👋 Hi, Merill and Joshua here with your weekly dose of Microsoft Entra goodness! It's a packed issue, but here are the highlights:
⚡️ Straight from Microsoft: Two new Public Previews are here! Get the details on Entra Private Access for DCs and the new and improved bulk operations in the Entra Admin portal.
👮♂️ Harden Your Tenant: Don't miss the essential guides on stopping MFA hijacks, finding holes in your Conditional Access policies, and avoiding common identity security pitfalls.
🤖 Automate Everything: Level up your IaC game with new articles on Bicep for Entra groups, Terraform for Graph resources, and advanced PowerShell scripting.
🔑 Master the Fundamentals: Dive deep into Authentication Contexts, Managed Identities 2.0, and why Admin Units are a hidden gem.
There's a ton of great content from the community this week.
🎙️ For the True Entra Geeks: Tune into this week's Entra Chat podcast. Tarek delivers a fantastic deep dive into Entra’s cell-based architecture, the Entra backup authentication service and more. It's more than you need for your day job, but totally worth the watch!
Inside Entra Resilience: Microsoft's Outage War Stories, Backup Secrets and Preventing Global Outages
In this episode, I sit down with my boss, Tarek Dawoud, to pull back the curtain on what really happens during a major service outage.
Enjoy the read!
Sponsored by:
Get Ahead of App Risk in Microsoft Entra ID
App risk is growing fast with the rise of SaaS apps, shadow IT, and over-permissioned OAuth connections. Security gaps in Microsoft Entra ID leave organizations vulnerable, as seen in recent high-profile data breaches.
💻 Join ENow CEO Jay Gundotra and Microsoft MVP Alistair Pugin for an in-depth webinar on App Governance in Microsoft Entra ID. Discover how to identify and manage risky apps, reduce your tenant’s attack surface, and fill gaps Microsoft’s native tools miss. See a demo of AppGov Accelerator 3.0 with powerful new workflows for automated remediation. Plus, hear real-world customer wins and lessons learned. Don’t let app risk go unchecked!
📅 September 4th | 🕐 10 am PT / 1 pm ET | 📍 Teams Webinar
⚡️ Microsoft
🔥 Public Preview
Microsoft Entra Private Access for Domain Controllers is now in Public Preview • Ashish Jain
Bulk operations in Microsoft Entra ID (Preview) • Microsoft Learn
From the community…
🚀 Most popular posts from last week
🥇 Entra Authentication Overview • Niklas Tinner
🥈 From NTLM to Passwordless: How Entra ID & Windows Hello for Business Protect Your Identity • Sreejith Reghunathan Pillai
🥉 17 Effective Ways to Prevent Oversharing in Microsoft 365 • Aima
Sponsored by:
EasyEntra: “It Feels Almost Like a Revolution”
Our mission is to simplify hybrid and ☁-only M365 first-line support. 1,000+ customers believe we're on to something – not because they're too stupid to use a mix of ADUC, web consoles, and PowerShell. They just know it's a waste of time.
With EasyEntra, any first-line supporter can manage AD ProxyAddresses, Entra ID MFA settings, and Exchange Online calendar permissions with minimal effort and close to zero training.Get the EasyEntra free trial if you want to:
✅ Cut training time and reduce errors in first-line support.
✅ Resolve tickets faster and boost end-user productivity.
✅ Shield senior IT from escalations.“One of the best products I've used” – Mirick Law, US
“A miracle for our help desk” – Junior Achievement, US
“This is the best software ever” – Core Healthcare, US
☀️ Learn
👩✈️ AI & Copilot
🧰 Workload ID
Managed Identities 2.0 From Tokens To Circuits • Christophe Parisel
📺 Azure File Sync Managed Identity Short • John Savill
👮♂️ ID Governance
Configure Whether Requestors Can See Access Package Approver Details • Daniel Bradley
🔑 Authentication
Mastering Microsoft Entra Authentication Contexts – Part 1: What They Are, Why They Matter, and How to Use The • Sebastian Flæng Markdanner
Reporting Authentication Method Usage Data via the Graph • Tony Redmond
🤖 DevOps & PowerShell
IaC using Bicep for Entra ID and AD Groups with writeback • Frank van Zandwijk
Report on partial license assignments via the Graph SDK for PowerShell • Vasil Michev
Terraform for Microsoft Graph resources • Brian Veldman
🚦 Conditional Access
Conditional Access Essentials: Naming conventions, personas, emergency access & design process • Ewelina Paczkowska
Teams AOSP Phone; Conditional Access Blocks vs Grant • Rakhesh Sasidharan
📺 Stop MFA Hijacks: The One Conditional Access Policy You're Missing (9 min) • Jonathan Edwards
🖥️ Devices
Modern Server Management – Entra ID based SSH Login on Linux with Azure Arc • Mattias Melkersen Kalvåg
The Many Ways To Get Local Admin from Cloud Control Plane(s) • Jay Kerai
🥷 Security
📺 Finding Holes in Conditional Access Policies | CypherCon 8.0 (29 min) • Brandon Colley
Bypassing Enrollment Restrictions to Break BYOD Barriers in Intune • Yuya Chudo
📺 Identity Security Pitfalls: Common Issues and Misconfigurations in Entra... (46 min) • Alistair Pugin
📒 Tenant Configuration
Controlling Access to Microsoft 365 Entra ID Apps Part #3 • Ingo Gegenwarth
Entra Admin Units are a hidden gem! • Per-Torben Sørensen
Getting Started with Intune – Some things to watch • Andrew Taylor
📺 5 Microsoft Entra Security Features You Might Not Know About (14 min) • T-Minus365
📺 New Entra ID Features Every Admin MUST Know (19 min) • Andy Malone
🔥 Maester
Introduction to Compensating Controls • Mike Soule
👨🏽💻 Merill’s corner
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