Improvement username mapping for AAD sync

What is a one sentence summary of your feature request?

Find user principal name (UPN) in local user environment on device and use it for mapping local account to user in Azure Active Directory.

Please describe your idea in detail. What is your problem, why do you feel this idea is the best solution, etc.

When attempting to synchronize Netwrix EPP with Azure Active Directory (AAD) to apply policies based on AAD groups, I encountered a critical issue:
EPP is unable to properly map local users (identified by the EPP agent on endpoints) to their corresponding AAD user accounts.

According to the support team, EPP maps users by comparing the local username on the device to the left-hand portion of the AAD User Principal Name (UPN), i.e., the part before the “@” symbol.

However, this method is not reliable for AAD-joined Windows devices, as the local username is typically derived from the user’s Display Name (e.g., “John Smith”), which rarely matches the UPN prefix (e.g., “j.smith”). As a result, the mapping often fails, preventing policies from being applied correctly.

To ensure proper mapping, the EPP agent should instead retrieve the actual UPN from the Windows registry, specifically from:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\IdentityStore\LogonCache.

On macOS devices, this issue is partially mitigated, as local usernames can be set manually. However, enforcing strict naming conventions across all macOS endpoints is not practical in larger environments. Therefore, relying on local username matching remains an unreliable approach if consistent DLP policy enforcement is required.

How do you currently solve the challenges you have by not having this feature?

The only alternative is to manually manage user groups in EPP, but this is extremely time consuming given the size of the organization.

1 Like

Hello Bogdan,

Thank you for taking the time to submit your feature request!

We appreciate your suggestion and recognize its potential value. However, at present, our focus is currently directed towards enhancing and refining various other areas of the product. As a result, unfortunately we are unable to proceed with your request, at least at this time.

Nevertheless, we are excited to inform you that the upcoming EPP Server release will introduce significant improvements, including new Smart Groups definitions. These enhancements are designed to streamline the workaround strategies currently employed in user group management.

We value your understanding and patience as we navigate these development priorities.

Kind Regards,
Simona