Identity security & governance for Microsoft Entra ID
Permanent Global Admin, Exchange Admin, and Conditional Access Admin assignments create organization-wide blast radius that Entra ID's native reporting cannot certify against usage. Oleria maps privileged roles, service principals, and app registrations into a continuous identity security graph.
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Key Takeaways
- Microsoft Entra ID controls access across the entire Microsoft 365 environment, making permanent Global Admin, Exchange Admin, and Conditional Access Admin assignments a single-account blast radius that compromises every downstream service if one privileged identity is taken over.
- App Registrations with Microsoft Graph API permissions and service principals with broad directory roles operate outside standard user governance, accumulating permissions that Entra ID's native reporting surfaces only as flat role lists without usage context.
- Oleria brings users, privileged roles, groups, service principals, app registrations, and audit logs into a continuous identity security graph, surfacing permanent role assignments, dormant service principals, and app permissions that exceed their documented business justification.
- Continuous Entra ID access certification through Oleria flags standing privileged role assignments for conversion to PIM-based just-in-time access, identifies unused app registrations, and produces the evidence Microsoft 365 compliance audits require without manual role export and cross-referencing.
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Audit privileged directory roles and govern service principal sprawl
Oleria's Microsoft Entra ID integration gives security teams a single view of who holds privileged roles, which apps and service principals act on their behalf, and how that access is used. Microsoft Entra ID identity governance matters because Entra ID, formerly Azure AD, controls access across your Microsoft 365 environment.
Oleria brings users, roles, groups, apps and audit logs into a continuous, real-time identity security graph.
Why is Entra ID access so hard to govern?
- Privileged roles pile up. Permanent Global Admin, Exchange Admin or Conditional Access Admin assignments create a huge blast radius if one account is compromised.
- Service principals go unwatched. App Registrations with powerful Microsoft Graph permissions run without multi-factor authentication (MFA) or key rotation.
- Dynamic groups drift. Dynamic group memberships build up standing permissions that are never re-certified.
- Guest access outlives the project. External B2B guests keep group memberships and resource access long after the work ends.
What Oleria shows you in Entra ID
How security teams use Oleria with Entra ID
- Stop privilege escalation. Continuously track permanent directory role assignments, including Global Admin, to prevent unauthorized escalation and support zero trust.
- Contain service principal risk. Find over-privileged App Registrations and stale client secrets to limit API scope creep across the tenant.
- Clean up guest access. Unroll guest group memberships and app entitlements to flag and remove external access that is no longer needed.
- Right-size admin rights. Compare assigned directory roles with audit logs to find admin permissions unused for 30, 60 or 90 days.
How does Oleria connect to Microsoft Entra ID?
Oleria connects in minutes through an Azure App Registration. A Global Administrator grants one-time admin consent, and Oleria then uses read-only Microsoft Graph scopes, such as Directory.Read.All and AuditLog.Read.All, to inspect directory metadata and logs. Oleria takes a full inventory, then updates continuously. Explore the complete Oleria Microsoft Entra ID integration guide.
Microsoft Entra ID identity governance FAQs
What is Microsoft Entra ID identity governance?
Microsoft Entra ID identity governance is the practice of controlling who holds roles, group memberships and app access in Entra ID. Oleria supports this by mapping Entra ID users, guests, directory roles and service principals into one graph, flagging risk, and offering 13 remediation actions.
Does Oleria need Global Administrator rights to connect to Entra ID?
Only once. A Microsoft Entra ID Global Administrator grants one-time admin consent to the Oleria app. After that, Oleria uses read-only Microsoft Graph permissions to inspect Entra ID directory metadata and audit logs, so no standing Global Administrator access is needed for discovery.
How does Oleria monitor privileged access in Entra ID?
Oleria discovers active permanent directory role assignments in Microsoft Entra ID and monitors role assignment changes through Entra ID audit logs. Security teams can see who holds roles like Global Administrator and catch new privileged assignments as soon as they appear in the logs.
How does Oleria govern service principals and other non-human identities in Entra ID?
Oleria discovers every App Registration and Enterprise Application in Microsoft Entra ID and maps their assigned Microsoft Graph API permissions. It also tracks client secret and certificate expiration schedules and app owners, so security teams can find over-privileged or stale non-human identities in Entra ID.
How do you review B2B guest access in Entra ID?
Oleria reviews Microsoft Entra ID B2B guest access by unrolling each guest's group memberships and application entitlements. Guest accounts that keep access after a project ends are flagged, and Oleria can remove group members or app access, helping security teams clean up obsolete external access.
See who really holds power in your Entra ID tenant. Book a demo.
