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Introduction:
Modern enterprise identity fabrics have expanded beyond human accounts to include a sprawling ecosystem of non-human identities (NHIs), such as service principals, workload identities, and automated bots, which have become prime targets for lateral movement and privilege escalation. To counter this, Microsoft has unveiled a comprehensive set of identity security innovations designed to unify visibility across Active Directory, Entra ID, and cloud IAM solutions, introducing autonomous response capabilities and a granular identity-level risk score to enable real-time conditional access enforcement.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand how to unify identity monitoring across Active Directory, Entra ID, and third-party SaaS applications using the new Identity Security dashboard.
- Implement risk-based conditional access policies driven by the new identity-level risk score to automate threat response.
- Learn to manage and secure Non-Human Identities (NHIs) through expanded protection mechanisms and correlation tools.
You Should Know:
- Unifying Identity Visibility Across Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Environments
The core of Microsoft’s announcement revolves around breaking down silos between on-premises Active Directory, cloud-native Entra ID, and third-party IAM solutions. In practice, this means security operations center (SOC) teams can now view identity posture from a single pane of glass. The improved at-scale identity correlations allow analysts to map relationships between compromised user accounts and the NHIs they control.
To leverage this in your environment, you must first ensure your Microsoft Sentinel or Microsoft Defender for Identity workspace is configured to ingest logs from both AD and Entra ID. Use the following PowerShell command to verify the synchronization status between your on-prem AD and Entra ID:
Run on a domain controller or management server with AzureAD module installed Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "Directory.Read.All", "AuditLog.Read.All" Get-MgDirectoryRole | Select DisplayName, Id Check the status of AD Connect synchronization Start-ADSyncSyncCycle -PolicyType Delta
For Linux-based identity brokers (such as those using SSSD for AD integration), you can verify the health of the identity mapping using:
Check if the Linux host is properly joined to the domain realm list Verify the SSSD service status and check for authentication failures in logs sudo systemctl status sssd sudo tail -f /var/log/sssd/sssd.log | grep -i "error|failed"
Step‑by‑step guide: To enable the unified dashboard, navigate to the Microsoft Entra admin center, select “Identity Governance,” and then enable the “Preview” features under the “Identity Security” blade. Ensure diagnostic settings for your Azure AD logs are streaming to your Log Analytics workspace. For on-prem AD, deploy Microsoft Defender for Identity sensors on domain controllers to forward the telemetry. Once integrated, the dashboard will display cross-platform identity correlations, allowing you to track a threat actor moving from a compromised Linux service account (NHI) to a domain admin.
2. Mastering the New Identity-Level Risk Score
The shift from user-level risk detection to identity-level risk scoring is a significant advancement. This feature allows granular risk scoring not just for human users but for each workload identity or service principal. This risk score can then be directly integrated into risk-based conditional access policies (CAP). If a service principal’s behavior deviates from its baseline (e.g., attempting to access a storage account in a new geographic location), its risk score escalates, and the policy can automatically block the token issuance.
To configure a CAP that uses the identity risk score for NHIs, you can use the Microsoft Graph API. First, query the risky service principals:
Using Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "IdentityRiskEvent.Read.All", "Policy.ReadWrite.ConditionalAccess" Get-MgRiskDetection -Filter "riskType eq 'unfamiliarFeatures' and riskLevel eq 'high'"
To create a conditional access policy targeting NHIs with high risk, use the following Graph API endpoint via Invoke-RestMethod:
$Body = @{
displayName = "Block NHI with High Risk"
state = "enabledForReportingButNotEnforced"
conditions = @{
applications = @{
includeApplications = @("All")
}
users = @{
includeUsers = @("None")
includeRoles = @("All")
excludeUsers = @("GuestsOrExternalUsers")
}
clientAppTypes = @("all")
servicePrincipalRiskLevels = @("high", "medium")
}
grantControls = @{
operator = "OR"
builtInControls = @("block")
}
} | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 10
Invoke-MgGraphRequest -Method POST -Uri "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/identity/conditionalAccess/policies" -Body $Body -ContentType "application/json"
Step‑by‑step guide: To implement this, first enable Identity Protection for workload identities in the Entra ID admin center. Go to “Protection” > “Identity Protection” and select “Workload identities.” Toggle the risk detection policies. Next, navigate to “Conditional Access” and create a new policy. Under “Assignments,” select “Service principals.” In the “Conditions” tab, you will find the new “Risk level” option specific to NHIs. Set it to “High” and configure the “Access controls” to “Block access.”
3. Autonomous Response and Identity Threat Triage
One of the most critical features is the new autonomous response capability, designed to speed up identity threat triage. This system uses AI to automate the disruption of verified compromises. For instance, if the system correlates a suspicious NHI logon with a known malware beacon from an endpoint, it can automatically revoke tokens and disable the compromised identity without waiting for human intervention.
To understand what commands are executed under the hood during such a disruption, security teams can utilize the following PowerShell cmdlet to simulate a token revocation, which is part of the autonomous response workflow:
Revoke all sessions and refresh tokens for a specific user or service principal Revoke-MgUserSignInSession -UserId "[email protected]" For a service principal (NHI) use: Remove-MgServicePrincipal -ServicePrincipalId "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
On the defensive side, to detect if an NHI has been compromised and might be subject to autonomous response, you should monitor the Azure AD audit logs for these automated events. Using Azure CLI:
Login to Azure and query audit logs for "Disable service principal" events az login az rest --method get --url "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/auditLogs/directoryAudits?\$filter=activityDisplayName eq 'Disable service principal'" --headers "Content-Type=application/json"
Step‑by‑step guide: To configure autonomous response settings, navigate to Microsoft 365 Defender > “Settings” > “Identities.” Under “Automated investigation and response,” configure the “Identity remediation” thresholds. Set the automation level to “Fully automated” for high-confidence detections. Ensure your incident response playbooks in Microsoft Sentinel are updated to handle the “IdentityDisruption” incidents generated by the autonomous system. This ensures that when an identity is autonomously disabled, your SOC is immediately notified and can perform root cause analysis on the compromised asset that triggered the event.
4. Securing Non-Human Identities (NHIs) with Expanded Protection
The modern identity fabric is now heavily reliant on NHIs—service accounts, managed identities, and API keys. The new innovations introduce expanded protection specifically for these elements. This includes lifecycle management for NHIs, alerting on expired or over-privileged credentials, and anomaly detection for their usage patterns.
To audit and harden existing NHIs in your environment, you should run a scan for service principals with high privileges that have not been used recently. The following Graph API query identifies “orphaned” NHIs:
Fetch service principals that have not been used in 90 days
$Date = (Get-Date).AddDays(-90).ToString("yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ssZ")
$Uri = "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/servicePrincipals?\$filter=signInActivity/lastSignInDateTime le $Date"
$Results = Invoke-MgGraphRequest -Method GET -Uri $Uri
$Results.value | Select DisplayName, AppId, @{Name="LastSignIn";Expression={$_.signInActivity.lastSignInDateTime}}
For Linux environments managing secrets or API keys for automation, you can implement a script to rotate credentials based on the new zero-trust principles. Here is a bash snippet that checks the age of an API key file and alerts if it exceeds policy:
!/bin/bash
Check age of service account key file
KEY_FILE="/etc/secrets/my_app_key.json"
MAX_AGE_DAYS=30
if [ -f "$KEY_FILE" ]; then
FILE_AGE=$(($(date +%s) - $(stat -c %Y "$KEY_FILE")))
MAX_AGE_SEC=$((MAX_AGE_DAYS 86400))
if [ $FILE_AGE -gt $MAX_AGE_SEC ]; then
echo "WARNING: API key at $KEY_FILE is older than $MAX_AGE_DAYS days. Requires rotation."
Trigger a webhook to a security orchestration platform
curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"alert":"API key stale"}' https://your-siem-webhook.com/alert
fi
fi
Step‑by‑step guide: To enable NHI protection, go to Microsoft Entra > “Identity Governance” > “Access Reviews.” Create a new access review specifically for “Service principals.” Set the reviewer to “Group owner” or a designated security team. For automation, use Azure Automation accounts to run runbooks that periodically check the `signInActivity` of service principals and generate remediation tickets for stale or over-privileged accounts.
What Undercode Say:
- Unified Visibility is Foundational: The ability to correlate on-prem AD with Entra ID and cloud SaaS is no longer a luxury but a necessity. The new dashboard transforms identity security from a fragmented checklist into a cohesive defense layer where lateral movement becomes visible.
- NHIs are the New Perimeter: Attackers are increasingly targeting service principals and workload identities because they often possess extensive permissions and lack the monitoring applied to user accounts. Microsoft’s focus on NHI risk scores and automated response directly addresses this massive blind spot in enterprise security.
Prediction:
The introduction of autonomous response for identity threats signals a broader industry shift towards AI-driven “identity containment.” In the next 12-18 months, we can expect security frameworks to mandate that identity security tools operate with a “zero-standing privileges” model combined with real-time risk scoring. Organizations that fail to unify their identity monitoring across hybrid environments will likely face increased breach impact, as attackers will exploit the visibility gap between on-prem and cloud identities. The future of security operations will be defined by how quickly systems can autonomously revoke trust from a compromised identity—measured in seconds, not hours.
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IT/Security Reporter URL:
Reported By: Markolauren Redefining – Hackers Feeds
Extra Hub: Undercode MoN
Basic Verification: Pass ✅
