Unmasking Entra ID Threats: A CrowdStrike Researcher's Early Career Insights with Sapir Federovsky

In this episode we chat with Sapir Federovsky, a Security Researcher at CrowdStrike, who shares her journey from military service to becoming an identity threat researcher.She discusses her learning methods, the importance of community, and the challenges of keeping up in the fast-paced world of Azure and Entra ID security.Sapir also delves into specific Entra ID features she focuses on, the critical role of prevention alongside detection, and her experiences as a woman in the tech industry.LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sapir-federovsky-a687491b0/Watch on YouTubePS. Can I ask a favor? If you enjoyed this episode please leave a review and rating! Thank you 🙏 - Merill🔗 Related Links* Sapir's blog - https://sapirxfed.com/* Reportly - https://github.com/sap8899/reportly📗 Chapters00:00 Intro01:17 Early Career Perspectives & Learning Journey03:25 Transitioning from Military to Civilian Tech04:25 Learning Cloud Security & The Power of Talks/Blogs08:19 Building a Tool for Log Analysis12:26 A Typical Day: Continuous Learning & Community Sharing15:08 Balancing Learning Old & New in a Fast-Evolving Field17:38 The Power of Teaching to Master a Topic19:37 Learning by Answering Questions21:17 Vision: Becoming the Ultimate Defender & Community Building23:48 Deep Dive: Graph Activity Logs in Entra ID27:33 Focusing on Hybrid Environments & Synchronization29:37 Experiences as a Woman in Tech36:29 The Shift from Detection to Prevention & Hardening39:13 The Challenge of Updating Tenant Configurations45:57 Navigating Organizational Change Management Cycles50:29 Final Advice: Always Say Yes & Create OpportunitiesPodcast Apps🎙️ Entra.Chat - https://entra.chat🎧 Apple Podcast → https://entra.chat/apple📺 YouTube → https://entra.chat/youtube📺 Spotify → https://entra.chat/spotify🎧 Overcast → https://entra.chat/overcast🎧 Pocketcast → https://entra.chat/pocketcast🎧 Others → https://entra.chat/rssMerill's socials📺 YouTube → youtube.com/@merillx👔 LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/merill🐤 Twitter → twitter.com/merill🕺 TikTok → tiktok.com/@merillf🦋 Bluesky → bsky.app/profile/merill.net🐘 Mastodon → infosec.exchange/@merill🧵 Threads → threads.net/@merillf🤖 GitHub → github.com/merill Get full access to Entra.News - Your weekly dose of Microsoft Entra at entra.news/subscribe