Azure SQL Database Security Overview

Key Security Pillars

Azure SQL Database security is built around several core pillars:

• Identity and Access Management (IAM): Control who can access your database and what actions they can perform.
• Network Security: Secure the network perimeter around your database and control traffic flow.
• Data Protection: Encrypt data at rest and in transit, and implement data masking.
• Threat Protection: Detect and respond to anomalous activities and potential threats.
• Auditing and Compliance: Track database events and meet regulatory requirements.

Identity and Access Management

Azure SQL Database integrates with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) for centralized identity management and authentication. You can:

• Use Azure AD authentication: Avoid managing SQL logins and passwords, and leverage multi-factor authentication (MFA) and conditional access policies.
• Grant granular permissions: Assign roles and permissions at the server, database, schema, and object levels.
• Implement role-based access control (RBAC): Define custom roles with specific privileges.

For more details, refer to Azure SQL Database authentication and authorization.

Network Security

Securing the network access to your Azure SQL Database is crucial. Options include:

• Firewall rules: Restrict access to your server or database based on IP addresses.
• Virtual Network (VNet) service endpoints: Secure your database to a specific Azure VNet.
• Private Link: Connect to your Azure SQL Database over a private endpoint within your virtual network, ensuring traffic stays within the Microsoft network.

Learn more about network security for Azure SQL Database.

Data Protection

Protecting your data involves securing it both when it's stored and when it's being transmitted.

Encryption

• Transparent Data Encryption (TDE): Encrypts data files and transaction logs at rest. This is enabled by default for new databases.
• Always Encrypted: Protects sensitive data from being seen by high-privileged database users by encrypting data within the application.
• TLS/SSL: All connections to Azure SQL Database are encrypted by default using Transport Layer Security (TLS).

Data Masking

• Dynamic Data Masking: Masks sensitive data from non-privileged users. You can define masking rules for specific columns.

Explore data protection features in Azure SQL Database.

Threat Protection

Azure SQL Database provides advanced threat protection capabilities to detect and alert you about suspicious activities that could indicate threats to your database.

• Azure Defender for SQL: Offers advanced threat protection and vulnerability assessment capabilities, including:
  • Vulnerability Assessment: Identifies security vulnerabilities and suggests remediation actions.
  • Advanced Threat Protection: Detects anomalous database activities, such as unusual access patterns, suspicious queries, and potential data exfiltration attempts.

Read more about Azure Defender for SQL.

Auditing and Compliance

Auditing is essential for tracking database events and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.

• SQL Server Audit: Allows you to create database audits to track database events and write them to an audit log.
• Azure Monitor integration: Export audit logs to Azure Storage, Azure Event Hubs, or Azure Log Analytics for analysis and retention.

See SQL Database auditing overview for detailed configuration.

Best Practices

Adhering to security best practices is key to maintaining a secure Azure SQL Database environment:

• Regularly review and update firewall rules.
• Use Azure AD authentication whenever possible.
• Implement the principle of least privilege for user permissions.
• Enable Azure Defender for SQL and review its alerts regularly.
• Keep your database schema and applications up-to-date.
• Perform regular vulnerability assessments.