Microsoft Entra

Microsoft Entra

Microsoft Entra is a family of products that encompasses the entire suite of identity access management (IAM) that is offered by Microsoft. That includes Azure Active Directory the native identity provider (IdP), permission management (CIEM), verified ID, workload identities, and identity governance. 

Here is an overview of where these entities fit within the solution: 

The big picture – Microsoft recognizes that the traditional network perimeter has shifted with the workforce and applications moving to the cloud, which establishes a new perimeter being identity based. As such Microsoft had to strengthen their capibilities and expand on their current IAM solution to ensure coverage against identity based attacks. In 2021 Microsoft acquired CloudKnox - a cloud infrastructure entitlement management (CIEM) solution and brought it into it’s existing toolset. Verified ID went into general availibility in 2022 adding a decentralized identity system. Then towards the end of 2022 Identity Governance and Workload Identities were introduced to strengthen the identity footprint in the cloud. 

Microsoft is viewed as a leader in the space and recognized by many independent organizations such as Gartner® where the Magic Quadrant™ placement showcase the result of it’s recent efforts: