Secure, Keyless Application Access with Managed Identities - Now GA in Azure Files SMB

As enterprises modernize applications and strengthen their security posture, identity is central to how applications access shared storage. Traditional identity models relying on account keys, stored credentials, or domain‑joined infrastructure add operational overhead and introduce security risks such as credential leakage, lack of identity attribution, and excessive privilege if shared keys are compromised. Today, we are excited to announce the General Availability (GA) of Managed Identity support for Azure Files over SMB , enabling applications and virtual machines to securely access Azure Files without secrets, passwords, or key distribution.