Stop buying or building Active Directory dependent apps
Implementation Effort: High – Transitioning away from Active Directory (AD) dependencies requires comprehensive changes in procurement policies, development practices, and IT governance processes.
User Impact: Low – These changes are primarily internal to IT and development teams, with minimal direct impact on end-users.
Overview
Ceasing the acquisition or development of applications reliant on Active Directory (AD) is a strategic move towards adopting a cloud-first, Zero Trust security model. AD-dependent applications often require on-premises infrastructure, hindering scalability and the implementation of modern security controls. By avoiding new AD dependencies, organizations can leverage Microsoft Entra ID's capabilities, such as Conditional Access and multifactor authentication, to enforce policies based on user identity, device health, and other contextual factors.
This approach aligns with Zero Trust principles by ensuring explicit verification of access requests and minimizing implicit trust based on network location. It also supports the principle of least privilege by enabling granular access controls and reducing the attack surface.
Centralizing applications authentication in Entra ID will also give you some additional benefits that are well received by IT, SecOps and/or end users, such as:
- Centralized sign-in logs;
- Login consistency and Single Sign-On (SSO);
- Centralized access engine policy (Conditional Access) for every app/service (on-prem, cloud or multi-cloud);
- Identity Governance functionalities, like Access Reviews, Entitlement Management, Lifecycle workflows (automated workflows for onboarding, offboarding and attributes changes), others;
- Native Entra ID features like Self-Service Password Reset (SSPR), Role Based Access Control (RBAC), regulatory compliance, global availability, others;
- Global Secure Access features, like Private Access (ZTNA), Secure Web Gateway, others.
Failing to move away from AD-dependent applications can result in increased complexity, higher maintenance costs, and exposure to security vulnerabilities due to outdated authentication mechanisms. Embracing cloud-native applications integrated with Microsoft Entra ID enhances security posture and operational efficiency.