Course Description

This FREE 90-minute LIVE Online Training will teach you how to improve the most critical aspect of security – identity. While multifactor authentication (MFA) mitigates some risks associated with standard credentials, the better choice is digital certificates.  Learn how your organization can improve its security posture by adopting strong, phishing-resistant credentials in digital certificates by implementing Microsoft Entra certificate-based authentication (CBA). This presentation provides practical knowledge for securing remote access and streamlining PKI management, essential for enhancing an organization's cybersecurity framework. As part of this training session, you can expect many tips, tricks, and live demos.

This LIVE Online Training is for YOU if you want to:

  • Learn how certificate-based authentication (CBA) offers stronger protection than passwords, mitigating phishing and MFA bypass risks
  • Explore how CBA enables a seamless, password-free user experience while maintaining high security standards
  • Discover how CBA eliminates the need for physical authentication devices, reducing costs and complexity
  • Gain insights into managing certificate lifecycles and revocation policies and setting authentication strength policies
  • Ask Richard Hicks questions directly in a live training environment


If you can't attend the live event, the webinar will be recorded and available within 24 hours of the broadcast.

Course Schedule

Date and Time for Live Webinars

Date and start time for the next live 90-minute webinar:

  • Wednesday, November 6, 10:00-11:30 AM Central Time (US and Canada)


Course Outline

Why Certificates?

  • The Benefits of Digital Certificates for Authentication
  • Certificates and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  • Advantages over Other Forms of Credentials


Certificate Basics

  • What Is a Certificate?
  • Where Do We Get Certificates?
  • On-Premises vs. Cloud Services


Requirements

  • On-Premises
  • Licensing for Cloud Services
  • Advanced Features


Configuring Entra Certificate-based Authentication (CBA)

  • Enabling Entra CBA
  • Defining Authorized Certification Authorities (CAs)
  • Targeting CBA


Advanced Entra CBA Settings

  • Enabling Issuer Hints
  • Defining Protection Levels
  • Configuring Affinity Binding


Integrating CBA with Entra ID Conditional Access

  • Setting Access Control Policies
  • Configuring Custom Authentication Strengths
  • Defining Custom Policy Object Identifiers (OIDs)


Certificate Revocation

  • Certificate Revocation List (CRL) Considerations
  • CRL Publishing Options
  • Disabling Revocation Checks


Instructor

Richard Hicks

Richard Hicks is the founder and principal consultant at Richard M. Hicks Consulting, Inc. He is a widely recognized enterprise mobility expert with more than 25 years of experience implementing secure remote access and public key infrastructure (PKI) solutions for organizations worldwide. He understands that providing visibility, control, and assurance for field-based devices is vital to ensuring the highest level of security and productivity for today’s highly mobile workforce.

Richard Hicks

President and Principal Consultant