Application Control for Business (ACfB) is one of the most powerful security layers in Windows, but implementing it at scale is far from trivial. In this deep dive, we’ll go beyond the basics and dissect the ACfB policy structure, explore common pitfalls (think app GUID mismatches, XML syntax quirks, and supplemental policy chaos), and uncover why the “simple” act of signing your policies can completely derail your deployment strategy.
We’ll walk through the end-to-end signing process, with special focus on Azure Trusted Signing Services, how it works, what to trust, and how to integrate it into automated pipelines without breaking your rollout. All of this will be framed in the context of Privileged Access Workstations (PAWs), but the principles apply equally to broader enterprise scenarios. We’ll also show how to scale up or peel back security layers for less restrictive environments while maintaining operational efficiency.
Expect real-world lessons, live demos, and battle-tested best practices that will help you avoid costly mistakes and build a robust ACfB implementation strategy.