Entra 🆔 News #123 → This week in Microsoft Entra
Learn about the latest SFI report, how Microsoft Entra is evolving for the agentic era, the new Zero Trust Assessment and more!
👋 Hi, Merill and Joshua here with this week’s roundup of the latest news on Microsoft Entra from around the globe 🌍.
The week before Ignite is here, and I am personally very, very excited about all the upcoming announcements. One of my colleagues said that for those of us in the identity space, it’s starting to feel as big as the launch of the original iPhone. Watch this space!
Speaking of big news, this week was special for me with the launch of the new Zero Trust Assessment. I was part of the team that built this, and it feels really good to finally share it.
Check out this week’s podcast where we get into all the details of why and how we built the assessment and what you can expect. 👇
Zero Trust Assessment: Secure your tenant
This week, I’m so excited to share the inside story of a project I’ve been working on for over a year: the new Zero Trust assessment. I’m joined by some of the key folks from the team: Tarek, who’s leading the charge; Sarah and John, who are crushing docs; and Ravi, who’s owning Intune.
Enjoy!
Sponsored by:
Shadow IT and SaaS sprawl are outpacing IT teams
It can feel impossible to tackle these app governance challenges:
📦 Entra ID isn’t secure by default
💥 SaaS adoption & sprawl isn’t slowing down
⌨️ Citizen Development keeps rising (hello, Copilot Studio!)
🗑️ Vendors often don’t remove apps after uninstall
🔃 Offboarding is inconsistent or doesn’t happen at all
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⚡️ Microsoft
📖 Read
Riding the AI Wave: How Microsoft Entra is Evolving for the Agentic Era • Alex Simons
Latest progress update on Microsoft’s Secure Future Initiative • Charlie Bell
The Microsoft Zero Trust Assessment: Helping you operationalize the hardening of your Microsoft security products • Tarek Dawoud
From the community…
🚀 Most popular posts from last week
🥇Microsoft Edge just fixed a big passkey problem • Jorge A. Aguilar
🥈The Passwordless Paradox: Why Haven’t More Companies Adopted Windows Hello for Business? • Andrew Cooke
🥉Version 1.5 of the Microsoft 365 User Password and Authentication Report • Tony Redmond
“This Product Has Been a Miracle for Our Helpdesk”
EasyEntra sets a new bar for Microsoft 365 and Hybrid AD first-line support teams:
✅ Consolidated – Manage all user settings from a single pane of glass.
✅ Intuitive – Mimics the familiar AD Users & Computers layout.
✅ Responsive – Preloads all settings for lightning-fast navigation.
✅ Secure – Uses standard authentication, no highly privileged service accounts.
✅ Instant – Install and configure in minutes, see productivity gains on day one.“It feels almost like a revolution” – Arjeplog Municipality, SE | “This is the best software ever” – Core Healthcare, US | “This tool has been invaluable in streamlining our IT processes” – Southwest Network, US | “One of the best products I’ve used” – Mirick Law, US | “EasyEntra has transformed our daily IT operations” – Animal Protection, DK
☀️ Learn
👩✈️ AI & Copilot
The Hidden Risks inside ChatGPT in Entra ID • Elli Shlomo
📺 Connect Copilot Studio Agent to Entra ID Protected API (Step-by-Step) (15 min) • System Shogun
📺 Microsoft Entra AI: Unlocking Identity Intelligence with Security Copilot and Agents (34 min) • Mamta Kumar, Margaret Garcia Fani
💳 Verified ID
New Entra Account Recovery Feature With Identity Verification • Daniel Bradley
⛑️ ID Protection
📺 My MUST HAVE Entra ID Identity Protection Settings 2025 (32 min) • Andy Malone
👮♂️ ID Governance
Auditing Entra ID Access Packages with PowerShell • Per-Torben Sørensen
How to Use PIM with RBAC Roles: Purview, Exchange, and More • Ewelina Paczkowska
The Hidden Microsoft Entra PIM URLs Microsoft Never Documented • Michael Morten Sonne
🌐 Private Access & Internet Access (GSA)
Preventing Port Exhaustion on Entra Private Network Connector Servers • Richard M. Hicks
📦 Apps
📺 IDP vs SP Initiated Sign On • Pat Buffolino
🔑 Authentication
Remove password and go full passwordless • Jan Mulder
👥 User & Group Management
Soft-Deleted Security Groups Now Supported by Entra ID • Tony Redmond
Soft-Delete For Groups In Entra ID • Jorge de Almeida Pinto
🚦 Conditional Access
Configure Conditional Access with Custom Security Attributes • Praba
Diving into geo filter with Entra Conditional Access – Part 2 • Per-Torben Sørensen
Setup Conditional Access for Remote Help: Step-by-Step Guide • Prajwal Desai
📺 Episode 28 - Enabling Zero Trust with the power of Conditional Access (38 min) • Dinant Paardenkooper, Ewelina Paczkowska
📺 When Conditional Access Goes Wrong 😅 • Jonathan Edwards
🔐 Credential Management
How to Setup Synced Passkeys for Your iCloud Keychain • Daniel Bradley
Self-Service Account Recovery in Microsoft Entra ID • Thiraviam
🖥️ Devices
Practical Graph: How to Delegate Device Management in Entra ID | Practical365 • Tony Redmond
📺 Discover the Power of AVD SSO: What You Must Know! (20 min) • Travis Roberts
🏙️ External ID - Guests & Multi-Tenant Organizations
“guestOrExternalUserTypes”: 63 • Rakhesh Sasidharan
📺 Guest Accounts in Microsoft 365 – A Hidden Security Risk (22 min) • Jonathan Edwards
📈 Reporting and Insights
Entra ID Log Analyzer: Turning Raw Logs into Stories • Elli Shlomo
🥷 Security
Monitoring Azure Access Elevation in Entra ID • Nathan Hutchinson
Practical Graph: How to Check Unexpected Sign-Ins Against Utility Accounts • Tony Redmond
Zero Trust Assessment Guide for Microsoft 365 Security • Mark Oldham
📺 SC-300: Microsoft Identity and Access Administrator - Microsoft Learn • Waleed Mir
📒 Tenant Configuration
Free tool to manage directory settings in Entra ID - Blog • Vasil Michev
November 11: How To Use GCC High For CMMC - Mindline • Arvind Suthar
🛍️ External ID - Customers
Creating themes for per-app branding in Entra External ID (EEID) • Rory Braybrook
👨🏽💻 Merill’s corner
Check it out → aka.ms/ZeroTrust/Demo
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