Microsoft releases federated identity credentials for MS Entra

Microsoft wants users of Microsoft Entra to be able to log in to accounts across services without resending secure login credentials and certificates. To enable this, it now allows apps to use federated identity credentials (FICs) to accept access tokens from trusted digital identity providers.

Thus, a token issued on login will be valid for services that support the Microsoft Entra API. Entra includes Azure services, as well as apps using Kubernetes and GitHub.

A dev blog explains that “using a managed identity as a federated identity credential (FIC) provides continuous access to resources without the need to manage secret and certificate expiration and renewal.”

Per a separate Microsoft blog, the so-called “Workload Identity Federation flow” configures a user-assigned managed identity or app registration in Microsoft Entra ID to “trust tokens from an external identity provider (IdP), such as GitHub or Google. The user-assigned managed identity or app registration in Microsoft Entra ID becomes an identity for software workloads running, for example, in on-premises Kubernetes or GitHub Actions workflows.”

The FIC system supports tokens from GitHub, Kubernetes, and other third-party OIDC issuers. Apps can now also accept managed identity tokens issued by Microsoft Entra.

Unified identity management

An article by Shaun Nichols on the Cyber Risk Alliance’s SC Media resource notes a trend toward unified identity management, pointing to Okta’s recent move to put unified identity management systems at the center of its future business plan.

“Vendors see identity management solutions as central part of their information security plan in large part because using one token over multiple services minimizes the chances of intercept and protects from data breach at the hands of a third-party vendor who could otherwise have to collect sensitive information.”

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital identity  |  identity access management (IAM)  |  identity management  |  Microsoft  |  Microsoft Entra