Introduction to Azure SQL Database Security
Azure SQL Database provides a robust set of security features to protect your data from unauthorized access, breaches, and other threats. This section covers the core security pillars and how to implement them effectively.
Key Security Pillars
Azure SQL Database security is built on several fundamental principles:
- Network Security: Controlling access to your database from a network perspective.
- Authentication & Authorization: Verifying user identities and granting appropriate permissions.
- Data Protection: Encrypting data at rest and in transit.
- Threat Protection: Monitoring for and responding to malicious activities.
- Compliance & Governance: Ensuring adherence to regulatory standards.
Best Practice Tip
Always follow the principle of least privilege. Grant only the necessary permissions to users and applications.
Network Security
Securing the network perimeter is the first line of defense. Azure SQL Database offers several options:
- Firewall Rules: Configure server-level and database-level firewalls to restrict access to specific IP addresses or ranges.
- Virtual Networks: Integrate your SQL Database with Azure Virtual Networks (VNet) for enhanced isolation and private access.
- Private Endpoint: Provide a secure private IP address for your SQL Database within your VNet, eliminating public internet exposure.
- Service Endpoint: Securely connect your VNet to Azure services like SQL Database using VNet service endpoints.
Refer to Azure SQL Network Security documentation for detailed configuration steps.
Authentication & Authorization
Properly identifying and authorizing users and applications is critical. Azure SQL Database supports:
- SQL Authentication: Using username and password credentials specific to SQL Database.
- Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) Authentication: Leverage Azure AD for centralized identity management, single sign-on (SSO), and multi-factor authentication (MFA).
- Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Assign permissions to users, groups, and service principals at the subscription, resource group, and resource levels.
- Database Roles and Permissions: Manage granular access within the database using fixed and custom database roles.
Learn more about securing credentials and managing access.
Data Protection
Protecting your data, whether it's stored or in transit, is paramount:
- Transparent Data Encryption (TDE): Encrypts data files and transaction logs at rest automatically, protecting them from being restored onto unauthorized servers.
- Always Encrypted: Encrypts sensitive data columns in your database, ensuring that the data is encrypted at rest and in transit, and that it is only decrypted in client applications.
- Data Masking: Dynamically masks sensitive data from non-privileged users.
- SSL/TLS Encryption: Ensures data is encrypted in transit between the client and the database server.
Explore features for data encryption and privacy.
Threat Protection
Proactively identify and mitigate potential threats:
- Azure Defender for SQL: Provides advanced threat protection capabilities, including vulnerability assessment and advanced threat detection.
- Vulnerability Assessment: Scans your database for security vulnerabilities and provides recommendations for remediation.
- Advanced Threat Protection: Detects anomalous activities, suspicious queries, and potential data breaches.
See how to enable and use Azure Defender for SQL.
Compliance & Governance
Meet industry regulations and maintain governance:
- Auditing: Track database events and write them to an audit log in Azure Storage, Log Analytics, or Event Hubs.
- Azure Policy: Enforce organizational standards and assess compliance at scale for your Azure resources, including SQL Databases.
- Microsoft Purview (formerly Azure Purview): Provides unified data governance to manage and protect your data across your data estate.
Understand compliance standards and governance tools.