Approach 1: ‘Role-based access control’ (RBAC)
Often overlooked, ‘role-based access Control (RBAC) is a key part of the infrastructure security of Azure. It sets permissions based on user roles.
With many pre-defined roles and the ability to create custom ones, RBAC ensures that users can only access what they need. This helps enforce the ‘least privilege’ principle in your Azure environment.
Approach 2: ‘Privileged identity management’ (PIM) for timed access
Azure’s ‘Privileged identity management’ (PIM) is a service that controls access to vital resources. Instead of giving users permanent high-level access, it grants users temporary, sometimes approval based, privileges. This minimizes the risk of excessive permissions. Pim also has features that like mandatory approval for particular roles and keeps a track record for reviews or audits.
Approach 3: Stay compliant with ‘Azure policy’
Azure policy’ helps to ensure that your resources meet security standards, practices and regulatory needs. It lets administrators set rules for how resources are developed and managed. These rules check for compliance across the board. For example, if there is a rule against unencrypted storage accounts, Azure Policy will block its creation and record the attempt. It can also auto-apply certain settings, like encryption, to ensure compliance from the start.
Approach 4: Use ‘Secure score’
‘Secure score’ evaluates your resources for vulnerabilities and misconfigurations, then assigns a score based on these findings. A higher score means better security. Beyond just a rating, it offers suggestions to enhance your security. Also, it provides a numerical value that represents the security readiness of your Azure resources. Each recommendation shows the potential score increase, helping you to prioritize security tasks. Think of maintaining your ‘secure score’ as ongoing cycle management. We advise incorporating ‘Secure score’ into daily security practices for a quick security configuration.
Approach 5: Enable ‘Microsoft Defender’ for cloud
Enable ‘Microsoft Defender’ for cloud, to keep your infrastructure, solutions and data safe. Think of it as an vigiliant guard that continuously monitors your Azure environment.
- It identifies someone's attempt to breach your data or applications.
- It detects unusual login attempts or harmful code injections. If such activities are found, it alerts you with details for fixing the issue.
Approach 6: Build a landing zone
In the Azure environment, a 'landing zone' provides guidelines and settings for a secure workload deployment. It ensures that critical security features like RBAC, Azure Policy, and secure networking protocols are in place from the beginning. Thus, the landing zone helps prevent security misconfigurations, bolstering security from the outset.
These configurations stem from a set of best practices, which should be applied to every Azure deployment. We establish a blueprint or configuration package for each tenant and subscription by building a landing zone.
