Microsoft have announced that any customer using a subscription of a their commercial online services (Azure, Dynamics, Office 365 etc.) can connect all their cloud applications to Azure AD for single sign-on (SSO), and protect this access with multi-factor authentication (MFA) as a huge additional security benefit at no extra cost – other than internal (or partner) resource to configure and test it. Using MFA alone is proven to reduce the attack surface and prevent over 99% of breaches caused by credential theft.
Using SSO reduces the number of sign-in prompts for employees, reduces the number of different user ID and password combinations needed also enables one-click access to the most used line of business applications – and it should make working remotely even easier and more secure – since user access control can be made central – and under the protection and safeguard of Azure AD.
Microsoft has also added several other Azure AD enhancements which will help simplify identity and access management and improve the experiences for all those working remotely – these include the following:
- Streamlined identity management
- Improve application configuration and security for Azure AD SSO
- Seamless and secure collaboration
- Safeguard identities with industry-leading security
- App gallery integration