Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Entitlement Management is a powerful tool that empowers organizations to manage their identity and access at a granular level. Within the context of the SC-300 Microsoft Identity and Access Administrator exam, understanding how to review per-user entitlements using Azure AD Entitlement Management is vital. This knowledge can be instrumental for managing access requests, determining access levels, and ensuring compliance with organizational policies.
Understanding Azure AD Entitlement Management
Azure AD Entitlement Management is an identity governance feature offering a comprehensive approach to managing user access across your organization. It extends the basic concepts of identity and access management by adding a level of management for people’s access to groups, applications, and SharePoint Online sites.
In addition, you can also delegate access decisions to the people who have a better understanding of the needs, such as the ability for employees to request access and for access packages to expire.
Reviewing Per-User Entitlements
Reviewing per-user entitlements entails examining, auditing, and verifying the access privileges assigned to each user within your IT setting.
To do this in Azure AD, follow the steps below:
- Sign in to the Azure portal as a Global Administrator or an Identity Governance Administrator.
- Select Azure Active Directory, then choose Identity Governance.
- Within Identity Governance, choose Entitlement management, then access packages.
- To review a specific user’s entitlement, select their name from the list.
You can now see the specific access entitlements, including their roles, access levels, privileges, and assignments. If there are any anomalies or privileges that contradict your organization’s policy, you can enact remediation actions directly from this overview.
Practical Example
Let’s take an example to better grasp these steps:
John is a new employee in the sales department. The IT administrator receives a request to provide John with necessary access privileges related to his role. Using Azure AD Entitlement Management, they can verify John’s access package in a few easy steps:
- Sign in to the Azure portal.
- Navigate to Azure Active Directory > Identity Governance > Entitlement management > Access packages.
- The list of all existing access packages will appear. The IT administrator locates John’s access package and select his name.
- They can now review John’s access privileges. If there are any access privileges that need to be altered, added or removed, the administrator can easily do so right from this dashboard.
With Azure AD Entitlement Management, reviewing and managing specific per-user entitlements is simplified tremendously. These practical, hands-on skills are central to the SC-300 Microsoft Identity and Access Administrator exam, and will greatly aid administrators in their day-to-day operational tasks.
Conclusively, Azure AD Entitlement Management provides a robust and systematic way to analyze and regulate user access. By understanding how to use these tools, you can effectively oversee all entitlements within your organization and ensure only the proper access is granted to each user. Remember that governance is key to maintaining security at an enterprise level, making this feature an indispensable aspect of a comprehensive identity and access management strategy.
Practice Test
True or False: Azure AD Entitlement Management is a service that enables organizations to manage identity and access lifecycle at scale.
True
Explanation: Azure AD Entitlement Management is indeed an identity governance service that helps organizations to manage access lifecycle at scale. It simplifies access management and improves security.
In Azure AD Entitlement Management, what does an “Access Package” consist of?
- a) Users and Groups
- b) Roles and Resources
- c) Policies and Permissions
- d) Both b) and c)
Answer: b) Roles and Resources
Explanation: An Access Package in Azure AD Entitlement Management is a bundle of resources, which typically includes roles, applications, and Microsoft 365 groups.
True or False: Azure AD Entitlement Management allows to manually reprocess access requests.
True
Explanation: Azure AD Entitlement Management provides a feature to manually reprocess access requests, helping to manage and control access effectively.
Which Azure Service can grant or restrict user access based on geographic location?
- a) Azure AD B2C
- b) Azure AD B2B
- c) Azure AD Conditional Access
- d) Azure AD Access Reviews
Answer: c) Azure AD Conditional Access
Explanation: Azure AD Conditional Access is the service that can grant or restrict access based on conditions such as geographic location, group membership, device state, sign-in risk, and others.
True or False: Reviewers can be assigned to review other user’s access to a resource in Azure AD Entitlement Management.
True
Explanation: In Azure AD Entitlement Management, you can assign a reviewer to review other user’s access to a resource. This process helps to ensure that only appropriate users have access.
Which of the following can be checked to examine the Azure AD Access Reviews?
- a) Microsoft Graph API
- b) Azure AD audit logs
- c) PowerShell cmdlets
- d) All of the above
Answer: d) All of the above
Explanation: Access Reviews can be examined using the Azure AD audit logs, Microsoft Graph API, or PowerShell cmdlets.
True or False: Active Directory Entitlement Management does not support guest users.
False
Explanation: Azure AD Entitlement Management does support guest users. It can govern access for both internal users in your organization and external users (business partners, vendors etc.).
In Azure AD Entitlement Management, what does ‘Expiration’ mean?
- a) The time when the access review begins
- b) The time when the entitlement is no longer available
- c) The time when a user’s access is revoked
- d) The time when a resource is deleted
Answer: b) The time when the entitlement is no longer available
Explanation: The expiration refers to the time when the access package or the entitlement is no longer available for users to request.
With Azure AD Entitlement Management, which policy decides who can request access and when they can request it?
- a) Access policy
- b) Request policy
- c) Assignment policy
- d) Availability policy
Answer: c) Assignment policy
Explanation: The assignment policy decides who can request access to the resources in the access package and when they can request that access.
True or False: Azure AD Entitlement Management allows organizations to automate access request workflows and review of access rights.
True
Explanation: With Azure AD Entitlement Management, organizations can automate access request workflows, approve or deny requests and also automate periodic access reviews to ensure that only the right people have the right access.
Interview Questions
What is Azure AD Entitlement Management?
Azure AD Entitlement Management is an identity governance feature that enables organizations to manage identity and access lifecycle at scale. It offers employees access packages, which can provide time-limited access to other applications, groups, and SharePoint sites.
Can you explain what an ‘access package’ is in Azure AD Entitlement Management?
An access package is a bundle of resources that a user might need to have access to. This could include applications, groups, or SharePoint online sites. Access packages help to control who has access, how they get access, and when they lose access.
What can an access package include?
An access package in Azure AD Entitlement Management can include resources such as memberships to groups, access to applications, and permissions to SharePoint Online sites.
What is the role of a ‘catalog’ in Azure AD Entitlement Management?
A catalog in Azure AD Entitlement Management is a container for resources that are used in access packages. Admins define what resources belong to a catalog and who the catalog owners and access package managers are.
What are ‘policies’ in Azure AD Entitlement Management?
Policies in Azure AD Entitlement Management determine who can request access, how they receive that access, and how access is managed. For example, a policy might require approval from a manager and access might be time-limited.
How are users granted access in Azure AD Entitlement Management?
Users are granted access by requesting an access package. Once their request is approved (if approval is part of the policy), they will receive the entitlements contained within the access package.
Can an access package be limited in time?
Yes, access packages in Azure AD Entitlement Management can have a time limit. When the limit expires, the user’s access to the entitlements contained in the package is automatically revoked.
What is an ‘access review’ in the context of Azure AD Entitlement Management?
An access review is a process in Azure AD where a reviewer (such as an application owner, resource owner, or other specified reviewer) can verify whether users still require access to resources contained in an access package. It helps to maintain least privilege access.
What are the benefits of implementing Azure AD Entitlement Management?
Implementing Azure AD Entitlement Management can simplify the management of access to resources, enhance security by ensuring least privilege access, and improve regulatory compliance by providing access control and auditing capabilities.
How is Azure AD Entitlement Management different from Azure AD Privileged Identity Management (PIM)?
While both are identity management tools, Azure AD Entitlement Management is focused on managing access to resources across partners, employees, and contractors, whereas Azure AD Privileged Identity Management (PIM) is specifically focused on providing time-limited, just-in-time access for administrators and other high privilege roles.
Can access reviews be automated in Azure AD Entitlement Management?
Yes, Azure AD Entitlement Management allows for the creation of recurring access reviews, helping to automate the process of verifying that users still require access to resources.
What are ‘resource roles’ in the context of Azure AD Entitlement Management?
Resource roles in Azure AD Entitlement Management refer to the roles that users are granted in resources such as applications or SharePoint Online sites. A user could have different roles in different resources within the same access package.
Can External Users use Azure AD Entitlement Management?
Yes, Azure AD Entitlement Management supports external users from other organizations. This is particularly useful for granting and managing access to resources for partners or contractors.
Can Azure AD Entitlement Management integrate with other systems?
Yes, Azure AD Entitlement Management can integrate with other systems through Microsoft Graph, which allows programmatic management of access packages, catalogs, and policies.
What happens if a user already has access to a resource and then requests an access package that includes the same resource?
If a user already has access to a resource and then is assigned an access package with the same resource, the user maintains only one instance of access. When the access package assignment expires or is removed, the user loses access to the resource unless they have been granted access through another means.