Users no longer need to recycle passwords across platforms, reducing the likelihood that cyber adversaries could crack their credentials and gain unauthorized entry.
What is ADFS?
Active Directory Federation Services, part of the Microsoft Windows Server operating system, enables single sign-on (SSO) access to applications and systems hosted outside the corporate network. It enhances existing Active Directory functionality to store usernames and passwords securely within an Active Directory domain to allow employees to utilize these credentials when accessing third-party apps or systems hosted elsewhere on an external domain or data center.
ADFS uses a proxy service to combine the identities of external applications with those of users authenticating in a federation, then generates a token with these combined claims to pass along to other applications - this way enabling users to avoid showing individually but instead, respond quickly to an account challenge from any one of their federated assets at any given time.
Federation services can also transform claims into labels required by target applications and systems, providing companies with multiple business applications and processes with additional value. For instance, this feature could help companies with diverse operations by turning claims like those used to identify users into labels in applications such as order processing, customer service, tracking, or monitoring services.
IT staff can save considerable time and effort by enabling employees to use their existing Windows credentials for accessing company web apps, third-party software systems and services, and help desk calls regarding password resets being reduced. At the same time, IT professionals focus on more complex issues requiring greater attention to detail.
ADFS offers many advantages, yet it can be challenging to deploy and manage. An implementation may involve technical skills that exceed what the average IT administrator may possess and also require significant investments such as licenses and servers to support it; additionally, there may be ongoing maintenance expenses, including the purchase of secure sockets layer certificates (SSL).
How does ADFS work?
ADFS extends Microsoft Active Directory's technology for managing usernames and passwords into the Internet, enabling users to authenticate themselves when accessing applications outside their firewall. This solution is crucial in an age when remote, mobile, and hybrid work is more prevalent. Without an external identity solution like ADFS, employees would have to create separate sets of credentials for every app they wanted to use - something ADFS provides quickly.
To access services not hosted within their organization's network, users must visit a website supporting federated authentication - typically partner sites. When visiting these websites, users are asked to make a request that goes back to the server responsible for ADFS deployment - known as Federation Server Proxy - who then verifies user credentials before forwarding a token to a partner site where it can then be verified as valid and granted user access permission for that service or site.
ADFS deployment offers many key advantages over other products, including its scalability and compatibility with other services such as Microsoft Azure AD or AWS, including using a standard specification called WS-Federation to communicate with other servers that use its federated identity management platform (such as Azure AD or AWS) through communication protocols like WS-Federation; IT teams can adjust existing security frameworks to comply with its requirements for optimal operation, thus decreasing hackers' ability to target employees' accounts thereby decreasing the risk of successful attacks that can cause considerable harm to an organization.
Security in ADFS
Companies must reassess how they authenticate users and grant access privileges as more employees work remotely. Companies rely on software as a service (SaaS) and web applications, increasing reliance on SaaS and web apps hosted across various networks or organizations. One option could be using Microsoft's ADFS solution, which offers single sign-on access for SaaS/web apps hosted across multiple networks or organizations.
ADFS' Federation feature connects to trusted partners known as "relying parties" to share identity data for single sign-on (SSO) across multiple websites and networks. Relying parties can either be internal or external to your organization. ADFS verifies its credibility before issuing claims-based security tokens for users who use their approved Internet-facing systems and apps.
Due to these safeguards, compromised accounts or passwords at federated partners do not expose login credentials to hackers and other malicious actors - an advantage over traditional authentication methods that reveal these credentials online and make them susceptible to attack.
While ADFS can be an essential part of an overall cybersecurity strategy, it does have some restrictions and potential security risks for businesses before making their decision. Working with an MSP that can assist with deployment, configuration, monitoring, and support is vital. ADFS reduces the risk of end-users recycling passwords among applications or writing them down, increasing employee efficiency and productivity by eliminating friction in user experience and decreasing digital adversary attacks. It can also reduce the possibility that digital adversaries gain unwarranted entry to one system within your network and then laterally move through it in search of higher privileges.
Another key security measure involves the removal of day-to-day user accounts from the Domain Admins group. Attackers often target these privileged accounts due to their access to networks, databases, and assets of companies. It's best practice to grant DA access when necessary and remove it after completing any task.
Benefits Of ADFS
ADFS can help strengthen security and benefit end users, IT staff, and developers. End users can access applications more quickly without reentering login information - increasing work efficiency while eliminating distractions; IT professionals can focus on more critical projects rather than maintaining account information for every web platform used by employees, while developers can create an identity management solution that authenticates users by verifying them against an organizational directory rather than asking users for credentials each time a login attempt takes place.
Traditional methods for providing users access to software as a service service (SaaS) or web applications require creating accounts and managing passwords on behalf of each user, which is cumbersome, time-consuming, ineffective, and exposes businesses to risks such as account hijacking or breach. ADFS helps business leaders address these challenges by offering users a seamless and secure method to log into third-party apps using Microsoft Work credentials.
ADFS accomplishes this by sharing authentication claims with trusted partner companies, who translate these into the format user web applications understand. When users visit websites hosted by trusted partners, ADFS sends its server the claim to that website, where users can log in using an ADFS authentication token.
This process occurs over SSL to ensure that login information is not leaked online and exposed to hackers. Furthermore, as credentials are verified locally by the federation server, users do not need to provide passwords.
ADFS makes accessing SaaS and web apps easier for organizations and simplifies transitioning to the cloud. By integrating with Azure Active Directory, ADFS enables users to sign in securely to cloud-based apps by synchronizing passwords and authentication information from on-prem platforms with Azure AD. Password Hash Synchronization uses hashed passwords of on-prem passwords as a login into cloud applications - verifying identity by the federation server before providing access.
FAQ section
A: Active Directory Federation Services or ADFS is a component of Windows Server operating systems that offers Single Sign-on (SSO) feature access to systems and applications located outside the boundary of their firewall.
A: ADFS is made up of four important components; namely Active Directory, Federation Server, ADF web server, and Federation server proxy.
A: The main role of ADFS is to offer SSO protocol outside the corporate firewall environment. This is possible through claimed-based access control by provisioning cookies and Security Assertion Markup Language.
A: Since it's an added security measure within a cloud service, ADFS could add more complexity within the organization, thus making the managing part troublesome for businesses and could eventually end up with different cyberattacks and threats.
