363 - Reflections on sovereign clouds in 2026

Microsoft Ignite 2026 is just around the corner. As is tradition by now, we take a look at what to expect from Ignite: the announcements, expectations, and sessions. Join us for a fun discussion on all things Ignite!(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(06:02 - Show content starts.Show links- Microsoft Ignite 2026 session catalog- Give us feedback!

Microsoft recently released the 2026 edition of the Digital Defense Report. It's a massive report, 103 pages in total. We dive deep into the report, and unpack the content and share our thinking and thoughts around it.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(04:00) - Show content starts.Show links- Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2026 (landing page)- Full report (PDF, 103 pages)- Executive summary- Conditional Access: authentication flows (blocking device code flow)- Our previous MDDR episodes: 314 (2025), 275 (2024), 210 (2023)- Give us feedback!

In this week's episode, we look at recent Microsoft Tech updates. By popular request, we're expanding our scope beyond Azure to include Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and related Microsoft platforms and capabilities. What's new? What's interesting? What's retiring? (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(05:09) - Show content starts.Show links- Public Preview: Foundry Routines in Foundry Agent Service- Public Preview: Network egress controls for hosted agents in Microsoft Foundry- Generally Available: Publishing Microsoft Foundry agents to Microsoft 365 Copilot and Teams- Generally Available: Enable and disable controls for Microsoft Foundry agents in Agent 365- Generally Available: User-bound user delegation SAS for Azure Storage- Public Preview: Microsoft SQL Agent Skills- Generally Available: SQL Migration Agent Skills for assessment, migration, and validation- Public Preview: PostgreSQL skills and MCP plugin for Azure Database for PostgreSQL- Azure Updates: Retirement of Microsoft Dev Box - Generally Available: User-bound user delegation SAS for Azure Storage- Generally Available: Exceptions in WAF for Azure Application Gateway and Azure Front - Door- Public Preview: Azure Front Door profile and route level WAF policies- Generally Available: Microsoft Defender for Cloud support for Azure Container Apps- Generally Available: Confidential VMs for Azure Linux- Generally Available: Azure Database for PostgreSQL Flexible Server supports cross-tenant customer-managed keys- Retirement: Always Encrypted with Intel SGX Enclaves- Public Preview: PostgreSQL skills and MCP plugin for Azure Database for PostgreSQL- Microsoft 365: Upcoming Changes and End-of-Support Milestones- Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022 lifecycle reminders- Azure retirement updates- Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2026- ACS retirement- Agent 365 updates for September- Telephony providers for Entra SMS and Voice- Give us feedback!

Let's talk about sovereign cloud, and what it means, and what is relevant. We talk about our experience with sovereign solutions, what the risks are, and the varying aspects of sovereign solutions from Microsoft today in the market.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:42) - Show content starts.Show links- One year on: Progress on our European digital commitments (Microsoft On the Issues)- Microsoft Sovereign Cloud adds governance, productivity and support for large AI models securely running even when completely disconnected (Official Microsoft Blog)- Microsoft offers in-country data processing to 15 countries for Microsoft 365 Copilot (with April 2026 update)- Microsoft sovereign cloud announcements (Azure Blog)- Microsoft’s Sovereign Cloud in 2026: How far does it go in addressing sovereignty risks? (KuppingerCole)- Microsoft admits it ‘cannot guarantee’ data sovereignty (The Register)- Not sovereign: Microsoft cannot guarantee the security of EU data (heise online)- AWS launches AWS European Sovereign Cloud (Amazon press release)- AWS European Sovereign Cloud: why a separate German region still can’t close the CLOUD Act gap (bex.co)- Sensitive data and Cloud Act: Microsoft France admits it cannot oppose an American injunction (ActuIA)- Give us feedback!

We've talked about Microsoft Sentinel a few years ago, and realized it's time to brush up our understanding of the new and interesting capabilities it has to offer. In this episode, we talked about where Sentinel is today, the retirement of the Azure Portal side, new AI-related capabilities, as well as the recently announced ISOC.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(04:34) - Show content starts.Show links- What is Microsoft Sentinel data lake? (Microsoft Learn)- Microsoft Sentinel pricing- Plan costs and understand pricing and billing (Microsoft Learn)- What’s new in Microsoft Sentinel (Microsoft Learn)- What’s new in Microsoft Sentinel: August 2026- What’s new in Microsoft Sentinel: June 2026- What’s new in Microsoft Sentinel: RSAC 2026- UPDATE: New timeline for transitioning Sentinel experience to Defender portal- Onboard to Microsoft Sentinel data lake and graph (Microsoft Learn)- ISOC- Give us feedback!

We quite often talk about amazing enterprise-grade capabilities, like Azure Landing Zones, Data Lakes and clusters of super smart AI agents. But what about the small businesses? What do they need to get starting from scratch? In this episode we dissect the needs, the capabilities, the licenses, and security for anyone to get started in Azure and Microsoft 365!(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:00) - Show content starts.Show links- Microsoft 365 business plans and pricing- Azure Files Entra-only identities- Plan your Microsoft Entra join deployment - Windows Autopilot device preparation, user-driven Entra join - Plan for mandatory Microsoft Entra multifactor authentication- Give us feedback!

This week, we take a look at GitHub Enterprise, and why you should care. We talk about features, compliance, licensing, total cost, and preferred setups whether you're a small or large organization. Join us this week to level up your GitHub setup!(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:45) - Show content starts.Show links- GitHub pricing- Configuring SAML single sign-on for your enterprise (personal accounts mode)- About Enterprise Managed Users (SAML/OIDC/SCIM partner matrix)- Choosing an enterprise type (personal accounts vs EMU)- Entra ID SSO tutorial - GitHub Enterprise Cloud Organization- Entra ID SSO tutorial - GitHub Enterprise Cloud Enterprise Account- Give us feedback!

In this week's episode, we look at recent Microsoft Tech updates. By popular request, we're expanding our scope beyond Azure to include Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and related Microsoft platforms and capabilities. What's new? What's interesting? What's retiring? (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(05:35) - Show content starts.Show links- What's new in Microsoft Security: August 2026- Microsoft Foundry docs: What's new for August 2026- Resilience for long-running Microsoft Foundry hosted agents (preview)- Microsoft Entra Tenant Governance is now generally available- Copilot Code Review Reaches Azure Repos (InfoQ)- Announcing General Availability of Managed Instance on Azure App Service- Managed Instance on Azure App Service Reaches GA for Legacy Windows Apps- MCP Firewall in Global Secure Access- Microsoft Sentinel in Azure Portal will be retired March 31, 2027- Project HydraFusion- Azure Multicloud Interconnect with AWS- Agent 365 license clarification - Conditional Access Policies, Licensing in general- Give us feedback!

This week we take a look at Microsoft Security Exposure Management, and what has changed since the last time we looked at it. Among these findings we can see containment capabilities for AI agents, and several capabilities converging into MSEM. Join us for a fun discussion on the latest and great security capabilities!(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:42) - Show content starts.Show links- Secure Now- Containment strategies for AI in Secure Now- What's new in Microsoft Security Exposure Management- Overview of attack paths- Predefined classifications for critical assets- Agentic code security overview (Codename MDASH)- AI-powered defense for an AI-accelerated threat landscape- Our earlier take: episode 231- Give us feedback!

This week we focus on licensing with Microsoft 365 E7. What's included in the bundle, and which ones are relevant and when? We reflect on the upgrade path from Microsoft 365 E5, as well as E3 + Defender Suite, and reflect on the options and pricing.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(02:50) - Show content starts.Show links- Microsoft 365 E7 announcement- Microsoft Agent 365 overview- Microsoft licensing FAQ, Agent 365- Purview data security and compliance for Agent 365- Independent E7 licensing analysis (SAMexpert)- Our earlier take on Agent 365 and Entra Agent ID: Episode 336- Give us feedback!