Information
This policy setting controls chats and meetings with external unmanaged Teams users (those not managed by an organization, such as Microsoft Teams (free)).
The recommended state is: People in my organization can communicate with Teams users whose accounts aren't managed by an organization set to Off
Allowing users to communicate with unmanaged Teams users presents a potential security threat as little effort is required by threat actors to gain access to a trial or free Microsoft Teams account.
Some real-world attacks and exploits delivered via Teams over external access channels include:
- DarkGate malware
- Social engineering / Phishing attacks by "Midnight Blizzard"
- GIFShell
- Username enumeration
Solution
To remediate using the UI:
- Navigate to Microsoft Teams admin center
https://admin.teams.microsoft.com/
.
- Click to expand Users select External access
- Scroll to Teams accounts not managed by an organization
- Set People in my organization can communicate with Teams users whose accounts aren't managed by an organization to Off
- Click Save
To remediate using PowerShell:
- Connect to Teams PowerShell using Connect-MicrosoftTeams
- Run the following command:
Set-CsTenantFederationConfiguration -AllowTeamsConsumer $false
Impact:
Users will be unable to communicate with Teams users who are not managed by an organization.
Note: The settings that govern chats and meetings with external unmanaged Teams users aren't available in GCC, GCC High, or DOD deployments, or in private cloud environments.