{"id":8832,"date":"2023-05-23T06:51:13","date_gmt":"2023-05-23T13:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/?p=8832"},"modified":"2023-06-29T11:31:36","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T18:31:36","slug":"verifying-identity-in-a-zero-trust-model","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/verifying-identity-in-a-zero-trust-model\/","title":{"rendered":"Verifying identity in a Zero Trust model internally at Microsoft"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MicrosoftIdentity-driven security is a core pillar of our Zero Trust model.<\/p>\n

Identities define the Zero Trust security boundary, and we use identity as the primary factor in how we allow access to corporate resources. When an identity tries to access any resource, we verify that identity with strong authentication, and we ensure that access is compliant and follows the access patterns typical for that identity. We also confirm that the identity follows least-privilege access principles.<\/p>\n

With these processes in place, verified identity contributes to the broader framework for Zero Trust, alongside the other pillars of verified devices, verified access, and verified services.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The
The four pillars of the Zero Trust model.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

[Check out verifying devices in a Zero Trust model<\/a>. | Read more about implementing a Zero Trust security model at Microsoft<\/a>.<\/em>]<\/em><\/p>\n

Unifying the identity environment<\/h2>\n

A unified identity environment is crucial to verified identity in our Zero Trust model. To enable a single user identity for authentication and offer a unified experience, we integrated on-premises Windows Server Active Directory forests with Microsoft Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). Azure AD provides a centralized, cloud-based identity directory on which all our identity-related processes depend. We use Azure AD Connect and Microsoft Azure Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) to unify identity data within Azure AD so that Microsoft Azure\u2013based applications can confirm the individual user attributes that make up an identity\u2014location, organization, or job title, for example.<\/p>\n

Every employee or partner who needs access to corporate resources is assigned an identity that is synchronized to Microsoft Azure AD and gives the user access to corporate resources, Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft software as a service (SaaS) applications, and third-party SaaS and platform as a service (PaaS) applications.<\/p>\n

A key part of our business is working closely with partner companies. To enable more seamless collaboration with our partners, we’re pioneering a new multifactor authentication feature to mitigate multiple credential prompts that some users experienced. Previously, external users who had already authenticated with a second factor in their home tenant were prompted again for a different two-factor authentication to access internal Microsoft resources. Now, if our external partner has already signed in to their home tenant using multifactor authentication, they won\u2019t encounter a separate multifactor authentication prompt when accessing our Microsoft resources.<\/p>\n

Goals for verifying identity in Zero Trust<\/h2>\n

Our internal security team and the Microsoft Digital Employee Experience team\u2019s approach to verified identity is rooted in three primary goals specifically related to human-based identities as they\u2019re stored in our unified identity environment:<\/p>\n