Cloud Security on Azure

☁️ Cloud Security on Azure

Azure provides a broad set of built-in security capabilities and best practices to help you protect cloud workloads, data, identities, and networks. Below is a concise, practical overview you can use as a checklist or learning summary.

🔑 Core Principles

• Least privilege: Grant users and services only the permissions they need (use RBAC).
• Defense in depth: Multiple layers of protection—identity, network, platform, application, and data.
• Secure by default: Enable secure defaults (encryption, logging, network restrictions).
• Zero Trust: Verify explicitly, assume breach, apply least privilege and continuous validation.
• Shared responsibility: Microsoft secures the cloud infrastructure; you secure data, apps, and identity configuration.

🛡️ Key Azure Security Services (Short)

• Azure Active Directory (Azure AD): Identity and access management, single sign-on, conditional access, MFA.
• Microsoft Defender for Cloud: Security posture management, recommendations, and workload threat protection.
• Azure Sentinel: Cloud-native SIEM for threat detection, hunting, and automated response.
• Azure Key Vault: Central secure storage for secrets, keys, and certificates.
• Azure Firewall & Network Security Groups (NSGs): Network traffic control and policy enforcement.
• DDoS Protection: Protect public endpoints from volumetric attacks.
• Azure Policy & Blueprints: Enforce organizational rules and deploy compliant environments.
• Encryption: Platform-managed and customer-managed keys for data at rest and in transit.
• Azure Monitor & Log Analytics: Central logging, metrics, and alerting for security monitoring.

🔒 Identity & Access

• Use Azure AD for centralized identity; enable MFA and conditional access policies.
• Apply Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and avoid shared accounts.
• Use Privileged Identity Management (PIM) for just-in-time elevation for admin roles.

🌐 Network Security

• Segment networks with VNets and subnets; restrict traffic with NSGs.
• Protect perimeters with Azure Firewall and Application Gateway (WAF) for web apps.
• Use Private Endpoints to keep PaaS services off the public internet.
• Enable DDoS Protection Standard for public-facing resources.

🗄️ Data Protection

• Encrypt data at rest using Storage Service Encryption and Azure-managed or customer-managed keys in Key Vault.
• Use TLS for data in transit.
• Apply data classification, retention, and rights management where needed.

🧰 Threat Detection & Response

• Enable Microsoft Defender for Cloud to get security recommendations and vulnerability assessments.
• Collect logs (Activity Log, NSG flow logs, Diagnostics) into Log Analytics.
• Use Azure Sentinel for correlation, detection rules, playbooks, and incident investigation.

📋 Governance & Compliance

• Define and enforce rules using Azure Policy and deploy repeatable compliant environments with Blueprints.
• Use Compliance Manager and built-in Azure compliance offerings for standards (ISO, GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS).

✅ Secure DevOps Practices

• Integrate security checks in CI/CD: static code analysis, secret scanning, container scanning.
• Use Managed Identities for resource-to-resource authentication instead of embedded secrets.
• Store secrets in Key Vault and reference them from pipelines and apps.

📘 Example: Secure Web App Architecture (Short)

1. Host app in Azure App Service with Private Endpoint or in a subnet inside a VNet.
2. Authenticate users via Azure AD with MFA and conditional access.
3. Store secrets (DB connection strings, API keys) in Azure Key Vault.
4. Protect traffic with Application Gateway (WAF) and Azure Firewall.
5. Enable Defender for Cloud for recommendations and Sentinel for centralized detection and response.
6. Enforce organization policies via Azure Policy and use RBAC for least-privilege access.

📎 Quick Checklist

• Enable MFA and conditional access
• Use RBAC and PIM
• Encrypt data and use Key Vault
• Segment network, use NSGs/Firewall, private endpoints
• Enable Defender for Cloud, collect logs, and connect to Sentinel
• Automate policy enforcement with Azure Policy
• Integrate security into CI/CD and use managed identities