Driving Modern Passwordless Authentication: Citrix Workspace and Microsoft Azure Active Directory

A full day sharing info about some of my favorite topics! I had a great time presenting at the CUGC Texas XL 2020 regional conference at Space Center Houston on February 26th, 2020. There was a great turnout from Austin, Dallas, and Houston community members with over 135 attendees! A big thanks to all speakers, CUGC leaders, sponsors, and CUGC HQ for putting on such a great event!

Several attendees asked me to share my slides so I have attached my “Driving Modern Passwordless Authentication with Citrix Workspace and Microsoft Azure Active Directory” presentation in PDF format to make it easy to share with the community.

Click HERE to Download the slides

I have also embedded it below for easy in-line viewing:

Topics I covered in this presentation include:

• Passwordless Authentication Facts
• What passwords are today vs. what the business needs
• What your company’s goal will be
• Identity providers we’ve been told to use in the past with Citrix
• What we can use with Citrix Workspace?
• What if you’re using on-prem Citrix VAD?
• Citrix Cloud explained…
• Citrix Cloud + Microsoft Azure hybrid cloud, Microsoft WVD benefits, NVIDIA, AutoScale
• Why Azure AD is a common cloud identity provider
• Azure AD flavors
• Azure AD is more than just authentication…
• Passwordless over a remoting protocol requires Citrix FAS
• Listen for these things from your Security team…
• Windows Hello for Business
• Microsoft Authenticator phone sign-in
• Passwordless login with Citrix Workspace + Authenticator
• FIDO2 hardware security key
• Passwordless login with Citrix Workspace + FIDO2
• FIDO Alliance created the FIDO2 open standard
• February 11, 2020 (2 weeks ago)…Apple
• NIST is a member…
• FIDO2 security key form factors
• Windows 10 1903 from May 2019 or newer…even Home…try it yourself
• User experience for users varies based on key form factor
• All shapes and sizes…
• Get the key that fits your needs
• Where can you use FIDO2 besides AAD?
• Other FIDO2 form factors? Employee Badge?
• In software using your iOS or Android phone’s secure hardware?
• Wearables?
• Breaking News from Monday, Feb 24…Public Preview of Azure AD support for FIDO2 keys in hybrid environments
• AAD User Self-Service Registration of Passwordless Authentication Methods

We also had the roundtable discussions that afternoon with some great questions and live demos of Citrix Workspace, Azure AD, and Office 365 in action with Microsoft Authenticator passwordless phone sign-in and a variety of FIDO2 hardware security key form factors (USB, NFC, BLE, etc) and user experiences (biometric, PIN code). Big thanks to eWBM and HID Global for providing sample keys to those that were interested in beginning their passwordless journeys! If you missed the roundtables, catch me at the next event and I’m happy to walk-through demos. Also, feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions.

Thanks again to everyone for making this such a great conference! Here are a few more pictures from the event:

Jason Samuel

Jason Samuel is a visionary product leader and trusted advisor with a proven track record of shaping strategy and driving technology innovation. With extensive expertise in enterprise end-user computing, security, cloud, automation, and virtualization technologies, Jason has become a globally recognized authority in the IT industry. His career spans consulting for hundreds of Fortune 500 enterprises across diverse business sectors worldwide, delivering cutting-edge digital solutions from Citrix, Microsoft, VMware, Amazon, Google, and NVIDIA that seamlessly balance security with exceptional user experiences.

Jason’s leadership is amplified by his dedication to knowledge-sharing as an author, speaker, podcaster, and mentor within the global IT and technology community. Recognized with numerous prestigious awards, Jason’s contributions underscore his commitment to advancing technology and empowering organizations to achieve transformative results.  Follow him on LinkedIn.