Introduction
Power Platform has made it easier for businesses and organizations worldwide to handle their business as it provides them with online solutions to the problems faced by modern businesses.
Due to Power Platform functionality and ease of usage, many organizations got inclined to use it. But with all this, businesses need to make sure that their data is protected from any unauthorized access. Microsoft has done well to deploy various security features into the Power Platform to make sure their customers feel protected and safe while using any of the apps from the Power platform.
Microsoft built Power Platform on the same foundations as Azure, about which we all know how protected it is. By using multi-layers of security, Microsoft ensures that the most-sensitive data of organizations remain safe with them and doesn’t leak out of the organization.
Power Platform Security Concept
Microsoft has integrated the following security concepts into Power Platform to make sure data of their customers is well protected.
- Authentication for Power Platform Services.
- Connection of services to data and access to data
- Protection of stored data
Authentication to Power Platform
Power Platform involves a series of requests, responses, and redirects during authentication to access the required data. Here is a sequence of events that occurs during this process.
- The user starts connecting to power platform services by entering the service address into the browser or from the sign-in page on Power Platform.
- Azure checks the browser’s DNS record. The user is sent to the IP address of the web-front-end cluster.
- The web-front-end cluster redirects the user to the sign-in page of Power Platform for authentication.
- The user is sent back to the web front-end cluster, but this time with an Azure AD auto code which is used by it as a security token.
- The web front-end cluster consults Power Platform global back-end cluster to find the back-end cluster containing the tenant of the user request.
- The front end cluster asks for the required session, access, and routing information from the user’s browser.
- The user’s information is sent back to the back-end cluster with a security token to validate the request.
Connecting To the Data Sources
Two types of connection methods are used basically depending on the data source to which the connection is being made.
- Connecting to Microsoft Data verse: Power Apps doesn’t need connectors to connect to data stored in Data verse, which is needed by the apps developed through it. Power Automate requires API Hub for connecting to Data verse.
- Connecting to sources other than Data verse: It needs Connectors to connect Power Platform Services to any other data source. It is a seven-step process that sends various requests back and forth.
Stored Data Protection
Stored data is protected by using authentication to data sources to ensure no unauthorized access to data. There are two types of authentication.
- Implicit Authentication: It uses the credentials provided by the app maker while making the connection.
- Explicit Authentication: In this case, the credentials of the app user are used.
Conclusion
Modern companies and organizations utilizing data to make informed decisions look for a business solution to protect their data while helping make decisions based on the data. Microsoft has made sure that Power Platform has next-gen security features to protect their customers’ data.
