Raji Dani, Microsoft’s Deputy CISO, shares actionable insights on securing customer support systems, focusing on identity management, least-privilege principles, and proactive monitoring, with adaptable guidance suitable for any organization’s security posture.

Hardening Customer Support Tools Against Cyberattacks: Microsoft’s Approach

By Raji Dani, Deputy CISO at Microsoft

Customer support systems have become prime targets for cyberattacks due to their rich data and privileged roles. This article discusses the risks these tools face and provides practical methods to strengthen their security, based on Microsoft’s experience.

Understanding the Risks

  • Customer support agents require elevated access for tasks such as account unlocks and troubleshooting, making support tools attractive to attackers.
  • Operations may suffer from “excessive privilege” or overly broad trust relationships, possibly lowering the security bar.
  • Attacks (including from nation-state groups like Midnight Blizzard) have targeted support infrastructures to move laterally and access sensitive environments.

Microsoft’s Layered Defense Strategies

  1. Curated and Secured Support Identities
    • Use dedicated identities strictly for support functions.
    • Apply Privileged Role Multifactor Authentication (PRMFA) and identity isolation.
    • Mitigate risk from phishing and password attacks—especially when third parties are involved.
  2. Least Privilege and Device Protection
    • Operate with an “assume breach” mindset.
    • Grant access only as needed, through case-based, role-based access control (RBAC).
    • Implement Just-in-Time (JIT) and Just-Enough-Access (JEA).
    • Agents use managed virtual desktops to minimize malware risks.
  3. Secure Tool Architecture and Managed Trust
    • Support tools connect to services like Microsoft 365 and Azure but with tightly scoped privileges.
    • Avoid high privileged access (HPA) patterns and minimize service-to-service trust.
    • Design tools for least privilege and to prevent lateral movement.
  4. Comprehensive Monitoring and Response
    • Strong telemetry provides visibility into potential attacks or abnormal behavior.
    • Segmented identities enable precise incident response.

Key Takeaways for All Organizations

  • Treat customer support infrastructure as critical, not auxiliary.
  • Strategies such as case-based RBAC, identity segmentation, JIT, JEA, and enhanced telemetry are feasible for organizations of all sizes.
  • In-house support teams should receive security training and performance metrics aligned to secure outcomes.
  • For third-party providers, require transparency, enforce security in contracts, and monitor access tightly.
  • Always adopt an assume-breach mindset and proactive monitoring.

Extending Lessons Beyond Support

  • Principles outlined here also apply to sales, consulting, and other business functions with privileged access.
  • Reducing exposure to session hijacking and lateral movement requires context-aware controls across all critical business tools.

Further Resources

About the Author

Raji Dani is Vice President and Deputy CISO for Microsoft’s business functions, finance, and marketing. She contributes lessons from practical experience at the executive level to help organizations of all sizes strengthen their security posture.

This post appeared first on “Microsoft Security Blog”. Read the entire article here