Microsoft Entra – new feature – Soft deletion and restoration for cloud security groups

Hi All,

Greetings!

Today, sharing new feature related to Microsoft Entra.

New Feature: Microsoft Entra: Soft deletion and restoration for cloud security groups

Details:

• To help organizations recover from accidental or malicious deletions, Microsoft Entra is introducing soft deletion.
• To delete the group, select the security group and press “Delete” option available at the top command prompt as shown in image below:

• On click of “Delete” button, we get a prompt for the confirmation of deletion as shown in image below

• Once we clicked “OK” button from the deletion prompt, group will be deleted successfully.
• We could see all the deleted groups from the “Deleted Groups” page. https://entra.microsoft.com/#view/Microsoft_AAD_IAM/GroupsManagementMenuBlade/~/DeletedGroups/menuId/Overview?Microsoft_AAD_IAM_legacyAADRedirect=true

• We have also an option to restore (Restore group) the group, as shown in image above.
• This feature allows deleted groups to be restored within 30 days.
• Restored group preserves their settings, ownership, and membership—reducing the need to rebuild access models from scratch.
• Deleted cloud security groups will enter a soft deleted state and appear in the Deleted groups blade. As shown in above image. https://entra.microsoft.com/#view/Microsoft_AAD_IAM/GroupsManagementMenuBlade/~/DeletedGroups/menuId/Overview?Microsoft_AAD_IAM_legacyAADRedirect=true
• During soft deletion:
  • Access granted via the group is removed.
  • The group is restorable for up to 30 days.
• After 30 days, the group is permanently deleted.
• Restoration recovers:
  • Group properties (name, description, type)
  • Settings (roles, policies)
  • Ownership and membership (assigned and dynamic)
• Audit logs will capture deletion, restoration, and hard delete actions.
• Users lose access via the group during soft deletion; restoring the group reapplies access based on the group’s previous configuration.

REFERENCES

Small Tips and Tricks – Microsoft Entra admin center – How to navigate – Microsoft Entra admin center

Thank you for reading! Have a fantastic time ahead! Happy Learning 🙂