Azure Security Documentation
Comprehensive Security in Azure
Azure provides a robust and integrated set of security services and features designed to protect your data, applications, and infrastructure. This documentation covers key areas of Azure security, helping you build and maintain a secure cloud environment.
Security in Azure is a shared responsibility. Microsoft is responsible for the security of the cloud (infrastructure), while you are responsible for security in the cloud (your data and applications).
Identity and Access Management (IAM)
Controlling who has access to what resources is fundamental to security. Azure offers powerful tools for managing identities and permissions.
Azure Active Directory (Azure AD)
Azure AD is Microsoft's cloud-based identity and access management service. It provides single sign-on (SSO) to thousands of SaaS applications and access to your on-premises resources.
- User and group management
- Application management
- Device management
- Identity protection features
Learn more about Azure AD.
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
RBAC allows you to grant granular access permissions to users, groups, and service principals for specific Azure resources. You can define roles with specific permissions (e.g., Reader, Contributor, Owner).
az role assignment create --role "Reader" --assignee "user@example.com" --scope "/subscriptions/00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000/resourceGroups/myResourceGroup"Best practice is to grant the least privilege necessary.
Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
MFA adds an extra layer of security by requiring more than one form of verification to sign in. This significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized access.
Conditional Access Policies
Conditional Access policies in Azure AD allow you to enforce access controls based on conditions such as user location, device, application, and real-time risk detection.
Network Security
Protect your virtual networks and resources from unauthorized network access and threats.
Network Security Groups (NSGs)
NSGs act as a virtual firewall for your network interfaces and subnets. You can create rules to allow or deny inbound and outbound network traffic.
- Stateful packet filtering
- Inbound and outbound security rules
- Priority-based rule processing
Azure Firewall
Azure Firewall is a managed, cloud-based network security service that protects your Azure Virtual Network resources. It is a fully stateful firewall as a service with built-in high availability and unrestricted cloud scalability.
- Centralized policy management
- Network traffic filtering
- Threat intelligence-based filtering
Virtual Network Security
Leverage features like Network Security Groups (NSGs), User Defined Routes (UDRs), and Virtual Network peering to segment and secure your network traffic.
DDoS Protection
Azure DDoS Protection offers enhanced DDoS mitigation capabilities to defend against volumetric, protocol, and application layer attacks targeting your Azure resources.
Data Protection
Safeguard your sensitive data both at rest and in transit.
Encryption at Rest & In Transit
Azure automatically encrypts data stored in Azure Storage (SSE) and enforces TLS/SSL for data in transit. You can also implement client-side encryption or use managed keys.
Azure Key Vault
Azure Key Vault helps safeguard cryptographic keys and secrets (like passwords, connection strings) used by cloud applications and services. It allows you to securely store and manage these sensitive items.
az keyvault secret set --vault-name "mykeyvault" --name "mysecret" --value "secretvalue"Azure Storage Security
Secure your Azure Storage accounts with access keys, Shared Access Signatures (SAS), Azure AD authentication, and network access controls.
Threat Detection & Response
Identify, investigate, and respond to threats across your cloud workloads.
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Microsoft Defender for Cloud is a unified infrastructure security management system that strengthens the security posture of your data centers and provides advanced threat protection for your cloud and on-premises workloads.
- Security posture management
- Cloud workload protection
- Vulnerability assessment
- Threat detection alerts
Microsoft Sentinel
Microsoft Sentinel is a scalable, cloud-native, SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) and SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) solution. It provides intelligent security analytics and threat intelligence across your enterprise.
Learn more about Microsoft Sentinel.
Security Center
Azure Security Center (now part of Defender for Cloud) offers security management and advanced threat protection across hybrid workloads.
Compliance and Governance
Azure helps you meet your regulatory compliance requirements. Services like Azure Policy and Azure Blueprints can enforce organizational standards and manage compliance at scale.
- Azure Policy for enforcing rules
- Azure Blueprints for repeatable deployments
- Compliance dashboards and reports
- ISO 27001, HIPAA, GDPR, SOC 2 certifications
Azure Security Best Practices
Adhering to best practices is crucial for maintaining a secure Azure environment:
- Implement strong identity and access management (least privilege, MFA).
- Secure your network perimeter and segment workloads.
- Encrypt sensitive data at rest and in transit.
- Utilize threat detection and response tools.
- Regularly review security configurations and logs.
- Keep your Azure resources patched and updated.
- Automate security tasks where possible.
- Understand and implement the Shared Responsibility Model.