Azure App Service Security - MSDN Documentation

Understanding Azure App Service Security

Azure App Service provides a robust platform for hosting web applications, APIs, and mobile backends. Security is a shared responsibility, and App Service offers various features and best practices to help you protect your applications and data.

Network Security

Securing the network perimeter of your App Service is crucial. App Service offers several features to achieve this:

Virtual Network Integration: Connect your App Service to a virtual network to access resources within the VNet securely.
Private Endpoints: Provide secure access to your App Service from within your virtual network or on-premises networks without exposing it to the public internet.
IP Restrictions: Control access to your App Service by allowing or denying traffic from specific IP addresses or ranges.
App Service Certificates: Use SSL/TLS certificates to secure custom domains with HTTPS.

For detailed guidance, refer to the Azure networking documentation.

Authentication and Authorization

Protect your application's resources by implementing proper authentication and authorization mechanisms:

Built-in Authentication: Leverage Azure App Service's integrated authentication providers (e.g., Azure Active Directory, Microsoft Account, Google, Facebook) to simplify user sign-in.
Azure Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Manage who can access and manage your App Service resources.
Managed Identities: Securely authenticate your App Service to other Azure services without managing credentials.
Managed Service Identity (MSI): Automatically create, manage, and assign identities to your applications, allowing them to authenticate to services that support Azure AD authentication.

Explore the authentication and authorization options.

Data Protection

Safeguard the data your application processes and stores:

SSL/TLS Encryption: Ensure data in transit is encrypted using HTTPS.
Application-Level Encryption: Implement encryption for sensitive data stored in databases or other storage services.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Implement policies to prevent sensitive data from leaving your organization.

                        Best Practice: Always use HTTPS to encrypt communication between clients and your App Service.
                    

Secrets Management

Securely store and manage sensitive information like API keys, connection strings, and passwords:

Azure Key Vault Integration: Store and manage secrets, keys, and certificates in Azure Key Vault and access them securely from your App Service using Managed Identities.
Application Settings: While not a secrets management solution, use application settings for non-sensitive configuration. Avoid storing secrets directly in code or configuration files.

Learn how to integrate with Azure Key Vault.

Advanced Security Features

Web Application Firewall (WAF)

Protect your web applications from common web exploits such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and other vulnerabilities by integrating with Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF). You can deploy WAF with Azure Front Door or Azure Application Gateway.

Learn about WAF

Security Scanning and Compliance

Regularly scan your applications for vulnerabilities and ensure compliance with industry standards. Azure Security Center and Azure Advisor provide insights and recommendations.

Utilize Azure Security Center

Monitoring and Auditing

Monitor access logs, diagnostic logs, and audit trails to detect and respond to security incidents. Integrate with Azure Monitor and Log Analytics.

Configure Diagnostic Settings