Last week, Microsoft announced the public preview of external authentication methods (EAM) for Entra ID. As a close partner, HYPR has worked extensively with Microsoft on the new offering and we are excited to be one of the first external authentication method integrations. This means organizations can now choose HYPR phishing-resistant authentication for their Entra ID MFA method, use it in Entra ID Conditional Access policies, Privileged Identity Management, and more.

Our goal at Microsoft Security is to empower our customers with cutting-edge security solutions. The integration of Entra ID external authentication methods with HYPR reflects this mission, providing our customers with the flexibility to employ their preferred MFA methods, including phishing resistant MFA, to defend their environments against evolving threats.”

– Natee Pretikul, Principal Product Management Lead, Microsoft Security

What Are Entra ID External Authentication Methods?

The external authentication methods feature was developed to replace the current Entra ID custom controls capability. The EAM solution uses industry standards and supports an open model, and provides far greater functionality than custom controls. With EAM, organizations can use their preferred authentication provider to satisfy MFA policy requirements, managing it the same way as Microsoft-native authenticators.

Key Benefits of the HYPR and Microsoft External Authentication Methods Integration

The new integration benefits both HYPR and Microsoft customers on multiple levels.

How the HYPR Entra ID external authentication method integration works

Greater Flexibility and Choice For Your Entra ID Environments 

With the HYPR–EAM integration, organizations can seamlessly use HYPR as an Entra ID authentication method to meet multi-factor authentication requirements, without the need for federation. Unlike federation configurations, the user identity is established and managed in Microsoft Entra ID. Essentially, HYPR’s leading phishing-resistant MFA becomes a like-native authentication option in the Entra ID ecosystem, and can be invoked to satisfy MFA requirements for Conditional Access policies, Privileged Identity Management (PIM) and Identity Protection sign-in risk policies.

Consolidate and Unify Authentication Processes

Many enterprises have complex IT environments with multiple identity providers and sign-in processes. These systems operate in silos, creating security blind spots, inefficiencies, and inconsistent user experiences. By choosing a platform-agnostic solution like HYPR, organizations can use the same secure, phishing-resistant authentication across IAM systems and workflows. HYPR already provides tight integrations with Microsoft Entra ID; the new EAM feature expands that connection. It empowers organizations to further consolidate their identity security and create consistent, unified MFA experiences for their users across all Microsoft and non-Microsoft environments.

Improve Visibility and Control

The Microsoft external authentication method integration puts some additional powerful tools into the hands of HYPR customers. Administrators and security teams can view all HYPR authentication events in the Entra ID admin center when HYPR is used as an EAM method.

Teams also can define highly granular Conditional Access controls, based on the type of authentication factor a user applies as they authenticate with HYPR. For example, access policies can vary depending on whether someone uses a fingerprint, facial recognition or PIN, to add even stronger levels of security assurance for specific use cases or resources.

Learn More About HYPR as a Microsoft Entra ID External Authentication Method

Microsoft Entra ID EAM is now in public preview. Read Microsoft’s technical documentation for more details about how this feature works. Current HYPR customers looking to join the public preview should contact their customer success representative. If your organization does not yet use HYPR, but you are interested in using it as an external authentication method, talk to our team!

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from HYPR Blog authored by Ryan Rowcliffe, Field CTO, HYPR. Read the original post at: https://blog.hypr.com/hypr-entra-id-external-authentication-methods