Cosmos DB business cases

TL;DR NoSQL is a database that can store data in a non-relational way. It is a totally different approach to data storage than SQL databases. You need some time to understant the concept, but it is worth it. Int the public cloud you can use Azure Cosmos DB, from AWS DynamoDB. The storage is fast and scalable, but remember it totally different from SQL databases. Check: Designing Data-Intensive Applications Alex DeBrie - DynamoDB Book NoSQL is amazing Check my favourite cases and build features like: ...

August 9, 2024 · Mateusz Jendza

Phone Call Authentication via Verifiable Credentials

Tl;dr Security and privacy are paramount in today’s digital age, especially regarding personal information and interactions. One innovative approach to bolstering security in digital communications, such as phone calls, is using verifiable credentials for authentication. Details Here’s a simplified explanation of how phone call authentication via verifiable credentials works. Imagine you receive a phone call from a service provider, say your customer. Instead of going through the traditional and often tedious method of answering security questions (which could be guessed or obtained by someone else), the authentication process involves a digital handshake using verifiable credentials. ...

July 8, 2024 · Mateusz Jendza

Build a Proof of Concepts and Demos

The underwater data centre was a proof of concept 🤖 to test a new possible way/place for servers. Please follow my story. 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗮 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱: If technology is new to me, I play around with it and then build a proof of concept. The next phase for me is validation - I check the design and proof of concept with business stakeholders, architects and developers. It is easier to kill a demo or PoC than an entire project. It is easier to show the demo with limited features and small integration than only a document or a diagram. From a technical perspective, a proof of concept like this, with the physical deployment of bare metal servers underwater, is a real production deployment, like a demo. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗮 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺: ...

July 3, 2024 · Mateusz Jendza

CIAM with AWS Cognito

TL;DR You started your cloud journey with AWS and you need to authenticate your first customers, partners. You don’t want to build your own authentication service - you want to use a managed service. AWS Cognito is a great solution for you. It is easy to start with, cheap, and easy to integrate with the frontend and backend. You can start with a sample solution from AWS and workshop. ...

June 9, 2024 · Mateusz Jendza

Entra External ID for Customers - Native Authentication part 1

History 2024-06-02 - Initial version 2025-03-03 - Updated Summary TL;DR With Azure AD B2C we can authenticate users via a browser-based feature - we run the OpenID Connect flow in the browser, authenticate the user via the Authorization Code flow, and get the token. But what if we want to stay with the mobile application? On the Desktop application? With Entra External ID we can use the native authentication flow. ...

June 2, 2024 · Mateusz Jendza

Entra External ID for Customers - first impression

Entra External ID for Customers is a new Azure Tenant type that allows you to create digital identities for your customers. Use cases B2B partners. You can create a dedicated customer tenant for your partners and give them access to your applications, manage users and groups in the tenant without partners’ access to your organisation (workforce tenant). Your data is fully secured and isolated. Online services and web shops for your retail. Full self-service is available to sign up/sign in and manage their accounts. You can also use social logins like Google or Facebook. Product pages, helpdesk and support. Keep customer engagement and provide them with the best experience. Cross-device authentication. User-friendly experience to log in on the TV screen, medical devices, or any other IoT where you can display a QR code or PIN to log in. What is Entra External ID for Customers? In simple words, it is a new tenant type. From now you can decide Workforce or Customer type. It is a new tenant type to create - so for customers, it is separate - and not connected with your organisation’s tenant. Please remember that the service is still in preview mode - but only till the 15th of May, so only limited features may be available. Service will be GA soon!! ...

May 2, 2024 · Mateusz Jendza

B2B Identity Federation with Admin API/SDK

B2B scenario Protect your applications and services with identity provider service based on the OpenID Connect with Identity Federations. Your solution is a ‘family’ of services and applications in the B2B model. Your partners have their identity provider—modern services like Entra ID, Octa, Auth0, and AWS Cognito. Use cases There will be no more duplicate accounts. You can use the partner identity to authenticate with our services. The email is a unique identifier, along with the password or another authentication method you provide as a partner. We hope that you can secure your accounts. When we see a risk, we can enable MFA for the B2B partner users. ...

March 29, 2024 · Mateusz Jendza

Entra Verified ID deep dive

History 2024-06-17: Added Wallet SDK Link & Sample Android Implementation. 2024-06-30: Small changes. 2025-07-23: fixed verified employee demo link and removed face check demo. 2025-07-27: Improved B2C and wallet example, improved structure. Entra Verified ID: Complete Guide with Hands-On Workshop Introduction In our digital world, identity verification remains fragmented across countless systems, creating security risks, privacy concerns, and user friction. Microsoft Entra Verified ID solves these challenges using W3C-standard Verifiable Credentials, enabling secure, decentralized, and user-controlled digital identity. ...

March 12, 2024 · Mateusz Jendza

Play with Authorization

TL;DR Authentication or authorization? What is the term I need to use with my current scope of work? Do I need to authenticate the user or authorize it? Ok! I need to authenticate the user and then authorize (or the opposite). Dictionary: Authentication - is the process of verifying the identity of a user. How can we do it? As a basic scenario, when only one person knows the combination of login and password, we need to check if the combination is correct to authenticate the user. Authorization - verifies the user has the right to access the resources. Can I read the file? Can I write to the file? I would like to share how to build an authorization service. Big Picture I believe authentication and authorization can be separated - or treated on many different levels. When we consider the authorization for GitHub: ...

February 27, 2024 · Mateusz Jendza

Time for Passwordless

TL;DR Please stop using passwords. My stack is based on Yubikey and 1Password. Can I be a passwordless team member? Check my journey and answer the question. I improved my security with the following steps: Entra ID accounts without password, extended security on GitHub with GPG key, moved the SSH keys to 1Password, started using 1Password CLI to access secrets for ServicePrincipals. Big Picture Yubikey I started my journey with Blue Yubikey. After a couple of weeks, I notice two issues: ...

February 13, 2024 · Mateusz Jendza
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