Microsoft & National Defense ISAC Collaboration:
Microsoft Reference Identity Architectures for the US Defense Industrial Base
Empowering the DIB Sector: ND-ISAC Cloud Security & Architecture and Microsoft Cloud Services Working Groups’ Whitepaper Tackles Multi-Tenant and External Collaboration Challenges
During the National Defense Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ND-ISAC) annual executive summit, Chief Information and Security Officers (CIO/CISO) representing defense sector companies examined challenges with operating multi-tenant environments and external collaboration in Microsoft’s cloud service offerings. The executives made a call to action for ND-ISAC to formulate a working group to tackle the issue and produce a recommended practice guide for the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) sector.
The Microsoft Cloud Services Working Group “MSCloud” brought ND-ISAC members together with Microsoft subject matter experts to further elaborate common challenges, understand features, and provide updates on Microsoft’s Cloud Services roadmap. This Working Group regularly provides a forum to discuss best-practices and use cases among ND-ISAC member companies. It also provides a venue for the Microsoft team to update participants on their services roadmap, provide guidance on current technical challenges, and answer general how-to’s based on ND-ISAC member interest and feedback. The group has been focused on the Microsoft US Government cloud service offerings, including the US Sovereign Cloud with Microsoft 365 US Government (GCC; GCC High), Microsoft Azure Government, and additional highly regulated solutions.
The white paper “Microsoft Reference Identity Architectures for the US Defense Industrial Base” is the result of deep collaboration among the MSCloud Working Group. It provides the group’s consensus on common challenges coupled with guidance on potential ways to overcome those challenges.
The candidate reference architectures for identity accommodate multi-tenant organizations (MTO), and specifically those that have a deployment in the US Sovereign Cloud with Microsoft 365 US Government (GCC High) and Azure Government. It addresses external collaboration in highly regulated environments, inclusive of organizations that are homed in either Commercial or in the US Sovereign Cloud. Multiple levels of trust within the Microsoft Collaboration Framework are used to define the level of security required for collaboration at each trust level. Thus, each organization can determine the reference architecture that best supports their environment and security requirements.
Head over to https://ndisac.org to download a copy of the white paper today.
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