Identity | Microsoft Zero Trust

📄️Design Conditional Access posture

Implementation Effort: Medium – Requires policy planning and technical setup.

📄️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. 

📄️Discover and triage modern apps

Implementation Effort: Medium – Requires coordination across IT, security, and application teams to inventory and assess applications, but can be streamlined with available tools.

📄️Discover and triage legacy apps

Overview

📄️Roll out Conditional Access with MFA controls

Overview

📄️Roll out Conditional Access with device state and application compliance controls

Implementation Effort: High – Requires policy setup and integration with Intune.

📄️Deploy Conditional Access policies with risk control

Implementation Effort: Medium – Requires configuration of risk-based policies and integration with Identity Protection.

📄️Roll out Conditional Access for guest accounts

Implementation Effort: Medium – Requires policy configuration and cross-tenant settings.

📄️Migrate VPN auth to Entra

Overview

📄️Enable on-prem remote access for web apps without VPN

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📄️Roll out governance for app assignments

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📄️Define application infrastructure server management strategy

Implementation Effort: High – Establishing a comprehensive server management strategy requires significant planning, coordination across IT and security teams, and potential restructuring of existing infrastructure and policies.

📄️Deploy Entra Domain Services

Implementation Effort: Medium – Deploying Microsoft Entra Domain Services (MEDS) involves configuring virtual networks, which requires cross-team planning and operational execution.

📄️Remove app infra servers from AD

Overview

📄️Define and roll out VDI strategy

Implementation Effort: High – Developing and deploying a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) strategy involves significant planning, resource allocation, and coordination across IT and security teams, including infrastructure setup, policy configuration, and ongoing management.

📄️Migrate Cloud print servers to cloud

Implementation Effort: High – Transitioning from on-premises print servers to a cloud-based solution like Universal Print requires coordinated efforts from IT and security teams to assess current infrastructure, configure cloud services, and manage the migration process.

📄️Migrate SSO for employee federated applications

Implementation Effort: High – A program needs to be implemented to migrate applications engaging app owners and coordinating authentication updates.

📄️Migrate SSO for employee Web Access Management based applications

Implementation Effort: High - Customer IT teams need to execute migration projects involving multiple application owners and technical stakeholders.

📄️Decommission WAM servers

Implementation Effort: Medium – IT teams must manage targeted tasks to safely retire servers, ensuring no residual dependencies remain post-migration.

📄️Migrate SSO for External Identities federated apps

Implementation Effort: High – Requires reconfiguration of authentication flows and coordination with external partners to transition federated trust.

📄️Migrate SSO for guest WAM applications

Implementation Effort: High – Migrating Web Access Management (WAM) applications for guest users involves rearchitecting authentication flows, replacing legacy header-based access controls, and coordinating with external partners.

📄️Stop issuing on-prem accounts for new external users

Overview

📄️Start provisioning cloud apps via Entra app provisioning

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📄️Migrate on-prem external ids & workflows to Entra External ID

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📄️Decommission on-prem external user systems

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📄️Roll out governance for External IDs

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📄️Migrate existing SaaS app provisioning to Entra

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📄️Migrate HR provisioning flow to Entra

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📄️Migrate joiner/mover/leaver workflows to Entra

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📄️Migrate existing on-prem app provisioning to Entra

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📄️Roll out Authenticator App

Implementation Effort: High – IT and security teams must configure tenant settings, educate users, and manage registration campaigns.

📄️Migrate on-prem MFA systems

Implementation Effort: High – Transitioning from on-prem MFA to Entra ID native methods involves infrastructure decommissioning, policy updates, and user re-registration workflows.

📄️Migrate self-service password reset

Implementation Effort: High – Transitioning from on-premises SSPR to Microsoft Entra ID SSPR requires configuration of authentication methods, policy updates, and potential integration with on-premises directories via password writeback.

📄️Develop credential (incl. Passwordless) strategy

Implementation Effort: Medium – Developing a comprehensive credential strategy requires coordinated efforts across IT and security teams, involving policy definition, infrastructure updates, and user onboarding processes.

📄️Deploy Entra Password Protection

Implementation Effort: High – Deploying Microsoft Entra Password Protection requires installing and configuring agents on domain controllers and proxies, along with integration and validation in hybrid environments.

📄️Turn on Password Hash Sync

Implementation Effort: Medium – Enabling Password Hash Synchronization (PHS) requires configuring Microsoft Entra Connect and ensuring appropriate permissions and connectivity between on-premises Active Directory and Microsoft Entra ID.

📄️Migrate to Password Hash Sync authentication

Implementation Effort: Medium – After PHS already enabled, the remaining effort focuses on reconfiguring Entra ID as the primary authentication authority and decommissioning federation infrastructure.

📄️Decommission on-prem federation servers

Implementation Effort: Medium – Federation infrastructure can be decommissioned after dependent applications and services are migrated, requiring targeted actions from infrastructure and identity teams.

📄️Roll out Windows Hello for Business

Implementation Effort: High – Setting up Windows Hello for Business requires careful planning, configuration, and coordination across IT and security teams.

📄️Roll out FIDO2 Security Keys

Implementation Effort: High – Deploying FIDO2 security keys requires configuring Microsoft Entra ID policies, distributing hardware tokens, and coordinating user onboarding and support.

📄️Roll out Authenticator Passwordless methods

Implementation Effort: Low – Since the Authenticator app is already deployed for MFA and SSPR, only minimal configuration and enablement steps are needed to allow passwordless sign-in.

📄️Drive passwordless authentication method usage

Implementation Effort: Medium – IT teams need to enable passwordless methods in Microsoft Entra ID, configure Conditional Access to require their use, monitor registration and sign-in activity, and take action to drive adoption across the organization.

📄️Migrate to modern collaboration tools for collaboration (OneDrive, Teams, SharePoint)

Implementation Effort: High – Migrating to Microsoft 365 collaboration tools requires data migration, user training, license provisioning, and configuration of security and compliance settings.

📄️Migrate distribution lists to Microsoft 365 Teams & Groups

Implementation Effort: High – IT teams must identify eligible distribution lists, upgrade them via the Exchange Admin Center or PowerShell, and configure Microsoft 365 Group settings as needed.

📄️Use cloud groups for new cloud app authorization

Overview

📄️Enable group writeback

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📄️Roll out governance for groups

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📄️Migrate group management workflows

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📄️Enable user writeback

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📄️Change provisioning flow of existing users to Microsoft Entra ID

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📄️Decommission on-prem IDM system

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📄️Plan for Account Recovery with Microsoft Entra Verified ID

Implementation Effort: Medium – Requires coordination between identity, security, and helpdesk teams to select an identity verification provider from the Microsoft Security Store, configure account recovery policies in the Microsoft Entra admin center, define user scoping groups, and validate the end-to-end flow before moving from evaluation to production mode.

📄️Change provisioning flow of existing groups to Microsoft Entra ID

Overview

📄️Deploy Entra hybrid join

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📄️Define Entra join strategy

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📄️Roll out Entra join for new workstations

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📄️Roll out AutoPilot

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📄️Remove DJ Windows clients from Active Directory

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📄️Deploy macOS Identity management

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📄️Deploy macOS SSO Extension

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📄️Define policy & use least privileged roles

Implementation Effort: Medium – IT and security teams must develop a policy, analyze current role assignments, and update processes to align with least privilege principles.

📄️Use cloud-only privileged accounts

Implementation Effort: Medium – IT teams need to identify all privileged accounts synced from Active Directory, create equivalent cloud-only accounts, assign roles, and update procedures to ensure only the new accounts are used.

📄️Roll out PIM for Tier-Zero roles

Implementation Effort: Medium – IT and security teams must identify Tier-Zero roles, configure Privileged Identity Management (PIM) settings, and transition users to just-in-time (JIT) access workflows.

📄️Discover & remediate existing over-privileged Workload Identities

Implementation Effort: High – Requires coordinated efforts across IT, security, and application teams to audit, assess, and reassign permissions for workload identities, often involving multiple systems and stakeholders.

📄️Lock down Entra tenant config

Implementation Effort: High – Requires coordinated efforts across IT, security, and governance teams to review, standardize, and enforce tenant configurations, including establishing change control processes and integrating with CI/CD pipelines.

📄️Roll out Access Reviews for cloud privileged accounts & groups

Implementation Effort: Medium – IT and security teams need to configure recurring access reviews, assign appropriate reviewers, and integrate review outcomes into existing governance processes.

📄️Plan privileged accounts lifecycle (JML)

Implementation Effort: High – IT, security, and HR teams must work together to define, implement, and potentially automate processes that manage the lifecycle of privileged accounts.

📄️Roll out PIM for remaining roles

Implementation Effort: Medium – IT and security teams must identify all remaining privileged roles, configure Privileged Identity Management (PIM) settings, and transition users to just-in-time (JIT) access workflows.

📄️Discover & analyze privileged usage for Workload Identities (e.g., scripts)

📄️Roll out strong auth credentials for Workload Identities

Implementation Effort: High – Transitioning to strong authentication methods requires coordinated efforts across IT, security, and application teams to audit, assess, and reconfigure authentication mechanisms for workload identities, often involving multiple systems and stakeholders.

📄️Roll out Conditional Access for Workload Identities

Implementation Effort: High – Implementing Conditional Access for workload identities requires coordinated efforts across IT, security, and application teams to audit, assess, and reconfigure access policies for service principals, often involving multiple systems and stakeholders.

📄️Enforce authentication with strong creds for all privileged accounts

Implementation Effort: High – Implementing strong authentication methods for all privileged accounts requires coordinated efforts across IT, security, and application teams to audit, assess, and reconfigure authentication mechanisms, often involving multiple systems and stakeholders.

📄️Deploy Cloud Privileged Access Workstations

Implementation Effort: High – Establishing a Privileged Access Workstation (PAW) program requires coordinated efforts across procurement, IT, and security teams to define device standards, enforce strict configuration baselines, and implement robust monitoring and access controls.

📄️Integrate all Entra logs into SIEM

Implementation Effort: Medium – Configuring comprehensive log integration requires setting up diagnostic settings, managing data pipelines to the SIEM, and ensuring appropriate storage and retention policies.

📄️Develop security playbooks based on Entra logs

Implementation Effort: Medium – Requires collaboration between security operations teams and stakeholders to design, test, and implement comprehensive playbooks tailored to various incident scenarios.

📄️Remediate risk signals from Identity Protection & MDI

Implementation Effort: High – Security operations teams must establish and maintain processes to monitor, investigate, and remediate identity-related risk signals, integrating them into existing workflows and tools.

📄️Implement monitoring for Entra Connect Sync

Implementation Effort: Medium – Requires installation and configuration of monitoring agents across hybrid identity infrastructure, along with validation of connectivity and alerting mechanisms.

📄️Remediate Entra Connect Health alerts

Implementation Effort: Medium – Requires IT and SecOps teams to establish processes for continuous monitoring, triaging, and resolving synchronization errors, including configuring alert notifications and integrating remediation steps into existing workflows.

📄️Implement monitoring for on-premises connectors used by Entra

Implementation Effort: Medium – Requires deployment and configuration of monitoring tools for each on-premises connector, along with establishing alerting mechanisms and regular health checks.

📄️Discover existing privileged roles

Implementation Effort: Medium – IT and security teams must identify privileged role holders, analyze their access, and determine if lower-privilege alternatives are appropriate.

📄️Discover & remediate existing over privileged accounts

Implementation Effort: High – IT and security teams must conduct a thorough review of current role assignments, implement policy changes, and reassign roles to align with least privilege principles.

📄️Design and Plan MDI Deployment

Implementation Effort: High – Requires comprehensive planning, including infrastructure assessment, capacity planning, and coordination across security and IT teams.

📄️Create Inventory of On-Prem AD Infrastructure

Implementation Effort: Medium – Requires coordination between security and IT teams to catalog Active Directory components and assess readiness for sensor deployment.

📄️Test Internet Access from AD Infra to MDI

Implementation Effort: Low – Requires executing targeted connectivity tests from servers designated for MDI sensors.

📄️Deploy MDI on DCs, ADFS, AD CS, Entra Connect Servers

Implementation Effort: High – Requires coordinated deployment across multiple critical identity infrastructure components, including domain controllers, AD FS, AD CS, and Microsoft Entra Connect servers.

📄️Run MDI Post Deployment Tests and Configurations

Implementation Effort: Low – Administrators execute verification steps without major project overhead

📄️Review Initial Health MDI Alerts

Implementation Effort: Medium – While reviewing alerts is straightforward, addressing them often requires coordination across IT and SecOps teams to resolve underlying issues such as sensor connectivity, credential management, or system configurations.

📄️Configure Identity Entity Tags

Implementation Effort: Medium – Tagging entities requires coordination between security and identity teams to identify and classify accounts, especially for sensitive and honeytoken tags.

📄️Review Identity Inventory

Implementation Effort: Medium – Reviewing the identity inventory requires coordination between security and identity teams to analyze user accounts across hybrid environments, identify dormant or risky accounts, and plan remediation actions.

📄️Review / Tune Security Alerts

Implementation Effort: Medium – Tuning alerts requires collaboration between security and IT teams to analyze alert patterns, adjust thresholds, and implement tuning rules to reduce false positives and enhance detection accuracy.

📄️Confirm MDI Internet Access Requirements

Implementation Effort: Medium – Ensuring proper internet connectivity for Defender for Identity sensors involves configuring proxies, firewalls, or ExpressRoute, and may require coordination across IT and network teams.

📄️Identify Data Sources for Workforce Identity Data

Implementation Effort: Medium – Requires coordination between IT and HR teams to map and integrate various identity data sources into Microsoft Entra ID.

📄️Deploy provisioning connectors for data sources for identity data

Implementation Effort: High – Deploying provisioning connectors requires configuration of Microsoft Entra provisioning agents, integration with systems like Active Directory or LDAP, and coordination with HR or IT systems, which constitutes a significant project for IT and SecOps teams.

📄️Review and assess resulting data updates

Overview

📄️Roll out workforce identity data flows

Implementation Effort: High – Rolling out workforce identity data flows requires configuring attribute mappings, deploying provisioning connectors, and coordinating with multiple departments to ensure accurate data synchronization.

📄️Implement monitoring of workforce identity provisioning

Implementation Effort: Medium – Requires configuring diagnostic settings, integrating with Azure Monitor, and establishing workbooks and alerts to track provisioning health.

📄️Define Attribute Schema, Semantics, and Data Flows

Implementation Effort: High – Requires cross-functional collaboration to define attribute schemas, evaluate data quality, and implement schema extensions in Microsoft Entra ID and Active Directory.

📄️Identify tasks to automate issuance of authentication credentials for joiners

Implementation Effort: Medium – This task involves analysis and planning by IT and identity teams to identify which onboarding steps should be automated, such as issuing Temporary Access Passes or activating accounts.

📄️Deploy custom logic runtime environment for lifecycle workflows

Implementation Effort: Medium – Requires coordination between IT and identity governance teams to design, deploy, and secure a logic app environment tied to Lifecycle Workflows.

📄️Configure lifecycle workflows for workforce identities

Implementation Effort: High – Requires coordination between IT, HR, and identity governance teams to design, deploy, and maintain lifecycle workflows across the organization.

📄️Validate workflows with manual triggering

Overview

📄️Roll out lifecycle workflows

Implementation Effort: High – Requires coordination between IT, HR, and identity governance teams to define a rollout and validation strategy, potentially require investigation, debugging, and updates.

📄️Implement monitoring of lifecycle workflows

Implementation Effort: Medium – Requires IT and identity governance teams to configure monitoring tools, set up reporting mechanisms, and establish alerting processes.

📄️Identify automation tasks for lifecycle events

Implementation Effort: Medium – Requires collaboration among IT, HR, and identity governance teams to map lifecycle events to appropriate automated tasks and configure workflows accordingly.

📄️Identify custom logic requirements

Overview

📄️Stop using on-premises groups to assign access to new applications / resources

Implementation Effort: High – IT and identity teams must transition from on-premises group-based access control to cloud-native group management. This involves driving alignment across the organization, coordinating across application owners, and redefining operational procedures.

📄️Identify Access Lifecycle custom logic requirements

Implementation Effort: Medium – Requires collaboration between IT, application owners, and governance teams to analyze access package workflows and define custom automation needs beyond built-in entitlement management capabilities.

📄️Map organizational role model to platform capabilities of Microsoft Entra ID Governance

Implementation Effort: High – Requires collaboration between IT, HR, and security teams to analyze existing role models and translate them into Microsoft Entra ID Governance structures.

📄️Design policies to assign access per job function

Implementation Effort: High – Requires collaboration between IT, HR, and security teams to analyze job functions, define access requirements, and configure policies in Microsoft Entra ID Governance.

📄️Create Access Packages per job function

Implementation Effort: High – Requires collaboration between IT, HR, and security teams to analyze job functions, define access requirements, and configure access packages accordingly.

📄️Roll out Entra ID access packages / initial assignment of entitlements

Implementation Effort: High – Deploying access packages involves defining catalogs, configuring policies, coordinating with resource owners, and running pilot deployments, which requires structured project planning.

📄️Define and roll out reconciliation processes for access provisioning

Implementation Effort: High – Reconciliation for provisioning requires coordination between IT, identity governance, and application teams to review logs, validate external system states, and remediate inconsistencies.

📄️Implement Monitoring of Role-Based Access Assignments

Implementation Effort: Medium – Configuring monitoring involves setting up reporting tools, establishing audit log integrations, and defining alerting mechanisms, requiring coordinated efforts from IT and security teams.

📄️Inventory applications and resources, attributes needed from users, and owners

Implementation Effort: High – This task requires coordinated efforts to audit applications, identify required user attributes, and assign or confirm ownership, involving multiple stakeholders across IT and security teams.

📄️Deploy custom logic runtime environment for Entitlement Management Extensions

Implementation Effort: High – Deploying a custom logic runtime environment involves setting up Azure Logic Apps, configuring custom extensions, and integrating with Microsoft Entra ID, requiring significant coordination between IT, resource owners, and security teams.

📄️Define the organization's policy with user prerequisites and other constraints for access to an application

Implementation Effort: High – Defining and enforcing access policies involves policy design, stakeholder coordination, and integration into entitlement management and Conditional Access systems.

📄️Define approach for stand-alone groups

Implementation Effort: High – Establishing governance for stand-alone groups requires defining policies, configuring lifecycle management, and coordinating with group owners.

📄️Determine sequence of application onboarding and Entra Provisioning Integration

Implementation Effort: High – Sequencing and executing application onboarding for both SSO and provisioning requires significant coordination, system analysis, and phased rollout planning across IT, identity, and application teams.

📄️Deploy provisioning connectors for apps

Implementation Effort: High – Configuring provisioning connectors for cloud and on-premises applications involves setting up integrations, customizing attribute mappings, and coordinating with application owners, especially for non-standard or custom applications.