Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) is a cloud-based identity and access management service from Microsoft that helps organizations manage non-human identities such as applications, devices, and services.
Description
Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) plays a critical role in Non-Human Identity Management by providing a comprehensive solution for managing identities that are not tied to individual users. In modern cloud environments, many applications and services require automated access without direct human interaction, such as APIs or backend services. Azure AD allows organizations to create and manage these non-human identities securely through service principals and managed identities. Service principals represent applications and can be granted permissions to access Azure resources, while managed identities allow Azure services to authenticate without needing credentials. This approach enhances security by reducing the risk associated with secret management. Azure AD also offers advanced features like conditional access, role-based access control, and integration with other Microsoft services, enabling organizations to enforce security policies and ensure that non-human identities operate within defined parameters.
Examples
- Service principals for Azure applications accessing Azure resources.
- Managed identities for Azure services like Azure Functions to securely authenticate to other Azure services.
Additional Information
- Azure AD supports integration with on-premises Active Directory for hybrid environments.
- It provides monitoring and auditing capabilities to track access and usage of non-human identities.