Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies (AZ-300) Practice Exam

What is one benefit of using managed identities in Azure?

1. Increased manual user intervention

2. Automatic management of service credentials

3. Decreased security for applications

4. Greater dependency on user passwords

The correct answer is: Automatic management of service credentials

Using managed identities in Azure offers the significant advantage of automatic management of service credentials. This feature alleviates the need for developers and administrators to handle authentication credentials in their applications explicitly. When managed identities are enabled for a resource, Azure automatically provisions the identity and manages the lifecycle of the authentication credentials. This means that the service can obtain tokens for authenticating to Azure services securely without needing to store or rotate credentials manually. This automatic management helps to minimize human error associated with credential management, such as accidentally exposing secrets or forgetting to update credentials when they expire. It also simplifies the development process, as developers can focus on the application logic instead of worrying about how to manage secure access to other Azure services. In summary, the use of managed identities significantly enhances security practices and operational efficiency within Azure ecosystems, which aligns well with cloud best practices.