Azure Cloud Security – What You Need to Know
Azure Cloud Security Solutions
Microsoft provides multiple security solutions that are intended to provide multi-layer protection and help you safeguard your data, apps, and services. Let’s take a look at the most important of them.
- Azure Security Center – The Azure Security Center monitors networks, apps, and virtual machines across the cloud. It provides a Secure Score that enables you to view at a glance your overall cloud security score. At the same time, the Security Center provides advice and guidance based on security best practices to help you improve your score. The score and advice cover encryption, firewalls, updates, and sensitive information.The Security Center provides a quick bird’s eye view over your security in the Azure Cloud allowing you to spot major vulnerabilities quickly.What’s more, the Security Center also uses machine learning to identify potential threats to your cloud computing environment, including SQL or remote desktop protocol attacks.
- Application Security Services – These services provide development tools and solutions to help you secure the apps you create, including open-source apps. With Application Security Services, your IT development team can protect every layer of your app. You can also use these services to identify threats before you start building your app. In this way, you can ensure that the development process won’t be sidetracked by security vulnerabilities.
- Microsoft Cloud App Security – Microsoft Cloud App Security is a cloud access security broker that enables you to control the data travel flow across your cloud apps, including third-party apps. It also offers tools for spotting and dealing with cloud attacks. Some of the key features of the Microsoft Cloud App Security offering include automation capabilities, real-time protection, and native integrations.This solution makes it easier to monitor and control app security in one central location to save time. With it, you can manage remote work as well as access to resources.
- Azure Information Protection – Another useful security feature that Microsoft provides is Azure Information Protection. Through it, you can secure data such as documents and emails that you share outside your company. This solution classifies and protects documents and emails. It integrates with an on-premise scanner that can help your team save time while classifying documents in the office.
- Other Azure Cloud Security Products – Other Microsoft Cloud Security products that can further protect your data and cloud infrastructure include DDoS Protection services; Application Gateway, a built-in web app firewall; and Key Vault, which you can use to safeguard encryption keys.
Azure Cloud Security Summary
Microsoft provides a series of robust cloud security services and tools that can help you mitigate risks and deal with any attacks before they can disrupt your operations. However, it’s important to note that ultimately, cloud security is often a question of how well your security team configures your cloud infrastructure.
If you are using the Azure Cloud and other Microsoft cloud products like the Office 365 Suite, controlling and monitoring access to these, establishing security best practices, and training employees are important.
While any services delivered over the cloud carry some inherent risks, keeping your data in the Microsoft cloud can often be safer than storing it on-premise, especially when you consider that the cloud facilitates data backups and disaster recovery.
At the end of the day, you want to audit your Microsoft cloud security regularly and take a proactive approach to manage threats. That is the best way to keep your data and out of harm’s reach.