Security enhancements: User session and access management

You can use security enhancements to better secure the customer engagement apps (Dynamics 365 Sales, Dynamics 365 Customer Service, Dynamics 365 Field Service, Dynamics 365 Marketing, and Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation).

User session timeout management

The maximum user session timeout of 24 hours is removed. This means that a user is not forced to sign in with their credentials to use the customer engagement apps and other Microsoft service apps like Outlook that were opened in the same browser session every 24 hours.

Honor Microsoft Entra session policy

By default, the customer engagement apps leverage the Microsoft Entra session policy to manage the user session timeout. Customer engagement apps use the Microsoft Entra ID Token with a Policy Check Interval (PCI) claims. Every hour a new Microsoft Entra ID Token is fetched silently in the background and the Microsoft Entra instant policy is enforced (by Microsoft Entra ID). For example, if an administrator disables or deletes a user account, blocks the user from signing in, and an administrator or user revokes the refresh token, the Microsoft Entra session policy is enforced.

This Microsoft Entra ID token refresh cycle continues in the background based on the Microsoft Entra token lifetime policy configurations. Users continue to access the customer engagement apps/Microsoft Dataverse data without the needs to reauthenticate until the Microsoft Entra token lifetime policy expires.

Note

• The default Microsoft Entra refresh token expiration is 90 days. This token lifetime properties can be configured. For detailed information, see Configurable token lifetimes in Microsoft Entra ID.
• The Microsoft Entra session policy is bypassed and the maximum user session duration is reverted back to 24 hours in the following scenarios:
  • In a browser session, you went to the Power Platform admin center and opened an environment by manually keying in the environment URL (either on the same browser tab or a new browser tab).
    To workaround the policy bypass and maximum 24 hour user session, open the environment from the Power Platform admin center environments tab by selecting the Open link.
  • In the same browser session, open a version 9.1.0.3647 or higher environment and then open a version earlier 9.1.0.3647.
    To workaround the policy bypass and user duration change, open the second environment in a separate browser session.

To determine your version, sign in to customer engagement apps, and in the upper-right side of the screen, select the Settings button () > About.

Resilience to Microsoft Entra outages

In the event that there are intermittent Microsoft Entra outages, authenticated users can continue to access the customer engagement apps/Dataverse data if the PCI claims have not expired or the user has opted in the 'Stay signed in' during authentication.

Set Custom Session timeout for individual environment

For environments that require different session timeout values, administrators can continue to set the session timeout and/or inactivity timeout in the System Settings. These settings override the default Microsoft Entra session policy and users will be directed to Microsoft Entra ID reauthentication when these settings expired.

To change this behavior

• To enforce users to reauthenticate after a pre-determined period of time, admins can set a session timeout for their individual environments. Users can only remain signed in the application for the duration of session. The application signs out the user when the session expires. Users need to sign in with their credentials to return to customer engagement apps.

Note

User session timeout is not enforced in the following:

1. Dynamics 365 for Outlook
2. Dynamics 365 for phones and Dynamics 365 for tablets
3. Unified Service Desk client using WPF browser (Internet Explorer is supported)
4. Live Assist (Chat)
5. Power Apps canvas apps

Configure session timeout

1. In the Power Platform admin center, select an environment.

2. Select Settings > Product > Privacy + Security.

3. Set Session Expiration and Inactivity timeout. These settings apply to all users.

Note

Session timeout is a server side feature where life time of all sessions are enforced. Default values are:

• Maximum Session Length: 1440 minutes
• Minimum Session Length: 60 minutes
• How long before session expires before showing timeout warning: 20 minutes

• The updated settings will be effective the next time the user signs in to the application.

Inactivity timeout

By default, customer engagement apps do not enforce an inactivity session timeout. A user can remain logged in the application until the session timeout expires. You can change this behavior.

• To enforce users to automatically be signed out after a pre-determined period of inactivity, admins can set an inactivity timeout period for each of their environments. The application signs out the user when the inactivity session expires.

Note

Inactivity session timeout is not enforced in the following:

1. Dynamics 365 for Outlook
2. Dynamics 365 for phones and Dynamics 365 for tablets
3. Unified Service Desk client using WPF browser (Internet Explorer is supported)
4. Live Assist (Chat)
5. Power Apps canvas apps

To enforce the inactivity session timeout for Web Resources, Web Resources need to include the ClientGlobalContext.js.aspx file in their solution.

The Dynamics 365 portal has its own settings to manage its session timeout and inactivity session timeout independent of these system settings.

Configure inactivity timeout

1. In the Power Platform admin center, select an environment.

2. Select Settings > Product > Privacy + Security.

3. Set Session Expiration and Inactivity timeout. These settings apply to all users.

Note

Inactivity timeout is a client side feature where client is making decision to primitively sign out based on the inactivity. Default values are:

• Minimum Duration of Inactivity: 5 minutes
• Maximum Duration of Inactivity: less than Maximum Session length or 1440 minutes

• The updated settings will be effective the next time the user signs in to the application.

Access management

Customer engagement apps use Microsoft Entra ID as the identity provider. To secure the user's access to customer engagement apps, the following were implemented:

• To enforce users to reauthenticate, users are required to sign in with their credentials after they signed out within the application.
• To prevent users from sharing credentials to access customer engagement apps, the user access token is validated to ensure that the user who was given access by the identity provider is the same user who is accessing customer engagement apps.