Microsoft’s move away from a traditional VPN toward an identity-first Security Service Edge—branded internally as Global Secure Access (GSA) and externally as Microsoft Entra Internet Access and Microsoft Entra Private Access—represents a major operational and architectural shift for large enterprises: it replaces broad, network-level trust with finely scoped, identity- and policy-driven access while folding secure web gateway (SWG), Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), and telemetry into a single, unified framework.
For decades the enterprise remote-access story centered on the VPN: connect, and you were effectively "on the corporate LAN." That model worked when traffic, identity, and applications were largely on-premises. But cloud migration, SaaS proliferation, distributed work, and increasingly sophisticated attacks have made blanket network trust a liability rather than a convenience. Microsoft’s Global Secure Access (GSA) replaces that model with a unified Security Service Edge (SSE) that converges identity, endpoint, and network controls into conditional, contextual access policies enforced at Microsoft’s global edge.
GSA is presented as a consolidated set of capabilities under the Microsoft Entra umbrella and is delivered as three coordinated services inside one client and control plane:
Operational lessons from the field and community channels include:
GSA is not a one-click flip—it's an architectural pivot that requires governance, staging, and cross-team collaboration—but for organizations already invested in Microsoft identity and cloud, the benefits (reduced attack surface, centralized policy, improved telemetry, and potential performance gains) make it a compelling path forward. Early adopters should treat GSA as a platform: measure access outcomes, iterate on policy, and bake the new telemetry into operational playbooks so that conditional, continuous, and least-privilege access becomes the organization’s default posture.
Note on source claims and data: Microsoft’s public materials and technical documentation describe the features and operation of Global Secure Access, Entra Private Access, and Entra Internet Access in detail; community discussions and customer stories document early operational learning and scale figures. There are small discrepancies in reported internal user counts between Microsoft communications (for example, ~150,000 reported in a customer story vs. 158,000 mentioned in other internal posts). Organizations evaluating GSA should validate tenant-specific metrics from their own Global Secure Access dashboards during planning and pilot stages.
Source: Microsoft Transforming our VPN with Global Secure Access at Microsoft - Inside Track Blog
Background / Overview
For decades the enterprise remote-access story centered on the VPN: connect, and you were effectively "on the corporate LAN." That model worked when traffic, identity, and applications were largely on-premises. But cloud migration, SaaS proliferation, distributed work, and increasingly sophisticated attacks have made blanket network trust a liability rather than a convenience. Microsoft’s Global Secure Access (GSA) replaces that model with a unified Security Service Edge (SSE) that converges identity, endpoint, and network controls into conditional, contextual access policies enforced at Microsoft’s global edge. GSA is presented as a consolidated set of capabilities under the Microsoft Entra umbrella and is delivered as three coordinated services inside one client and control plane:
- Microsoft 365 Access — policy-optimized routing and protections for Office apps and Microsoft 365 services.
- Internet Access — an identity-aware SWG with TLS inspection, URL filtering, and content controls.
- Private Access — an identity-centric ZTNA that replaces legacy VPNs with per-app, per-resource access controls.
What’s new: GSA’s security pillars and mechanics
The four pillars Microsoft highlights
GSA’s core security model rests on four pillars that map directly to modern Zero Trust design patterns:- Conditional Access (CA): access control enforced at the application and resource level rather than the network layer; policies may require MFA, compliant devices, or location constraints before access is granted.
- Continuous Access Evaluation (CAE): runtime evaluation of changes in identity or posture (e.g., password reset, revoked refresh token, high user risk) that forces reauthentication or session termination in near real time. Microsoft extends CAE to Global Secure Access with Universal CAE, enabling near real-time revalidation across any resource accessed through GSA.
- Network Filtering: identity-aware SWG policies that control URL categories, FQDNs, and destination filtering as a function of contextual policies rather than static firewall rules. TLS inspection is available to detect threats hidden in encrypted traffic.
- Compliant Network: binding policy enforcement to approved network sources so that access tokens or services are only trusted when coming from managed/trusted egress points—helping prevent token replay or source-IP exfiltration.
How enforcement happens: the client and three tunnels
The GSA model uses a single client on endpoint devices that establishes three logically separate forwarding profiles (tunnels) back to Microsoft’s GSA Edge: Microsoft 365 traffic, Internet traffic, and Private Access traffic. Administrators define forwarding profiles and routing/policy rules centrally; clients then honor those rules, and telemetry is consolidated into unified logs for investigation and SIEM ingestion. This consolidated telemetry is a deliberate departure from fragmented VPN/firewall logging and is a major operational advantage for incident response.Why Microsoft is replacing VPNs (and why it matters)
The security case: reduce blast radius and lateral movement
Traditional VPNs inherently widen the attack surface: once inside, an attacker can often move laterally, discover resources, and escalate. An identity-centric ZTNA dramatically reduces that blast radius by scoping access at application or resource level and requiring additional context for privilege. Microsoft argues this shift prevents token replay, constrains lateral movement, and enables step-up authentication for high-risk operations.The operational case: simpler policy, better telemetry, lower backhaul
GSA centralizes policy in Entra, bringing identity and network policy into a single admin plane. That yields several operational gains:- Faster troubleshooting via unified session logs and enriched Microsoft 365 telemetry.
- Fewer VPN concentrators/backhaul bottlenecks by offloading secure access to Microsoft’s global edge.
- Easier migration for legacy applications using per-app connectors and support for non-HTTP protocols (RDP, SSH, SMB) under Private Access.
The user experience case: seamless day-to-day connectivity
Microsoft emphasizes a "quiet, always-on" client experience. In pilots and customer stories Microsoft reports reduced latency for many users and improved productivity for remote and hybrid workers when traffic is optimally routed through Microsoft’s edge network rather than backhauled into datacenters. Independent adopters and community posts report improved day-to-day reliability versus overloaded legacy VPN concentrators.What Microsoft is shipping now (and what’s still rolling out)
- General availability and licensing: Microsoft Entra Internet Access and Private Access are generally available and included in the Microsoft Entra Suite or as standalone SKUs; there are licensing prerequisites (Entra P1/P2 for some profiles). Licensing enforcement began rolling out in late 2024, aligning with GA in mid-2024/2025.
- Universal CAE: Microsoft has published a Universal CAE capability that extends near-real-time token validation to GSA tunnels—preventing long-lived access during account compromise or revocation windows. This feature shortens the effective attack window between an identity change and the enforcement of reauthentication.
- Private Access capabilities: Private Access supports Quick Access (broad sets of FQDN/IPs for rapid VPN replacement) and per-app access with connectors that support TCP/UDP and legacy protocols—meaning organizations can protect RDP, SMB, SSH, and similar non-HTTP services without reengineering those services.
- Telemetry and integration: GSA provides unified logging and simplified forwarding to Microsoft Sentinel or third-party SIEMs. Microsoft’s own "customer zero" deployments claim substantial telemetry-driven improvements in incident response and access governance.
Early adoption lessons: what Microsoft and the community have observed
Microsoft reports rapid internal adoption—numbers vary slightly across communications, with corporate case studies referencing about 150,000 GSA client users and other internal briefings referencing 158,000 users—this difference is small but worth noting; vendors and early-adopter orgs often publish slightly different tallies depending on cutover windows and device counts. Where exact counts matter, validate against the tenant or product telemetry dashboard.Operational lessons from the field and community channels include:
- Pilot broadly: admins should test forwarding profiles, SSO flows, and conditional access interactions across representative device and network mixes. Community discussions highlight subtle configuration traps (for example, Conditional Access policies that unintentionally block reauthentication flows).
- Watch for DNS and subnet overlap issues: as with any VPN replacement, local home subnets that mirror office subnets can cause access failures for certain file-share or address-based resources. Plan split-dns or private DNS suffix strategies accordingly.
- Manage the GSA client lifecycle: administrators can control client disablement options through device management (Intune/GPO) and must plan for client updates and break-glass scenarios. Documentation and community threads show administrators successfully managing these details but also encountering transient issues that required client updates or tenant configuration changes.
Where GSA is strong — and why enterprises should care
- Tight Entra integration: Because GSA is native to Microsoft Entra, it can apply the same Conditional Access rules universally to M365, SaaS, and private resources—removing policy gaps that arise when identity and network controls live in separate consoles. This unified control plane simplifies enforcement and governance.
- Universal CAE and quick revocation: The Universal Continuous Access Evaluation capability reduces the window that an attacker could exploit after credential compromise or revocation—closing an important real-world gap present in token-based systems.
- Global edge performance: Routing through Microsoft’s global network can reduce latency and packet loss for geographically dispersed users compared with backhauling traffic into central VPN concentrators. Microsoft’s own internal case materials claim latency reductions and better app performance after migration.
- Protocol and legacy support: Private Access’s ability to tunnel arbitrary TCP/UDP flows and to preserve source IP (when required) makes it possible to retire many VPNs without rewiring legacy applications—critical for organizations with RDP, SMB, or proprietary services.
Risks, trade-offs, and practical concerns
No technological shift is without trade-offs. Organizations should evaluate these risks and plan mitigations.- Vendor concentration and trust: Offloading secure access to a single cloud provider centralizes telemetry and control—and implicitly transfers trust to Microsoft’s global edge and operational controls. For organizations with strict data residency, sovereign, or multi-cloud policies, this is a strategic decision requiring legal and technical review. Microsoft’s GSA edges are numerous and global, but the control plane and telemetry will be concentrated.
- Operational dependency and failure modes: Some community reports describe edge cases where reauthentication loops or policy misconfigurations temporarily blocked users until admins adjusted Conditional Access exceptions. Early adopters should plan for fallbacks and break-glass procedures.
- TLS inspection and privacy/compliance: TLS inspection is a powerful security control but can complicate privacy and compliance. Organizations must plan inspection exclusions, manage certificate rollouts, and align with legal/privacy requirements when decrypting traffic.
- Licensing complexity and rollout cadence: Licensing prerequisites (Entra P1/P2, Entra Suite, or standalone Internet/Private Access SKUs) and staged enforcement policies require careful license planning and user assignment. Licensing enforcement began rolling out in late 2024; auditors and procurement teams should account for license timing when budgeting migration projects.
- Edge-case networking issues: Home-office subnet collisions, split-DNS needs, or applications relying on preserved client subnet addressing can require network workarounds or staged migrations. Test these patterns during pilot phases.
A prescriptive migration playbook (practical steps)
- Inventory and categorize private apps and traffic.
- Classify apps by protocol (HTTP, RDP, SMB, custom TCP/UDP), sensitivity, and authentication model.
- Pilot with identity-first enforcement on a representative business unit.
- Deploy the Global Secure Access client to volunteers, apply Conditional Access and Quick Access profiles, and measure experience and telemetry.
- Validate Universal CAE and revocation flows.
- Test account disabling, password resets, and token revocation to confirm near-real-time session termination and reauthentication behavior.
- Migrate non-critical VPN traffic to Private Access Quick Access.
- Start with read-only or low-risk services; iterate on DNS and subnet overlap handling.
- Shift to per-app segmentation for higher-risk or legacy protocols.
- Use per-app connectors and refine Conditional Access policies (MFA, compliant device).
- Roll out Internet Access policies.
- Apply web-category filtering, TLS inspection, and URL controls. Pilot with groups that have diverse browsing needs.
- Decommission legacy VPN concentrators incrementally.
- Only after monitoring and confirming stability in telemetry and user experience.
- Operationalize logging and incident playbooks.
- Forward GSA logs to Sentinel or your SIEM. Build playbooks for token revocation, user lockout, and forensic investigations.
Competitive and ecosystem context
GSA is Microsoft’s native SSE/ZTNA offering; rivals include solutions from Palo Alto (Prisma Access), Zscaler (ZPA/ZIA), Cloudflare (Access + WARP), and vendors combining SASE stacks. Microsoft’s edge is tight Entra integration and Microsoft 365 telemetry, which can significantly reduce admin overhead for organizations already standardized on Microsoft identity and productivity stacks. Third-party products may offer richer multi-vendor WAN integrations or different inspection/edge trade-offs, so enterprises should compare feature parity and operational models before committing. Independent community analyses and vendor case studies indicate the broader market is converging on SSE/ZTNA, with architectural differences centering on deployment models and integration depth.Final assessment: strengths, cautions, and where to start
- Strengths: GSA’s tight integration with Microsoft Entra, Universal CAE, and consolidated telemetry deliver measurable security benefits for identity-driven enterprises. The ability to support legacy protocols and to perform per-app access without reworking applications is a pragmatic advantage for large, complex estates.
- Cautions: Vendor lock-in, TLS inspection privacy concerns, licensing nuances, and a handful of documented community configuration traps are real and should be addressed in planning and pilot stages. Break-glass procedures, careful Conditional Access design, and exhaustive pilot testing across device and network permutations will reduce rollout risk.
- Where to start: Begin with an identity-centric pilot: deploy the GSA client to a small, diverse group; apply Microsoft 365 Access and a limited Private Access Quick Access profile; test Universal CAE behaviors and SIEM ingestion; then scale by business-criticality and protocol type. Follow with Internet Access policies and a staged decommissioning of legacy VPN concentrators.
GSA is not a one-click flip—it's an architectural pivot that requires governance, staging, and cross-team collaboration—but for organizations already invested in Microsoft identity and cloud, the benefits (reduced attack surface, centralized policy, improved telemetry, and potential performance gains) make it a compelling path forward. Early adopters should treat GSA as a platform: measure access outcomes, iterate on policy, and bake the new telemetry into operational playbooks so that conditional, continuous, and least-privilege access becomes the organization’s default posture.
Note on source claims and data: Microsoft’s public materials and technical documentation describe the features and operation of Global Secure Access, Entra Private Access, and Entra Internet Access in detail; community discussions and customer stories document early operational learning and scale figures. There are small discrepancies in reported internal user counts between Microsoft communications (for example, ~150,000 reported in a customer story vs. 158,000 mentioned in other internal posts). Organizations evaluating GSA should validate tenant-specific metrics from their own Global Secure Access dashboards during planning and pilot stages.
Source: Microsoft Transforming our VPN with Global Secure Access at Microsoft - Inside Track Blog
