Last month we announced the general availability of our next generation customer identity and access management solution, Microsoft Entra External ID. External ID makes Customer Identity & Access Management (CIAM) secure and simple by enabling you to:  

Secure all external identities: Managing several disparate solutions can overcomplicate your security strategy. By adopting External ID as your CIAM solution, you can secure all identity types within your Microsoft Entra admin center, safeguarding all external identities with industry-leading security, including our own conditional access engine, verifiable credentials, and built-in identity governance.  

Create frictionless user experiences: The rise of fraud, GenAI, and identity attacks has increased end-user fear when it comes to security risks online. With External ID, you can build frictionless, branded, user centric interfaces into your web and mobile applications to increase brand awareness, build user trust and drive user engagement. Check out an example in the WoodGrove Groceries demo! 

Streamline secure collaboration: Collaborating with external users and ensuring they have the right access at the right time is complex. Simplify collaboration by inviting business guests with External ID and defining what internal resources they can access across SharePoint, Teams, and OneDrive.  

Accelerate the development of secure applications: Integrating robust and extensive user flows into apps can take developers months. Shorten development time to minutes by leveraging External ID’s rich set of APIs, SDKs, and integrations with developer tools, such as Visual Studio Code, to build secure and branded identity experiences into external-facing web and mobile apps. 

Best in class value at scale: Managing several security stacks can be costly. External ID brings innovative CIAM features at a cost-effective value for any growing customer without compromising on scalable, end-to-end security. For example, this approach helps us bring best-in-class identity verification like Face Check with Verified ID to reduce help desk costs for combatting fraud. Learn more about External ID pricing here. 

Our goal is to provide best in class protection from bot attacks, sign in and signup fraud and ability to audit every step of external user’s journeys

Ask Me Anything (AMA) on July 11th for a deep dive into External ID!  

Since our GA announcement, we’ve received lots of interest from customers who want to get started with External ID. Don’t miss our live Ask Me Anything webinar on July 11, 2024, at 9am PST! Register online to join our product experts as they showcase live demos to show how External ID shortens the implementation of secure end-to-end identity experiences into external-facing apps from months to minutes.   

In our AMA event, we’ll also reserve time to address any FAQs you may have about External ID, Azure AD B2C, Azure AD B2B, and more. You can find most of these questions in public documentation and in your tenant administration portal. We also collected some here for convenience: 

I am currently using Azure AD B2C, how can I take advantage of the innovation in Microsoft Entra External ID?  

By building new applications with Microsoft Entra External ID, admins and developers can lean on familiar Microsoft Entra ID experiences while avoiding the overhead of building specific skills in Azure AD B2C technology. Powered by open standards, External ID is built to be interoperable with any Identity solution to provide enterprise-grade security without sacrificing end user experiences. Learn more. 

While Azure AD B2C is powerful in the flexibility of experiences it enables, External ID is designed for ease of adoption and speed of innovation as it’s converged into the Entra ID technical stack and organically benefits from all Entra ID innovation, extending Microsoft Entra industry-leading security and governance to external users.   

Will there be any changes in Azure AD B2C support and how can I migrate my existing Azure AD B2C applications to Microsoft Entra External ID? 

Current Azure AD B2C customers can continue using the Azure AD B2C with no service disruptions, including creating new tenants. You can continue to operate your existing B2C applications with confidence and we’ll continue supporting you until at least May 2030. 

We’re currently developing a seamless migration journey so you can move your existing Azure AD B2C applications to External ID without disrupting your end users and will share more information when ready. If you’d like to participate in early previews, your account team can help enroll you. You may choose to migrate your existing applications when the next-generation platform meets your feature requirements, and migration is right for your business. Learn more in our FAQ. 

I am currently using Azure AD B2B collaboration and B2B direct connect, have these experiences changed? 

Azure AD B2B collaboration and B2B direct connect are now part of Microsoft Entra External ID as External ID B2B collaboration and B2B direct connect. There are no changes to your product experience, B2B collaboration features remain in the same location in the Microsoft Entra admin center within the workforce tenant, allowing you to secure all business guests, streamline collaboration, and limit access risks extending ID Governance to external users.   

Get started with External ID! 

We’re excited to share the new External ID platform with you and help you deliver seamless and secure experiences to your end-users. If you are interested in learning more about External ID and how it can help secure your applications, visit aka.ms/External_ID to get started. You can try External ID for free and only pay for what you use, learn more about pricing here.  

Ankur Patel runs Growth for Identity @ Microsoft. In recent times, he drove the effort for connecting LinkedIn, the world’s leading professional graph and Office 365, the world’s leading productivity graph. Currently, Ankur leads Microsoft’s efforts for Entra Verified ID & External ID to improve security and compliance without compromising on privacy.  

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Microsoft Entra External ID 
Microsoft Entra External ID frequently asked questions

Learn more about Microsoft Entra  

Prevent identity attacks, ensure least privilege access, unify access controls, and improve the experience for users with comprehensive identity and network access solutions across on-premises and clouds. 

⁠Microsoft Entra News and Insights | Microsoft Security Blog  
⁠⁠Microsoft Entra blog | Tech Community  
Microsoft Entra documentation | Microsoft Learn 
Microsoft Entra discussions | Microsoft Community  

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