Hybrid Identity Protection: Bridging On-Premises AD and Entra ID Security
Commvault, Tuesday, August 19th, 2025
Today, the vast majority of organizations operate in hybrid identity environments, where Microsoft Active Directory (AD) and Entra ID work together to manage user identities and secure access across different environments.
AD, the industry standard for on-premises identity management for over 25 years, supports countless integrated applications and serves as the authoritative source of identities and resources. To meet the growing demand for cloud access and external collaboration, many organizations have extended identity management to Entra ID, which provides secure access to cloud applications like Microsoft 365.
In most cases, AD remains the authoritative source for employee identities, with accounts and attributes synchronized one-way to Entra ID. This hybrid approach allows organizations to leverage AD's robust, established capabilities while enjoying the flexibility of cloud-based identity management. However, this flexibility introduces complexity and new risks.