Understanding Admin Consent and User Consent in Azure AD

In Azure Entra ID, the concepts of "Admin Consent" and "User Consent" are crucial for managing access to applications and resources within an organization. These consent mechanisms determine the permissions an application can use, whether at a global level for all users in the organization or individually for each user. 

Admin Consent is granted by a global administrator or an admin with the necessary permissions. This type of consent applies organization-wide, allowing an application to access resources on behalf of all users within the organization. Admin consent is typically required for more sensitive or extensive permissions, such as reading or writing to all mailboxes or accessing all directory information. The administrator reviews the permissions requested by the application and decides whether to grant or deny access based on the organization's policies and security considerations.

User Consent, on the other hand, is granted by individual users when an application requests access to their personal data. This type of consent is often sought for less sensitive permissions, such as accessing a user's calendar or email. Users can decide whether to grant these permissions to the application. However, administrators can restrict the ability of users to grant these consents to protect organizational data from unauthorized access.

Monitoring and Review: Regularly monitoring the permissions granted, whether by administrators or users, is essential to ensure that only necessary applications have appropriate access.