Identity as the New Perimeter. Background, systemic geopolitical and technological risks and mandatory cloud adoption in the EU.

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Microsoft Entra ID creates a strategic single point of failure for European organizations using Windows systems. Modern security features like MFA, Conditional Access, and Zero Trust require mandatory cloud adoption through Entra ID, creating vendor lock-in and geopolitical dependency. A central compromise or service disruption could paralyze critical infrastructure across the EU, with no technically equivalent fallback. The article argues this undermines digital sovereignty and calls for EU regulatory action to mandate open OS-level authentication interfaces, similar to Linux's PAM system, allowing alternative identity providers to compete.

Strategic Risks to Digital Sovereignty: Entra ID Vendor Lock-In for Microsoft Windows Cloud Identity

2. The Problem: The “Closed” Login Stack

2.1 Technical Gatekeeping (Credential Providers)

2.2 Forced Cloud Adoption for Modern Security Features