External sharing is a feature of SharePoint that lets users access content from other Sites, Apps, or E-mail accounts. External sharing allows users to access your site directly without going through the rest of the organization. But attackers can also use maliciously to get sensitive information, steal intellectual property on your imac pro i7 4k, and spy on co-workers. Follow SharePoint external sharing best practices below to get the best out of SharePoint.
How to View External Sharing in SharePoint 2016?
External Sharing information can be viewed in the External Sharing section of the site settings in SharePoint Central Administration. Under External Sharing, you can see the number of external connections. The users and computers associated with those connections, and any content that has been shared.
Click the External Sharing link under Site Actions to view external connections on a SharePoint site. You can also click the external icon on the Ribbon.
Next, click External connections to see all the external links of the SharePoint site.
Set Up Monitoring of External Sharing
The Central Administration > External Sharing stages can access the External Sharing configuration settings. Here you can monitor the external connections of the users, check if users have shared any content with any external systems, and enable auditing of external links. You can also allow the ‘Stopping external connections’ option if you want to disable external connections of users who are not sharing any content on their end.
Set up Inclusion Rules for SharePoint and Office 365
Inclusion rules let you specify a minimum set of properties that must be present when a user accesses or creates content in SharePoint. When a user shares content using external connections in SharePoint, this rule will tell that the content comes from a particular external system and will be included in the list of available options.
For example, you can use inclusion rules to ensure that the external content provider’s name and location information are included in the list of available options for the user when he accesses content from the external system.
Use Advanced Security Features for SharePoint and Office 365
Many advanced security features are available in SharePoint 2016, such as Azure Information Protection for Office 365, Pass-Through authentication for remote access, and Data Loss Prevention for Office 365. Using these features, you can increase your SharePoint environment’s security and prevent attacks. Let’s have a look at these advanced security features of SharePoint 2016.
Azure Information Protection Overview
Azure Information Protection (AIP) protects your sensitive information like financial data, healthcare data, and other sensitive information in Office 365. AIP is based on hybrid cloud architecture, so even if you lose access to your data, AIP can detect unauthorized access and notify you.
AIP offers two layers of protection to your information like Imginn:
Information Blob Protection: Prevent sensitive information from being exposed in unsecured formats
Information Flow Protection: Prevent sensitive information from being viewed by unauthorized users. AIP uses machine learning technology to determine what information is sensitive and helps you get control of your information.
Pass:
Through Authentication is a new feature that lets you sign in to a remote access solution with a single sign-on (SSO) certificate stored in SharePoint. You don’t need to manage many certificates for your remote access solution.
Data Loss Prevention:
Data Loss Prevention for Office 365 helps you detect and prevent sensitive information from being accidentally or intentionally leaked. It uses machine learning to detect sensitive information like financial data and protect it from spreading.
Conclusion
External sharing is a compelling feature of SharePoint that attackers can use maliciously. You can use the tips mentioned above and tricks to keep check of external sharing in your environment. If you want to protect your SharePoint environment against external threats and keep checking on external sharing, subscribe to the SharePoint Fortification blog and get the latest updates.
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