Microsoft debuts Entra – IAM capabilities improvement

Microsoft introduced Entra, a new product suite that organizations can use to manage user access to their applications. The suite is a mix of new and existing products and also incorporates technology that Microsoft obtained last year through the acquisition of CloudKnox Security.

The flagship product in Entra is Azure AD, the cloud version of Microsoft’s popular Active Directory product used by 80% of the large enterprises.

With the launch of Entra, Azure AD will receive a feature called lifecycle workflows. This will automate this process of providing the access to new workforces for the business applications that they required access to and streamline the number of related tasks.

It also includes another feature Azure AD External Identities. Companies rely on Azure AD External Identities to manage how customers and partners access their applications.

The suite also has a new product dubbed Entra Verified ID that will enable users to securely store and share their identity data. The product can ease data management for not only consumers but also organizations.

Suite’s other new product that’s a part of Entra is known as Entra Permissions Management. The product, which is based on technology that Microsoft obtained through its acquisition of CloudKnox, will help companies more easily secure their multi-cloud environments. Entra Permissions Management enables companies to centrally manage the access permissions of both users and workloads.

Entra Permissions Management can determine if a cloud environment is configured in a way that may enable hackers to compromise workloads. Also, it automatically detects unnecessary access permissions that should be removed. Moreover, the platform can spot potentially malicious activity. It works with Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, as well as Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud.