🚀 Executive Summary
TL;DR: Deploying CIPP Intune baselines directly often causes operational disruptions because generic security policies conflict with unique business realities. To avoid outages, organizations should implement baselines thoughtfully and incrementally, starting with audit-only modes, then customizing and piloting, or building from scratch.
🎯 Key Takeaways
- CIPP baselines should always be treated as templates, not direct deployments, as no single security baseline can perfectly match unique business requirements.
- The ‘Audit-Only’ mode is the safest initial step, allowing administrators to identify potential conflicts (e.g., ASR rule detections) via Microsoft 365 Defender logs before enforcing policies.
- The ‘Clone, Customize, and Pilot’ strategy, involving a small IT pilot group and phased expansion, is the most sustainable and recommended approach for deploying CIPP baselines in most production environments.
Navigating the CIPP Intune baselines can be daunting. This guide breaks down three real-world strategies for deploying them without breaking your environment, moving from a cautious audit-first approach to a fully customized implementation.
CIPP Baselines in Intune: Stop Guessing, Start Deploying
I still remember the day. We were feeling pretty good about our security posture. We’d just discovered the CIPP project, a goldmine of pre-configured Intune policies. “Let’s deploy the ‘Level 2 – High Security’ baseline to a test group,” I said. “What could go wrong?” Famous last words. An hour later, our lead developer couldn’t run a simple PowerShell script to build our flagship product, and our head of marketing’s laptop was refusing to open a critical Adobe app because of a font-loading restriction we didn’t even know was in the policy. We spent the next four hours untangling a “best practice” that had brought a chunk of the company to a halt. We’ve all been there: staring at a list of powerful baselines, terrified to click ‘Assign’.
The Core Problem: Best Practice vs. Business Reality
Let’s be clear: The team behind CIPP (CyberDrain Improvement & Process Posture) is doing heroic work. They provide an incredible starting point. But the central conflict isn’t about whether the baselines are “good.” It’s about the fact that no single security baseline can know your business.
A policy that’s critical for a financial firm (like disabling all macros without exception) could be completely debilitating for an accounting department that lives in complex Excel sheets. The “why” behind the paralysis isn’t a flaw in the tool; it’s the inevitable collision between a generic, hardened configuration and the unique, messy reality of how your users actually work. Your job isn’t to just apply a template; it’s to adapt it.
The Fixes: From Cautious Observer to Confident Architect
So how do we move forward without causing a self-inflicted outage? Here are three strategies, from dipping your toe in the water to diving in headfirst.
Solution 1: The Quick Fix – Deploy in “Audit-Only” Mode
This is the safest first step and the one I always recommend. Don’t enforce anything yet. Just watch. Many of the settings in CIPP baselines can be configured to “Audit” instead of “Enforce.” This means the device will log an event as if the policy were being blocked, but it won’t actually block the user. It’s like having a security guard who takes notes instead of tackling people.
How to do it:
- Import the CIPP baseline you’re interested in (e.g., “Security Baseline – Windows – User”).
- Go through each setting in the Configuration Profile. For many settings, especially those under “Microsoft Defender” or “Attack Surface Reduction (ASR) Rules,” you can change the action from “Block” or “Enable” to “Audit”.
- Assign this “Audit” version of the policy to a broad but non-critical pilot group. Let it run for a week.
- Go into the Microsoft 365 Defender portal and review the ASR rule detections and other audit logs. You’ll see exactly what would have been blocked. Did an ASR rule fire because your accounting software uses a weird VBA script? Now you know, and you can create an exception before you enforce the rule.
Warning: Not every setting has an “Audit” mode. For settings that are a simple “Enable/Disable,” you can’t audit. This method is primarily for things like ASR, Device Control, and AppLocker/WDAC.
Solution 2: The Balanced Approach – Clone, Customize, and Pilot
This is the real, sustainable solution for most organizations. Never deploy a CIPP baseline directly. Always treat it as a template.
The process:
- Import & Clone: Import the desired CIPP baseline into Intune. Immediately create a duplicate and add “TechResolve – Production” or a similar naming convention to the title. The original CIPP import becomes your untouched reference template. All work is done on the clone.
- Assign to a Pilot Group: Create a small, savvy pilot group in Entra ID. It should include yourself, a couple of other IT folks, and maybe one brave power user from a key department (like a developer from the ‘dev-main’ team or a designer from the ‘marketing-creative’ group). Assign the cloned policy to this group.
- Review & Refine: This is the critical step. Sit down with your team and review every single setting in the cloned policy. Use the CIPP documentation and Microsoft’s own docs to understand what each setting does. Disable anything that you know for a fact will break a line-of-business application. For example, if you know your legacy ERP client runs from a network share, you might need to tone down the “Block executables running from a network share” rule initially.
- Expand Rings: Once your IT pilot group is stable for a week or two, expand the assignment to “Wave 1” users (maybe 10% of the company). Monitor helpdesk tickets. Then move to “Wave 2,” and so on, until you reach all users.
| Approach | Effort | Risk | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Audit-Only | Low | Very Low | Initial discovery and analysis. |
| 2. Clone & Customize | Medium | Low-Medium | Most production environments. |
| 3. Build-Your-Own | High | Low (if done right) | Mature orgs with specific compliance needs. |
Solution 3: The ‘From Scratch’ Option – Use CIPP as Reference Only
Sometimes, a pre-built baseline has so many settings you don’t need (or that actively conflict with your environment) that it’s easier to start with a blank canvas. This is for organizations with specific compliance requirements (like CMMC or HIPAA) or very mature IT processes.
In this scenario, you don’t import the CIPP baselines to deploy them. You use the CIPP documentation and the CIS Benchmarks as a checklist.
How it works:
- Create a brand new, empty Configuration Profile in Intune (e.g., “TechResolve – Custom Defender Hardening”).
- Have the CIPP baseline documentation open on one screen and your Intune policy on another.
- Go through the CIPP recommendations one by one and decide if that setting makes sense for your organization. If it does, find that setting in the Intune Settings Catalog and add it to your custom policy.
This method is tedious, but it gives you absolute control. You end up with a lean, purpose-built policy where you understand the “why” behind every single configured setting. There’s no mystery meat.
// Example: Manually creating a setting in your own policy
// You read in the CIS benchmark you need to disable SMBv1.
// Instead of importing a whole baseline, you just create a profile and add this one setting.
Setting Type: Settings Catalog
Category: MS Security Guide
Setting: Configure SMB v1 client driver (requires reboot)
Value: Enabled
Which SBM v1 client drivers should be disabled?: Disable mrxsmb10
Pro Tip: Whichever path you choose, document your decisions. Create a SharePoint page or Confluence article for each baseline. When you decide to disable a setting from the CIPP default, write down why. Example: “Disabled ‘Block Adobe Reader from creating child processes’ on 2023-10-26 because it breaks our PDF signing workflow. Risk accepted by J. Doe.” Six months from now, you’ll be glad you did.
Ultimately, there’s no magic button. The right way to deploy CIPP baselines is thoughtfully and incrementally. Start with auditing, move to a customized pilot, and you’ll achieve that hardened security posture without the frantic calls from your boss about why nobody can get any work done.
🤖 Frequently Asked Questions
âť“ What is the main challenge when deploying CIPP Intune baselines?
The primary challenge is that generic ‘best practice’ security baselines, like those from CIPP, often conflict with an organization’s unique business applications and user workflows, leading to operational disruptions if deployed without adaptation.
âť“ How do the different CIPP baseline deployment strategies compare in terms of effort and risk?
The ‘Audit-Only’ approach has low effort and very low risk, ideal for initial discovery. ‘Clone & Customize’ is medium effort with low-medium risk, suitable for most production environments. ‘Build-Your-Own’ is high effort but low risk (if done correctly), best for mature organizations with specific compliance needs.
âť“ What is a common implementation pitfall when deploying CIPP baselines and how can it be avoided?
A common pitfall is deploying a CIPP baseline directly without customization, which can break line-of-business applications. This can be avoided by always treating CIPP baselines as templates, cloning them, and thoroughly reviewing/refining each setting with a pilot group before broader deployment.
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