What are External Identities in Azure?

 External Identities in Azure refer to the identities of users who are not part of your organization's directory or tenant but need access to your organization's resources or applications. These identities typically belong to external users, such as partners, vendors, customers, or contractors, who require access to specific services or applications hosted by your organization.

Azure provides several features and services to manage and secure external identities and enable seamless collaboration and access to resources:

1. Azure Active Directory B2B (Business-to-Business):

   - Azure AD B2B allows organizations to securely collaborate with external partners by granting them access to resources and applications in their Azure AD tenant. It enables organizations to invite external users to access resources, authenticate using their existing credentials, and collaborate seamlessly while maintaining control over access and security.

2. Azure Active Directory B2C (Business-to-Consumer):

   - Azure AD B2C is a cloud identity service that enables organizations to provide secure access to consumer-facing applications and services. It supports authentication methods like social identity providers (e.g., Microsoft Account, Google, Facebook), local accounts, and custom identity providers, allowing organizations to offer a flexible and user-friendly authentication experience for their customers.

3. Azure AD External Identities:

   - Azure AD External Identities is a licensing option that includes Azure AD B2B and Azure AD B2C capabilities, allowing organizations to manage both business-to-business and business-to-consumer scenarios from a single Azure AD tenant. It provides features like self-service sign-up, password reset, and customizable user journeys to streamline the onboarding and authentication experience for external users.

4. Guest Access:

   - Azure AD supports guest access, which allows external users invited as guests to access specific resources and applications in your organization's Azure AD tenant. Guest users can be granted access to individual applications, SharePoint sites, Teams channels, and other resources while adhering to access policies and security controls configured by the organization.

5. Azure AD App Registrations:

   - Azure AD App Registrations enable organizations to register and configure applications that integrate with Azure AD for authentication and authorization. Organizations can develop applications that support external user authentication scenarios, such as inviting external users as guests or enabling self-service sign-up for customers.

By leveraging these features and services, organizations can securely manage external identities, enable collaboration with external partners and customers, and provide seamless access to resources and applications while maintaining control over access and security.