Source URL: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2025/07/08/enhancing-microsoft-365-security-by-eliminating-high-privilege-access/
Source: Microsoft Security Blog
Title: Enhancing Microsoft 365 security by eliminating high-privilege access
Feedly Summary: In this blog you will hear directly from Microsoft’s Deputy Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Experiences and Devices, Naresh Kannan, about eliminating high-privileged access across all Microsoft 365 applications. This blog is part of an ongoing series where our Deputy CISOs share their thoughts on what is most important in their respective domains. In this series you will get practical advice and forward-looking commentary on where the industry is going, as well as tactics you should start (and stop) deploying, and more.
The post Enhancing Microsoft 365 security by eliminating high-privilege access appeared first on Microsoft Security Blog.
AI Summary and Description: Yes
Summary: The blog discusses Microsoft’s initiative to eliminate high-privileged access (HPA) across its Microsoft 365 applications to enhance security. It outlines the risks associated with HPA, the strategies employed to enforce least privilege access, and recommendations for organizations looking to improve their security posture.
Detailed Description:
This text provides an overview of Microsoft’s proactive measures to enhance the security of its Microsoft 365 ecosystem by addressing high-privileged access (HPA). Key points include:
– **Definition of HPA**: High-privileged access occurs when applications or services can bypass necessary user context to access customer content, increasing potential security risks, particularly in instances of service compromise or credential mishandling.
– **Importance of Least Privilege Access**: Microsoft emphasizes the need for continuous enforcement of least privilege access within its applications. This ensures that applications and users are only granted permissions essential for their functions, thus reducing security vulnerabilities.
– **Secure Future Initiative (SFI)**: Central to Microsoft’s cybersecurity strategy, SFI integrates various components within the organization to bolster security measures and mitigate risks associated with HPA.
– **Implementation Strategy**:
– **Review and Reengineering**: A systematic review of Microsoft 365 applications and their interactions was conducted, leading to the deprecation of legacy authentication protocols.
– **Secure Authentication Protocols**: New authentication standards have been enforced to ensure all service-to-service (S2S) interactions abide by the least privilege principle.
– **Granular Permissions**: Instead of broad permissions like ‘Sites.Read.All’, applications are granted specific permissions based on their needs (e.g., ‘Sites.Selected’).
– **Cross-Functional Collaboration**: The initiative involved over 200 engineers from various departments within Microsoft, underlining the scale of the effort to improve security practices.
– **Best Practices for Organizations**:
– Conduct audits on applications accessing data and revoke unnecessary permissions.
– Use Microsoft Entra’s consent framework to assure human consent before applications access customer content.
– Design applications with least-privilege access as a core principle throughout development stages.
– Implement strict audit controls for regular reviews of application permissions to ensure adherence to security standards.
This blog serves as a valuable resource for security and compliance professionals by detailing concrete actions and strategies for enforcing least privilege access, which is vital for protecting sensitive customer data within Microsoft 365 and similar environments.