Identity and Access Management (IAM)
Managing user identities is the foundation by which a solid security posture is formed.
Identity is at the foundation of security. You must protect your identities to protect your data and resources.
Microsoft’s Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) offers a comprehensive identity and access management platform in the cloud. With the growing importance of mobility and the transition to the cloud, it’s critical to leverage a powerful identity solution that will help keep your employees and external users productive and secure while assisting your organization with compliance and protection against threats.
Microsoft Entra ID
Entra ID simplifies the way you manage and secure your applications by providing one identity system for both your cloud and on-premises apps. You can add your software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, on-premises applications, and line-of-business (LOB) apps to Entra ID. Users only need to sign in once to securely and seamlessly access any application.
- Manage all your identities and access to all your applications in a central location to improve visibility and control.
- Provide a fast, easy sign-in experience to keep your users productive, reduce time managing passwords, and increase adoption.
- Protect access to resources and data with strong authentication and risk-based access policies.
- Control access to apps and data for all users and admins efficiently with automated identity governance.
Entra ID works across your entire workforce identity infrastructure. Not only can you manage and secure employees, you can pull information from critical user-data stores. Users can create external identities like partners and contractors, seamlessly collaborate with your users, and access your resources without having to create shadow accounts in your directories. Also, when you integrate with popular HR tools like Workday and SAP SuccessFactors, you can fast-track identity creation upon hire to offer seamless onboarding experiences.
Entra ID isn’t just for managing identities. By joining your endpoints such as Windows, iOS, and Linux desktops, laptops, and mobile devices to your access infrastructure via Entra ID, you can leverage Intune Suite to co-manage device workloads.
Seamless User Experiences
End-user security experiences only work when they minimize user friction to ensure wide adoption and maximum productivity.
Seamless Entra ID user experiences start with passwordless authentication to organizational resources. Users never have to touch or remember a password, further breaking your exposure to your weakest security link. Passwordless Microsoft authentication experiences include:
- Microsoft Authenticator: For the greatest flexibility, convenience, and cost, we recommend the Microsoft Authenticator mobile app for your two-factor needs. Microsoft Authenticator supports biometrics such as fingerprints or FaceID, push notifications, and one-time passcodes for any Entra ID-connected app. Download Microsoft Authenticator at no cost from the Apple and Android app stores. It’s also free to use as a Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) solution with Entra ID.
- Windows Hello: For a built-in experience on the PC, we recommend Windows Hello, which uses your face or fingerprint to sign in automatically. Once signed in to their computers, your users can seamlessly access apps connected to Entra ID without a password.
Once your users have conveniently verified their identity and authenticated themselves, they need rapid access to their resources to remain productive. A consistent access experience is critical, especially if you have a dispersed remote workforce. You can best achieve this experience through single sign-on, which gives your users one-click access to all of the apps they need without continual sign-ins and password re-entry. Entra ID further simplifies the user productivity experience by providing an access portal like My Apps to aid with application discovery and launch. Users can further customize and optimize their application-launch experience by grouping apps into intuitive collections. These app collections also extend to the Office portal, making them easy to discover and launch all from one hub, alongside other Office productivity and collaboration services.
Entra ID Security Assessment
Oakwood’s Azure Cloud Team will help you identify and assess your current Entra ID environment to quickly provide insights and recommendations.
To learn more about how the Oakwood Team can assist in helping you create a secure foundation for your users, please contact us below.