Conditional Access Requires Major Licensing Commitment

• Conditional access is a valuable way to protect cloud services from compromised devices or malicious users.
• Packaging and license compliance can force Microsoft 365 customers to buy E5-level suites for all users to take full advantage of conditional access.

Conditional access is a process that occurs after credentials are provided to Entra ID but before the requestor is granted access to the requested online service or application. It provides organizations with the ability to impose additional security and governance prerequisites, beyond simply requiring a proper username and password, before users, devices, or end-user applications are connected to Office 365 or other AAD-integrated online services and applications. Conditional access becomes increasingly important as cloud- and mobile-based computing renders traditional perimeter access security methods, such as corporate firewalls, insufficient absent supplementation with additional protections.