Nordic Senior Microsoft Specialists

We combine AI infrastructure and governance, identity management, cloud security, and Azure landing zones into one operating model, so your teams can move faster without creating drift, hidden risk, or operational complexity.

We build intelligent companies.

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We make Microsoft Cloud environments work

Fortytwo helps organizations design, build, and operate Microsoft Cloud foundations that are structured, secure, and ready for the next generation of AI-enabled work.

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WE BUILD

One operating model for AI, identity, security and platform

Cloud operations often become fragmented as your Microsoft Cloud environment expands and new teams, vendors, tools, policies, workloads, and AI initiatives add operational pressure.

Identity is handled in one place and security in another, while platform engineering is handled a third place. AI governance is added on top, often without the right operational foundation.

Fortytwo bring these areas together.

We help organizations manage Microsoft Cloud as one connected operating model, where identity, security, platform, and AI infrastructure are designed to work together.

Related insight:

– Insider risk just multiplied

– AI agents are becoming staff

– Where real security begins

WE HELP

Who Fortytwo helps

Fortytwo works with private and public organizations where Microsoft Cloud is business-critical.

We are a good fit for teams that need to:

– Strengthen identity and access management
– Improve Microsoft Cloud security operations
– Build or mature Azure landing zones
– Prepare infrastructure for AI and agentic AI
– Reduce operational drift and hidden risk
– Create a clearer cloud operating model
– Get senior expert guidance on Microsoft Cloud decisions

“Throughout the engagement, Fortytwo worked closely with Equinor’s security, identity, compliance/risk and AI stakeholders and demonstrated strong technical expertise, structured delivery, and a pragmatic approach tailored to Equinor’s environment and needs.”

John Inge Hansen

Team lead security infrastructure, Equinor

“When I realized we didn’t have containment, I knew what to do. There was only one viable option: to pull the plug. With the help of Fortytwo and its partners, DEFA contained the intrustion within 48 hours and resumed production in controlled phases within the week.”

Jan Hatlebrekke

Head of IT Operations, DEFA

There was a lot of manual processes, and onboarding was work-intensive. This put security and our users at risk, and we had to take action.»

Tine Johannessen Merkesvik

Senior Consultant and IAM Lead, Bufdir

We needed a trusted partner and a stable cloud platform to actively support our speed of innovation and growth. Fortytwo gives us exactly the kind of technological spine we need.

Trond Aas

Co-Founder and CEO, Attensi

“When we needed to obtain the Cyber Essentials Plus certification to continue working with major mutinational customers in the defence industry, Fortytwo’s expertise and hands-on support were instrumental in ensuring compliance and a smooth certification process.”

Anders Folkøy Hermansen

IT Manager, Nekkar

Customer stories

YOUR CHOICE

Why choose Fortytwo?

Fortytwo helps organizations move from cloud complexity to controlled operations.

We combine deep Microsoft expertise with a practical operating model across AI, identity, security, and platform.

That means fewer disconnected initiatives, clearer ownership, stronger governance, and a more reliable foundation for future growth.

If your organization depends on Microsoft Cloud, Fortytwo helps make it secure, manageable, and ready for what comes next.

LEARN ABOUT

Our services

IDENTITY

Identity Universe

We unify and streamline identity through our Identity Universe.

SECURITY

Secure Operations

Security through proactive maintenance of your operations.

CLOUD

Azure Landingzone

We make your infrastructure behave the same every time.

Agentic AI

To operate Agentic AI your infrastructure must handle it.

SENIOR EXPERT GUIDANCE

Consulting

Our senior consultants help you optimize your cloud environment.

ABOUT

Fortytwo

Learn more about who we are, what we do, and our journey.

WE MAKE PRODUCTS

Marketplace products

Bytt.Email

★ 5.0 (3 vurderinger)

Self-hosted runners for GitHub

Verified ID

CheckID secure first-day access

Maester my Microsoft 365

Self-hosted runners for Azure

★ 5.0 (1 vurderinger)

Customer stories

CheckID at Bufdir

Attensi: How IT scaled with Fortytwo

Customer Stories

Recognized for our award-winning technical expertise, continuous training and documented success in delivering solutions across Microsoft Cloud.

Offices in bergen, Oslo, Brumunddal, Herlsinki, Porto

7

Locations: Bergen, Oslo, Brumunddal, Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Porto.

40+

Highly certified
Microsoft Experts

5

Microsoft Solutions Partner Certifications

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

FAQ

How does Fortytwo price their services?

Cost depends on environments, compliance requirements, identity complexity, and whether you want ongoing operations. We’re transparent about drivers and trade-offs.

What is a typical timeline for working with Fortytwo?

Most organizations can establish a stable foundation in weeks, then expand iteratively. Identity and security changes often show early operational impact. Ideally, Fortytwo works with our customers over time.

What does it take, working with Fortytwo?

You will get clear ownership of your target operating model, clarity on sources of truth for organisation and people data, and you need to have å willingness to standardize. We help you get there.

How does Fortytwo reduce security risks?

The biggest risks are exceptions, unclear ownership, and partial adoption. We reduce this with golden paths, guardrails, staged rollout, and operational handover.

Build in-house or team up with a partner like Fortytwo?

If you have the competence density and capacity, in-house can work. Many teams don’t, and drift plus incidents cost more than building a repeatable operating model with the help of a partner that can act as a specialised extension of your own team.

Why not just buy a tool?

Tools don’t create standards, ownership, and repeatable patterns. We implement the operating system that makes tools behave consistently.

What is Agentic AI?

Agentic AI refers to autonomous AI systems that can make decisions, take actions, and interact with other systems on behalf of users or organizations. In an enterprise context, agentic AI operates across business applications, data platforms, and cloud environments, requiring strong identity controls, governance frameworks, and continuous oversight.

Why does agentic AI require governance?

Agentic AI requires governance because autonomous systems can access sensitive data, execute transactions, and influence business decisions. Without clear policies, identity controls, and monitoring mechanisms, agentic AI can introduce compliance risks, security vulnerabilities, and unintended operational consequences.

How should organizations secure agentic AI systems?

Organizations should secure agentic AI systems by treating them as digital identities with defined permissions, authentication requirements, and monitoring controls. This includes applying Zero Trust principles, enforcing least-privilege access, logging AI actions, and integrating AI agents into identity governance and risk management frameworks.

What are the biggest risks of unmanaged agentic AI?

The biggest risks of unmanaged agentic AI include unauthorized data access, privilege escalation, regulatory violations, lack of accountability, and automated decision-making without oversight. As AI agents gain autonomy, the attack surface expands unless identity, access, and compliance controls are proactively implemented.

How does Fortytwo.io advise organizations on agentic AI governance?

Fortytwo.io advises organizations on agentic AI governance by designing identity-first control frameworks that align AI autonomy with security, compliance, and business risk. We help define access models, monitoring strategies, policy enforcement mechanisms, and architectural guardrails to ensure AI systems operate securely and responsibly within Microsoft-based environments.

What’s the biggest risk of doing nothing about AI agent identity?

Losing control of autonomous systems that act with enterprise authority.

How does Fortytwo.io help organizations use Defender and Purview proactively?

Fortytwo.io helps organizations move from tool deployment to strategic security architecture. We design proactive security frameworks that align Microsoft Defender and Purview with identity governance, Zero Trust principles, and business risk priorities, ensuring security controls prevent incidents instead of merely responding to them.

What is identity-first security?

Identity-first security is a cybersecurity approach that treats identity as the primary control point for access. Instead of relying on network boundaries, it verifies every user, device, machine, and AI agent before granting access, ensuring secure authentication, least-privilege authorization, and continuous monitoring.

What is proactive security in Microsoft environments?

Proactive security in Microsoft environments means preventing threats before they cause damage by using tools like Microsoft Defender and Microsoft Purview to continuously monitor, protect, and govern identities, devices, and data. Instead of reacting to incidents, organizations detect risky behavior early, enforce least-privilege access, and protect sensitive information in real time.

How does Microsoft Defender enable proactive threat protection?

Microsoft Defender enables proactive threat protection by using extended detection and response (XDR) to identify suspicious activity across identities, endpoints, cloud apps, and email. It correlates signals from multiple sources to detect identity compromise, lateral movement, and privilege escalation before they become major breaches.

How does Microsoft Purview support proactive data security?

Microsoft Purview supports proactive data security by discovering, classifying, and protecting sensitive data across Microsoft 365, Azure, and hybrid environments. It helps organizations apply data loss prevention (DLP), insider risk management, and compliance controls before data exposure or regulatory violations occur.

Why is identity central to proactive security with Defender and Purview?

Identity is central to proactive security because most modern attacks target credentials, permissions, and access rights. Microsoft Defender protects identities from compromise, while Microsoft Purview ensures access to sensitive data is governed and monitored. Together, they create a security model where identity risk is detected early and controlled continuously.

What is the Identity Universe?

The Identity Universe is Fortytwo’s strategic framework for managing all identities, human, machine, and AI, across an organization’s entire ecosystem. It connects workforce IAM, customer IAM, machine identity, governance, and Zero Trust into one unified identity strategy, helping organizations reduce risk, improve security maturity, and enable digital growth.

How does Fortytwo.io help organizations mature their identity strategy?

Fortytwo.io helps organizations assess, design, and implement a future-ready identity strategy. This includes identity maturity assessments, IAM architecture design, governance frameworks, Zero Trust alignment, and integration across workforce, customer, and machine identities. The goal is to transform identity from an IT function into a business enabler.

Why is identity the foundation of modern cybersecurity?

Identity is the new security perimeter. As organizations adopt cloud, SaaS, remote work, and AI-driven systems, traditional network boundaries disappear. Every access request, whether from an employee, API, device, or AI agent, must be verified. A strong identity strategy ensures secure authentication, proper authorization, and continuous governance across all environments.

What challenges does the Identity Universe approach solve?

The Identity Universe approach solves fragmented identity systems, inconsistent access governance, poor visibility across environments, and growing machine identity risk. By unifying identity strategy, architecture, and governance, organizations gain better control, stronger compliance, and reduced attack surfaces.

What is the difference between traditional IAM and the Identity Universe?

Traditional IAM often focuses on tools and isolated systems, such as Active Directory or single sign-on. The Identity Universe expands this view by treating identity as a strategic ecosystem. It includes workforce and customer identities, machine and API identities, AI agents, governance models, and security architecture — all aligned to business strategy and risk management.

What is an Identity Strategy?

An identity strategy is a structured plan for managing and securing all digital identities within an organization, including employees, customers, machines, APIs, and AI agents. It defines how identities are authenticated, authorized, governed, and monitored to reduce risk, ensure compliance, and support business growth in a Zero Trust environment.

What is an Azure Landing Zone?

An Azure Landing Zone is a pre-designed cloud architecture that provides a secure, governed, and scalable foundation for deploying workloads in Microsoft Azure. It includes identity configuration, networking, security controls, governance policies, and management structures to ensure cloud environments are compliant and ready for growth from day one.

Why is security critical in an Azure Landing Zone?

Security is critical in an Azure Landing Zone because it defines how identities, networks, workloads, and data are protected before applications are deployed. A secure landing zone integrates Microsoft Defender, Microsoft Entra ID, and Azure Policy to enforce Zero Trust principles, reduce misconfigurations, and minimize attack surfaces proactively.

3. How does identity fit into an Azure Landing Zone?

Identity is the foundation of an Azure Landing Zone because all access to cloud resources is controlled through Microsoft Entra ID. Proper role-based access control (RBAC), privileged identity management (PIM), and conditional access policies ensure least-privilege access and protect against credential misuse and privilege escalation.

How does Microsoft Defender strengthen an Azure Landing Zone?

Microsoft Defender strengthens an Azure Landing Zone by providing continuous threat detection and security posture management across cloud workloads. It identifies misconfigurations, detects suspicious activity, and protects identities, virtual machines, containers, and storage before threats escalate into breaches.

Is this a one time project?

No. Security operations must evolve as threats and environments change.

What is the difference between a basic Azure setup and a secure Landing Zone?

A basic Azure setup focuses on deploying resources, while a secure Landing Zone establishes governance, identity controls, security baselines, and compliance frameworks first. A properly designed landing zone ensures workloads are deployed into a controlled environment that supports scalability, regulatory compliance, and proactive risk management.

What does Fortytwo.io consulting specialize in?

Fortytwo.io consulting specializes in identity-first cybersecurity strategy, cloud security architecture, and proactive governance frameworks. We help organizations design secure, scalable environments using Microsoft technologies such as Entra ID, Defender, Purview, and Azure Landing Zones.

How is Fortytwo.io different from traditional IT consultants?

Fortytwo.io differs from traditional IT consultants by focusing on long-term security architecture rather than isolated tool implementations. We align identity, governance, and cloud security with business risk and strategic objectives, ensuring security becomes a business enabler instead of a technical afterthought.

What industries does Fortytwo.io consulting serve?

Fortytwo.io consulting serves mid-to-large enterprises operating in regulated and cloud-driven industries. Our expertise is particularly valuable for organizations with complex identity environments, compliance requirements, and hybrid or multi-cloud infrastructures.

What is Fortytwo.io’s approach to proactive security consulting?

Fortytwo.io’s approach to proactive security consulting is built on Zero Trust and identity governance principles. We assess current maturity, define a secure target architecture, and implement controls using Microsoft security platforms to reduce risk before incidents occur.

What outcomes can organizations expect from Fortytwo.io consulting?

Organizations working with Fortytwo.io can expect improved identity governance, reduced security risk, stronger compliance alignment, and a clear cloud security architecture roadmap. Our goal is to create sustainable, scalable security foundations that support long-term digital transformation.

Why should organizations choose Fortytwo.io for identity and cloud security consulting?

Organizations should choose Fortytwo.io for identity and cloud security consulting because we combine strategic advisory expertise with deep Microsoft security specialization. We design proactive, identity-first architectures using Entra ID, Defender, Purview, and Azure to reduce risk, strengthen governance, and ensure security supports business growth rather than slowing it down.

What is SecOps?

SecOps is how detections, incidents, response, and improvement work together in practice.

Is this just SIEM?

No. SIEM is a tool. SecOps is an operating model that makes tools effective.

Is this Microsoft specific?

Yes. We focus exclusively on the Microsoft security ecosystem.

Do you replace our SOC?

No. We strengthen it or help you build one that actually works.

Is this a one time project?

No. Security operations must evolve as threats and environments change.

How fast can we see results?

Most teams see clearer incidents and better alerts within weeks.

CURIOUS TO LEARN MORE?

Call Us!

Let’s start with a conversation.
Tell us about your environment!

Phone number: +47 45 600 600.

Book a 30 min call

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Nordic Senior Microsoft Specialists

We make Microsoft Cloud environments work

One operating model for AI, identity, security and platform

Who Fortytwo helps

“Throughout the engagement, Fortytwo worked closely with Equinor’s security, identity, compliance/risk and AI stakeholders and demonstrated strong technical expertise, structured delivery, and a pragmatic approach tailored to Equinor’s environment and needs.”​

John Inge Hansen

“When I realized we didn’t have containment, I knew what to do. There was only one viable option: to pull the plug. With the help of Fortytwo and its partners, DEFA contained the intrustion within 48 hours and resumed production in controlled phases within the week.”​

Jan Hatlebrekke

There was a lot of manual processes, and onboarding was work-intensive. This put security and our users at risk, and we had to take action.»

Tine Johannessen Merkesvik

We needed a trusted partner and a stable cloud platform to actively support our speed of innovation and growth. Fortytwo gives us exactly the kind of technological spine we need.

Trond Aas

“When we needed to obtain the Cyber Essentials Plus certification to continue working with major mutinational customers in the defence industry, Fortytwo’s expertise and hands-on support were instrumental in ensuring compliance and a smooth certification process.”​

Anders Folkøy Hermansen

Why choose Fortytwo?

Our services

Identity Universe

Secure Operations

Azure Landingzone

Agentic AI

Consulting

Fortytwo

Marketplace products

Bytt.Email

Self-hosted runners for GitHub

Verified ID

CheckID secure first-day access

Maester my Microsoft 365

Self-hosted runners for Azure

Customer stories

Customer Case: DEFA

CheckID at Bufdir

Attensi: How IT scaled with Fortytwo

Recognized for our award-winning technical expertise, continuous training and documented success in delivering solutions across Microsoft Cloud.

7

40+

5

FAQ

How does Fortytwo price their services?

What is a typical timeline for working with Fortytwo?

What does it take, working with Fortytwo?

How does Fortytwo reduce security risks?

Build in-house or team up with a partner like Fortytwo?

Why not just buy a tool?

What is Agentic AI?

Why does agentic AI require governance?

How should organizations secure agentic AI systems?

What are the biggest risks of unmanaged agentic AI?

How does Fortytwo.io advise organizations on agentic AI governance?

What’s the biggest risk of doing nothing about AI agent identity?

How does Fortytwo.io help organizations use Defender and Purview proactively?

What is identity-first security?

What is proactive security in Microsoft environments?

How does Microsoft Defender enable proactive threat protection?

How does Microsoft Purview support proactive data security?

Why is identity central to proactive security with Defender and Purview?

What is the Identity Universe?

How does Fortytwo.io help organizations mature their identity strategy?

Why is identity the foundation of modern cybersecurity?

What challenges does the Identity Universe approach solve?

What is the difference between traditional IAM and the Identity Universe?

What is an Identity Strategy?

What is an Azure Landing Zone?

Why is security critical in an Azure Landing Zone?

3. How does identity fit into an Azure Landing Zone?

How does Microsoft Defender strengthen an Azure Landing Zone?

Is this a one time project?

What is the difference between a basic Azure setup and a secure Landing Zone?

What does Fortytwo.io consulting specialize in?

How is Fortytwo.io different from traditional IT consultants?

What industries does Fortytwo.io consulting serve?

What is Fortytwo.io’s approach to proactive security consulting?

What outcomes can organizations expect from Fortytwo.io consulting?

“Throughout the engagement, Fortytwo worked closely with Equinor’s security, identity, compliance/risk and AI stakeholders and demonstrated strong technical expertise, structured delivery, and a pragmatic approach tailored to Equinor’s environment and needs.”

“When I realized we didn’t have containment, I knew what to do. There was only one viable option: to pull the plug. With the help of Fortytwo and its partners, DEFA contained the intrustion within 48 hours and resumed production in controlled phases within the week.”

“When we needed to obtain the Cyber Essentials Plus certification to continue working with major mutinational customers in the defence industry, Fortytwo’s expertise and hands-on support were instrumental in ensuring compliance and a smooth certification process.”