Access Cloud Resources Across Tenants Without Secrets: A Game-Changer for Multi-Tenant Security

Managing access across multiple cloud tenants has traditionally been a challenge for IT admins and developers. Securely connecting applications and services between tenants often requires shared secrets, certificates, or keys—solutions that can be cumbersome to manage and introduce security risks if mishandled.

Enter Microsoft’s latest innovation: Access Cloud Resources Across Tenants Without Secrets. This new feature simplifies multi-tenant resource access while eliminating the need for shared secrets, offering a more secure, efficient, and scalable solution.

Overview

This capability allows you to connect cloud resources and services across different Azure Active Directory (Entra ID) tenants without relying on secrets or certificates for authentication.

Key Innovation: Instead of secrets, the feature leverages federated identity credentials in Entra ID. These credentials allow workloads, like applications or automation scripts, to authenticate directly using their managed identity—removing the need for long-lived credentials like passwords, API keys, or client secrets.

Key Benefits

Benefit	Capability	Business Value
Eliminates Secrets Management	Removes dependency on shared secrets and certificates	Reduces operational overhead and credential leakage risk
Enhanced Security	Uses managed identities instead of static credentials	Reduces attack surface with automatically managed authentication
Simplified Automation	Enables cross-tenant automation without embedded secrets	Streamlines development and deployment workflows
Scalable Multi-Tenant Operations	Supports secure access between tenants without additional infrastructure	Enables enterprise-scale multi-tenant architectures

Why This is a Game-Changer

1. Eliminates Secrets Management

Traditional cross-tenant access often relies on secrets or certificates, which need regular rotation and careful storage to prevent exposure. Federated identity credentials completely remove this dependency, reducing operational overhead and the risk of credential leakage.

2. Enhanced Security Posture

By eliminating static credentials, this feature reduces the attack surface. Managed identities are inherently more secure because they are automatically managed by Azure, and their authentication lifecycle is tightly controlled.

3. Simplified Automation and Scaling

Federated identity credentials make it easier to set up cross-tenant automation. Developers no longer need to worry about embedding secrets in code or managing certificates for service-to-service communication.

4. Streamlined Multi-Tenant Operations

Organizations operating in a multi-tenant environment (e.g., large enterprises, service providers, or SaaS vendors) can now enable secure access between tenants without creating and maintaining additional infrastructure for credential management.

Key Use Cases

1. Cross-Tenant Automation

Ideal for: Organizations with automated workflows spanning multiple tenants

Scenario: A service in Tenant A needs to periodically access resources in Tenant B, such as fetching logs or triggering updates.

Solution: With federated identity credentials, this can be done seamlessly without storing secrets in Tenant A or managing a key vault.

2. Third-Party Application Access

Ideal for: SaaS vendors and application providers

Scenario: SaaS applications often require access to customer tenants for specific operations (e.g., managing Azure resources, accessing logs, or processing data).

Solution: Federated identity credentials allow SaaS vendors to securely authenticate their applications to customer tenants without requiring customers to manage and share secrets.

3. Shared Resource Management

Ideal for: Enterprises with multiple Azure tenants

Scenario: Internal applications need to access resources across tenants securely—for example, a central monitoring app accessing diagnostic logs from multiple tenants.

Solution: Enables secure cross-tenant access without complex credential management infrastructure.

How It Works

Technical Implementation

Step	Action	Technical Details
1	Create Federated Identity Credential	In the Entra ID tenant where your application resides, create a federated identity credential and associate it with the application’s managed identity
2	Grant Permissions Across Tenants	In the target tenant, assign the necessary permissions to the application using RBAC roles
3	Authenticate Without Secrets	The application uses its managed identity to request tokens for the target tenant. Azure automatically handles authentication

Getting Started Guide

Implementation Steps

Set Up Federated Identity Credentials
- Use the Azure portal, CLI, or PowerShell to create federated identity credentials for your application
Configure Role Assignments
- In the target tenant, configure the appropriate role assignments for the application
- Ensure it has the necessary permissions to perform its tasks
Update Application Code
- Modify your application to authenticate using its managed identity
- Azure SDKs make this straightforward by abstracting the authentication process
Test and Monitor
- Test the configuration thoroughly
- Monitor access to ensure the application is functioning as expected without introducing security risks

Best Practices

Security Recommendations

Practice	Implementation	Security Benefit
Principle of Least Privilege	Assign minimum necessary permissions	Reduces potential attack surface
Access Monitoring	Use Azure Monitor and Entra ID logs	Enables detection of anomalous access patterns
Conditional Access Integration	Enforce conditional access policies	Strengthens security with additional verification layers

Operational Guidelines

Regular Permission Reviews: Periodically audit cross-tenant access permissions
Automated Monitoring: Set up alerts for unusual access patterns
Documentation: Maintain clear records of cross-tenant configurations

Conclusion

Key Takeaway: The ability to access cloud resources across tenants without secrets marks a significant step forward in simplifying and securing multi-tenant environments.

By eliminating the need for shared secrets, this feature:

Reduces operational complexity
Improves security posture
Empowers developers to build scalable solutions in a cloud-first world

Ideal for organizations:

Managing multiple Azure tenants
Building SaaS applications
Automating cross-tenant workflows
Implementing enterprise-scale multi-tenant architectures

This capability represents a fundamental shift in how organizations approach multi-tenant security and is a must-explore for modern cloud deployments.