Microsoft has announced that its App Governance add-on will soon be a part of the Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps service. Starting on June 1, the feature will be available for all customers with an E5 Security/Microsoft 365 E5 or any other subscription at no additional cost.
Microsoft highlighted that threat actors are increasingly targeting enterprise customers with app-based attacks. The App Governance add-on is a security feature that enables organizations to protect OAuth-enabled apps connected to Azure Active Directory (Azure AD). It provides actionable insights to give IT admins complete visibility into how third-party apps access sensitive data stored in Microsoft 365 services.
“Because we are seeing a continued rise in app-based attacks, we believe this is a foundational capability for customers. That’s why today, we are excited to announce that going forward the App Governance add-on will be included in Defender for Cloud Apps at no additional cost. On June 1, 2023, new and existing customers will be able to start the opt-in process to begin using these capabilities,” Microsoft explained.
How does the App governance add-on work?
The App Governance add-on provides a single dashboard that enables IT admins to view, react, and respond to the apps’ status and alert activities. It also lets them create governance policies for app and user patterns to block non-compliant or malicious applications. App Governance provides detection and mitigation strategies to protect end users against suspicious in-app activities and risky apps.
Microsoft will cancel subscriptions for all existing App Governance customers on June 1. The company confirmed that this change will not impact the current App Governance experience. However, Microsoft didn’t mention any details about refund or compensation policies. If you’re interested, you can learn more about App Governance capabilities on this support page.