Tutorial: Azure Active Directory single sign-on (SSO) integration with HighGround

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to integrate HighGround with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). When you integrate HighGround with Azure AD, you can:

• Control in Azure AD who has access to HighGround.
• Enable your users to be automatically signed-in to HighGround with their Azure AD accounts.
• Manage your accounts in one central location - the Azure portal.

To learn more about SaaS app integration with Azure AD, see What is application access and single sign-on with Azure Active Directory.

Prerequisites

To get started, you need the following items:

• An Azure AD subscription. If you don't have a subscription, you can get a free account.
• HighGround single sign-on (SSO) enabled subscription.

Scenario description

In this tutorial, you configure and test Azure AD SSO in a test environment.

• HighGround supports SP and IDP initiated SSO
• Once you configure HighGround you can enforce session control, which protect exfiltration and infiltration of your organization’s sensitive data in real-time. Session control extend from Conditional Access. Learn how to enforce session control with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps.

Adding HighGround from the gallery

To configure the integration of HighGround into Azure AD, you need to add HighGround from the gallery to your list of managed SaaS apps.

1. Sign in to the Azure portal using either a work or school account, or a personal Microsoft account.
2. On the left navigation pane, select the Azure Active Directory service.
3. Navigate to Enterprise Applications and then select All Applications.
4. To add new application, select New application.
5. In the Add from the gallery section, type HighGround in the search box.
6. Select HighGround from results panel and then add the app. Wait a few seconds while the app is added to your tenant.

Alternatively, you can also use the Enterprise App Configuration Wizard. In this wizard, you can add an application to your tenant, add users/groups to the app, assign roles, as well as walk through the SSO configuration as well. Learn more about Microsoft 365 wizards.

Configure and test Azure AD single sign-on for HighGround

Configure and test Azure AD SSO with HighGround using a test user called B.Simon. For SSO to work, you need to establish a link relationship between an Azure AD user and the related user in HighGround.

To configure and test Azure AD SSO with HighGround, complete the following building blocks:

1. Configure Azure AD SSO - to enable your users to use this feature.
   1. Create an Azure AD test user - to test Azure AD single sign-on with B.Simon.
   2. Assign the Azure AD test user - to enable B.Simon to use Azure AD single sign-on.
2. Configure HighGround SSO - to configure the single sign-on settings on application side.
   1. Create HighGround test user - to have a counterpart of B.Simon in HighGround that is linked to the Azure AD representation of user.
3. Test SSO - to verify whether the configuration works.

Configure Azure AD SSO

Follow these steps to enable Azure AD SSO in the Azure portal.

1. In the Azure portal, on the HighGround application integration page, find the Manage section and select single sign-on.

2. On the Select a single sign-on method page, select SAML.

3. On the Set up single sign-on with SAML page, click the edit/pen icon for Basic SAML Configuration to edit the settings.

   

4. On the Basic SAML Configuration section, if you wish to configure the application in IDP initiated mode, enter the values for the following fields:

   a. In the Identifier text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://app.highground.com/

   b. In the Reply URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://app.highground.com/svc/SSONoAuth/SAML?groupid=<company-guid>

5. Click Set additional URLs and perform the following step if you wish to configure the application in SP initiated mode:

   In the Sign-on URL text box, type a URL using the following pattern: https://app.highground.com/#/login/<company-slug>

   Note

   These values are not real. Update these values with the actual Identifier, Reply URL and Sign-on URL. Contact HighGround Client support team to get these values. You can also refer to the patterns shown in the Basic SAML Configuration section in the Azure portal.

6. On the Set up single sign-on with SAML page, in the SAML Signing Certificate section, find Certificate (Base64) and select Download to download the certificate and save it on your computer.

   

7. On the Set up HighGround section, copy the appropriate URL(s) based on your requirement.

   

Create an Azure AD test user

In this section, you'll create a test user in the Azure portal called B.Simon.

1. From the left pane in the Azure portal, select Azure Active Directory, select Users, and then select All users.
2. Select New user at the top of the screen.
3. In the User properties, follow these steps:
   1. In the Name field, enter B.Simon.
   2. In the User name field, enter the username@companydomain.extension. For example, B.Simon@contoso.com.
   3. Select the Show password check box, and then write down the value that's displayed in the Password box.
   4. Click Create.

Assign the Azure AD test user

In this section, you'll enable B.Simon to use Azure single sign-on by granting access to HighGround.

1. In the Azure portal, select Enterprise Applications, and then select All applications.

2. In the applications list, select HighGround.

3. In the app's overview page, find the Manage section and select Users and groups.

   

4. Select Add user, then select Users and groups in the Add Assignment dialog.

   

5. In the Users and groups dialog, select B.Simon from the Users list, then click the Select button at the bottom of the screen.

6. If you're expecting any role value in the SAML assertion, in the Select Role dialog, select the appropriate role for the user from the list and then click the Select button at the bottom of the screen.

7. In the Add Assignment dialog, click the Assign button.

Configure HighGround SSO

To configure single sign-on on HighGround side, you need to send the downloaded Certificate (Base64) and appropriate copied URLs from Azure portal to HighGround support team. They set this setting to have the SAML SSO connection set properly on both sides.

Create HighGround test user

In this section, you create a user called Britta Simon in HighGround. Work with HighGround support team to add the users in the HighGround platform. Users must be created and activated before you use single sign-on.

Test SSO

In this section, you test your Azure AD single sign-on configuration using the Access Panel.

When you click the HighGround tile in the Access Panel, you should be automatically signed in to the HighGround for which you set up SSO. For more information about the Access Panel, see Introduction to the Access Panel.

Additional resources

• List of Tutorials on How to Integrate SaaS Apps with Azure Active Directory

• What is application access and single sign-on with Azure Active Directory?

• What is conditional access in Azure Active Directory?

• What is session control in Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps?

• How to protect HighGround with advanced visibility and controls