Microsoft Entra is a suite of identity and access management (IAM) products offered by Microsoft.
It’s designed to help organizations manage and secure access to applications and resources across their digital environments.
Entra Core features and values
- Identity Governance: This helps organizations ensure that the right people have the right access to the right resources.
It includes lifecycle management, access reviews, privilege identity management, and entitlement management. This feature provides value by reducing the risk of unauthorized access and enhancing compliance with regulations. - Access Management: Entra includes capabilities for managing authentication and authorization, including multi-factor authentication (MFA), single sign-on (SSO), conditional access policies, and session management.
These features improve security by ensuring that only authenticated and authorized users can access resources. - Directory Services: It offers robust directory services, including Azure Active Directory, a critical component for managing user identities and groups.
This is valuable for streamlined user management and integration with various applications and services. - Identity Protection: Entra provides tools to detect and respond to identity threats, like unusual sign-in activities or potential identity compromises.
This feature is valuable for its proactive security measures, helping to prevent data breaches and other security incidents.
Common Threats Against Entra Id Tenants
- Phishing Attacks: In phishing attacks, attackers deceive users into revealing their credentials, typically through fake login pages or emails that mimic legitimate services.
Users are tricked into entering their usernames and passwords, which are then captured by the attackers. Successful phishing can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data, identity theft, and further propagation of attacks within an organization. - Brute Force Attacks: These attacks involve systematically checking all possible passwords until the correct one is found. They can be straightforward (trying every combination) or more sophisticated (using dictionaries of common passwords).
Brute force attacks can lead to unauthorized access if successful. They also often result in account lockouts and can be a gateway to more serious breaches. - Exploitation of Weak or Default Credentials: Attackers often exploit weak or default credentials (like ‘admin/password’) that are easy to guess or are well-known.
Similar to brute force attacks, exploiting these credentials can lead to unauthorized access and data breaches. This type of attack is especially dangerous because it often requires less effort and time than brute force attacks. - Insider Threats: Insider threats come from people within the organization, like employees or contractors, who have legitimate access but use it for malicious purposes. This could be due to various reasons, including financial gain, revenge, or espionage.
As for impact, it can be severe, as insiders already have access and knowledge about the organization’s systems and data. They can cause significant damage, including stealing sensitive information, installing malware, or disrupting operations.
