Conditional Access Optimization Agent Gets Smarter

Introduction

Microsoft is evolving the Conditional Access Optimization Agent to help organizations manage identity security at scale. As environments grow more complex with more users, apps, and non-human identities such as AI agents, static best-practice reviews are no longer enough. These new public preview capabilities aim to give IT and security teams continuous, context-aware guidance for improving Conditional Access.

What's new in the Conditional Access Optimization Agent

Context-aware recommendations

Admins can now upload internal policy documents, standards, and guidance so the agent can tailor recommendations to the organization’s actual operating model. That means suggestions can better reflect internal compliance requirements, naming standards, authentication policies, and exception processes.

Continuous deep gap analysis

The agent now analyzes how Conditional Access policies interact across the entire environment instead of reviewing policies one by one. Microsoft says large organizations average 83 Conditional Access policies, making it difficult to spot overlaps, hidden gaps, or long-standing configuration issues manually.

Least-privilege enforcement for agent identities

The update also extends Zero Trust thinking to non-human and AI agent identities. The agent can identify excessive or unused permissions and recommend least-privilege changes to reduce attack surface.

Expanded phased rollout support

Phased rollout now works for any Conditional Access policy, not just agent-recommended policies. The agent can propose lower-risk deployment stages, monitor impact, and suggest whether to continue or roll back, helping reduce lockouts and support calls.

Passkey deployment campaigns

Microsoft is also adding structured passkey rollout campaigns. Teams can target high-risk users first, track registration progress, follow up with users, and expand adoption in waves instead of relying on manual tracking.

Zero Trust posture reporting

New reporting capabilities are designed to show measurable progress over time, helping security teams demonstrate the effect of Conditional Access improvements.

Why this matters for IT admins

These enhancements shift Conditional Access management from periodic review to a more continuous operating model. For Entra administrators, that means better visibility into policy gaps, more confidence when making changes, and stronger support for phishing-resistant authentication and least-privilege access.

Next steps

• Review the public preview capabilities in the Conditional Access Optimization Agent.
• Prepare internal policy documents that could improve context-aware recommendations.
• Identify candidate Conditional Access policies for phased rollout.
• Consider launching passkey campaigns with privileged or high-risk users first.
• Review non-human identities for least-privilege opportunities.

For organizations already investing in Zero Trust, these updates could make Conditional Access easier to tune and safer to evolve over time.