Tutorial / Cram Notes
Guest access in Microsoft Teams allows individuals from outside your organization to join a team, where they can participate in conversations, meetings, and collaborate on documents. Guests can have varied permissions based on how the Teams administrator has set up guest access policies.
Configuring Guest Access Policies
Before monitoring and reporting, it’s important to configure guest access policies properly. Teams provides the ability to:
- Enable or disable guest access at the organizational level.
- Control which features guests can use, like calling, meeting, messaging, and screen sharing capabilities.
- Limit guest access to certain teams or privileges.
To adjust these settings, the Teams admin center is the starting point.
Monitoring Guest Access
To monitor guest activities and access, Microsoft provides several tools:
- Audit Logs: In the Microsoft 365 compliance center, audit logs help identify what actions guests have taken in Teams. For example, you can see when a guest was added or removed from a team or if they accessed certain documents.
- Usage Reports: Teams admin center provides usage reports that can show how many guests are participating across teams and how they interact.
Security and Compliance Center
For a more detailed investigation and to comply with organizational regulations, the Security and Compliance Center allows admins to:
- Monitor communication between guests and internal users.
- Create alerts for specific activities performed by guests.
- Investigate any breaches or suspicious activities involving guest accounts.
Reporting on Guest Access
Reporting is a key part of managing guest access. Regular reports should detail:
- The number of active guests in the Teams environment.
- Access levels granted to each guest.
- History of guests’ activities and changes in permissions.
The reports can be generated in Microsoft 365 admin center and custom reports can be created using the Microsoft Graph API.
Best Practices
When monitoring and reporting on guest access, consider the following:
- Review and revise guest access policies regularly.
- Run frequent audits and reports to ensure compliance and identify unusual activities early.
- Train team owners on the importance of guest access management and the implications of inappropriately secured external collaborations.
Conclusion
By regularly monitoring and reporting on guest access, Teams administrators can maintain an effective balance between collaborative openness and security. The MS-700 exam recognizes the importance of these competencies and ensures that candidates are prepared to manage guest access responsibly within the Microsoft Teams environment.
Practice Test with Explanation
True or False: Microsoft Teams allows for unlimited guest access by default.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Guest access in Microsoft Teams is not unlimited by default. An organization’s IT admin must enable guest access, and the number of guests can’t exceed the limits set by the Microsoft 365 licensing terms.
In Microsoft Teams, which report can be used to monitor guest activity within Teams?
- Active user report
- Teams usage report
- Office 365 usage report
- Guest access report
Answer: Teams usage report
Explanation: The Teams usage report in the Microsoft Teams admin center includes details about the activity within Teams, including guest activity.
True or False: Guest access in Microsoft Teams is managed through the Azure Active Directory portal.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Guest access in Microsoft Teams is managed through Azure Active Directory, where admins can control who can invite guests and the permissions those guests have.
Which audit log search should you use to monitor guest additions and removals in Microsoft Teams?
- Exchange audit log search
- SharePoint audit log search
- Unified audit log search
- Conditional Access audit log search
Answer: Unified audit log search
Explanation: The Unified audit log search in the Security & Compliance Center can provide information about user and admin activity in Microsoft Teams, including guest user additions and removals.
True or False: Turning off guest access in the Microsoft Teams admin center will immediately revoke access for all existing guest users.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Turning off guest access in the Microsoft Teams admin center will prevent new guests from being invited, but does not immediately revoke access for existing guests. Their access will persist until they are manually removed by an admin.
Who can view the Teams usage reports in the Microsoft 365 admin center?
- Only the Teams administrator
- Any user within the organization
- Global administrators and users with report reader role
- Teams owners and members
Answer: Global administrators and users with report reader role
Explanation: The Teams usage reports are available to global administrators and users who have been assigned the Reports Reader role in the Microsoft 365 admin center.
True or False: You can restrict guest access to specific Teams and channels.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Admins can set up policies to restrict guest access to specific Teams and channels, so guest users only have access to the areas they need for collaboration.
Which feature must be enabled to allow guest access in Microsoft Teams?
- Multi-Factor Authentication
- External sharing in SharePoint Online
- Guest access in Microsoft Teams settings
- All of the above
Answer: Guest access in Microsoft Teams settings
Explanation: To allow guest access in Microsoft Teams, the guest access feature must be specifically enabled in the Microsoft Teams settings within the Teams admin center.
True or False: Guest users in Microsoft Teams can be granted full admin rights within a team.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: Guest users in Microsoft Teams cannot be granted full admin rights within a team. They are given limited capabilities to ensure the security and compliance of the organization’s Teams environment.
Which PowerShell cmdlet can be used to generate a list of all guest users in Teams?
- Get-MsolUser -All | Where { $_.UserType -eq “Guest” }
- Get-TeamGuestUsers
- Get-TeamUser -Role Guest
- Get-ADUser -Filter { UserType -eq “Guest” }
Answer: Get-MsolUser -All | Where { $_.UserType -eq “Guest” }
Explanation: The PowerShell cmdlet Get-MsolUser -All | Where { $_.UserType -eq "Guest" } can be used to list all guest users in Microsoft Teams, which leverages Azure Active Directory to gather the information.
True or False: In Microsoft Teams, guests have the same data protection and compliance policies applied to them as regular users.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: In Microsoft Teams, guests are subject to the same data protection and compliance policies as regular users, to ensure consistency and security in data handling within the Teams environment.
When a guest is removed from a team in Microsoft Teams, what happens to their access to that team’s resources?
- They retain access to the resources until their user account is deleted.
- Their access to the resources is immediately revoked.
- Their access changes to read-only.
- They can request access again from the team owner.
Answer: Their access to the resources is immediately revoked.
Explanation: When a guest is removed from a team in Microsoft Teams, their access to the team’s resources is immediately revoked, preventing any further interaction with the team’s content.
Interview Questions
What is the Teams Usage report in Microsoft Teams?
The Teams Usage report provides information on how Teams is being used within an organization, including data on guest access, team and channel usage, and messaging activity.
How can the Teams Usage report be used to monitor guest access?
The report shows the number of guest users who have accessed Teams within a specified time frame and provides information on how they are using the platform.
What information does the Teams Usage report provide on team and channel usage?
The report shows the number of teams and channels in use, as well as how often they are being used and by whom.
Can the Teams Usage report be customized to show specific data sets?
Yes, the Teams Usage report can be customized to show specific data sets and can be filtered by date range, location, and other parameters.
What information does the Teams Usage report provide on messaging activity?
The report shows the number of messages sent and received, as well as the number of files shared within Teams.
How can the Teams Usage report be used to identify areas where additional support or training may be needed?
The report can show which teams and channels are being used most frequently and which ones are being used less often, which can help administrators identify areas where additional training may be needed.
Can the Teams Usage report be used to identify potential security risks?
Yes, the report can be used to identify potential security risks, such as unauthorized access or inappropriate guest access.
How can the Teams Usage report help administrators plan for future growth in Teams usage?
The report can provide insights into how many users are actively using Teams, which can help administrators plan for future growth and ensure that resources are available to support increased usage.
How frequently is the Teams Usage report updated?
The Teams Usage report is updated daily and can show data for up to 28 days in the past.
Can the Teams Usage report be exported to other formats?
Yes, the Teams Usage report can be exported to CSV or XLSX format for further analysis.
How can the Teams Usage report help organizations ensure compliance with regulatory requirements?
The report can provide insights into how Teams is being used within the organization, which can help organizations ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.
How can the Teams Usage report be used to identify areas where Teams is not being used effectively?
The report can show which features of Teams are being used less often or not at all, which can help administrators identify areas where additional training or support may be needed.
How can the Teams Usage report help organizations identify patterns in usage over time?
The report can be used to identify patterns in usage over time, which can help organizations plan for future growth and ensure that resources are available to support increased usage.
Can the Teams Usage report be used to identify teams or channels that may be inactive or no longer needed?
Yes, the report can be used to identify teams or channels that may be inactive or no longer needed, which can help organizations optimize their use of Teams.
How can the Teams Usage report help organizations ensure that guest access is being used appropriately?
The report can provide insights into how guest access is being used within the organization, which can help organizations ensure that guest access is being used securely and in accordance with organizational policies.
Can anyone explain the key steps to monitor and report on guest access in MS Teams?
What tools do you recommend for monitoring guest access activity?
Are there any templates available for guest access audit reports?
Thanks for the information. Very useful!
How do I determine if a guest has appropriate access levels?
I tried using the audit logs but it’s quite complicated. Any tips on simplifying this?
Great blog post! Thanks!
Is there a way to automate guest access reviews?