Edit

What is Global Secure Access (preview)?

  • Article

The way people work changed. Instead of working in traditional offices, people now work from nearly anywhere. With applications and data moving to the cloud, an identity-aware, cloud-delivered network perimeter for the modern workforce is needed. This new network security category is called Security Service Edge (SSE).

Microsoft Entra Internet Access and Microsoft Entra Private Access comprise Microsoft's Security Service Edge (SSE) solution. Global Secure Access (preview) is the unifying term used for both Microsoft Entra Internet Access and Microsoft Entra Private Access. Global Secure Access is the unified location in the Microsoft Entra admin center. Global Secure Access is built upon the core principles of Zero Trust to use least privilege, verify explicitly, and assume breach.

Diagram of the Global Secure Access solution, illustrating how identities and remote networks can connect to Microsoft 365, private, and public resources through the service.

Microsoft's Security Service Edge (SSE) solution

Microsoft Entra Internet Access and Microsoft Entra Private Access - coupled with Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps, our SaaS-security focused Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) - are uniquely built as a solution that converges network, identity, and endpoint access controls so you can secure access to any app or resource, from anywhere. With the addition of these Global Secure Access products, Microsoft Entra ID simplifies access policy management and enables access orchestration for employees, business partners, and digital workloads. You can continuously monitor and adjust user access in real time if permissions or risk level changes.

The Global Secure Access features streamline the roll-out and management of the access control capabilities with a unified portal. These features are delivered from Microsoft's Wide Area Network, spanning 140+ regions and 190+ network edge locations. This private network, which is one of the largest in the world, enables organizations to optimally connect users and devices to public and private resources seamlessly and securely. For a list of the current points of presence, see Global Secure Access points of presence article.

Microsoft Entra Internet Access

Microsoft Entra Internet Access secures access to Microsoft 365, SaaS, and public internet apps while protecting users, devices, and data against internet threats. Best-in-class security and visibility, along with fast and seamless access to Microsoft 365 apps is currently available in public preview. Secure access to public internet apps through the identity-centric, device-aware, cloud-delivered Secure Web Gateway (SWG) of Microsoft Entra Internet Access is also in public preview.

Key features

  • Prevent stolen tokens from being replayed with the compliant network check-in Conditional Access.
  • Apply universal tenant restrictions to prevent data exfiltration to other tenants or personal accounts including anonymous access.
  • Enriched logs with network and device signals currently supported for SharePoint Online traffic.
  • Improve the precision of risk assessments on users, locations, and devices.
  • Deploy side-by-side with non-Microsoft SSE solutions.
  • Acquire network traffic from the desktop client or from a remote network, such as a branch location.
  • Dedicated public internet traffic forwarding profile.
  • Protect user access to the public internet while using Microsoft's cloud-delivered, identity-aware SWG solution.
  • Enable web content filtering to regulate access to websites based on their content categories and domain names.
  • Apply universal Conditional Access policies for all internet destinations, even if not federated with Microsoft Entra ID, through integration with Conditional Access session controls.

Microsoft Entra Private Access

Microsoft Entra Private Access provides your users - whether in an office or working remotely - secured access to your private, corporate resources. Microsoft Entra Private Access builds on the capabilities of Microsoft Entra application proxy and extends access to any private resource, port, and protocol.

Remote users connect to private apps across hybrid and multicloud environments, private networks, and data centers from any device and network without requiring a VPN. The service offers per-app adaptive access based on Conditional Access policies, for more granular security than a VPN.

Key features

  • Zero Trust based access to a range of IP addresses and/or Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDNs) without requiring a legacy VPN. This feature is known as Quick Access.
  • Per-app access for Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) apps (User Datagram Protocol (UDP) support in development).
  • Modernize legacy app authentication with deep Conditional Access integration.
  • Provide a seamless end-user experience by acquiring network traffic from the desktop client and deploying side-by-side with your existing non-Microsoft SSE solutions.

Terms of Use

Your use of the Microsoft Entra Private Access and Microsoft Entra Internet Access preview experiences and features is governed by the preview online service terms and conditions of the agreement(s) under which you obtained the services. Previews may be subject to reduced or different security, compliance, and privacy commitments, as further explained in the Universal License Terms for Online Services and the Microsoft Products and Services Data Protection Addendum (“DPA”), and any other notices provided with the Preview.

Next steps