Azure Security Best Practices

Securing your Azure environment is critical for protecting applications, data, and infrastructure. Below are actionable, modern best practices for DevOps Engineers and Cloud Architects, with real-life examples and automation snippets.

1. Centralized Security Management

• Use Microsoft Defender for Cloud for unified security posture management and threat protection.

• Example:

az security pricing create --name VirtualMachines --tier 'Standard'

2. Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

• Enable MFA for all users, especially privileged accounts.

• Example:

az ad user update --id [e-mail] --force-change-password-next-login true
# Enforce MFA via Conditional Access Policy in Azure Portal

3. Least-Privilege Access with RBAC

• Assign only the permissions required for each user/service.

• Example:

az role assignment create --assignee <user-or-group-id> --role "Reader" --scope /subscriptions/<sub-id>/resourceGroups/<rg>

• Best Practice: Use custom roles for fine-grained access.

4. Network Security

• Use Network Security Groups (NSGs) and Azure Firewall to restrict traffic.

• Example (Terraform):

resource "azurerm_network_security_group" "web" {
  name                = "nsg-web"
  location            = azurerm_resource_group.main.location
  resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.main.name
}

5. Secure Secrets and Keys

• Store all secrets, certificates, and keys in Azure Key Vault.

• Example:

az keyvault secret set --vault-name my-keyvault --name "DbPassword" --value "SuperSecret123"

6. Patch and Update Regularly

• Enable automatic OS and application updates for VMs and PaaS services.

• Example:

az vm update --name myvm --resource-group myrg --set osProfile.linuxConfiguration.patchSettings.patchMode=AutomaticByPlatform

7. Backup and Disaster Recovery

• Use Azure Backup and geo-redundant storage for critical data.

• Example:

az backup vault create --resource-group myrg --name mybackupvault --location westeurope

8. Identity Protection and Conditional Access

• Enable Azure AD Identity Protection and set up risk-based conditional access policies.

• Example:

• Configure via Azure Portal or with Microsoft Graph API

9. Monitor, Audit, and Alert

• Enable Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, and Security Center alerts.

• Example:

az monitor diagnostic-settings create --resource-id <resource-id> --workspace <log-analytics-id> --logs '[{"category": "AllLogs", "enabled": true}]'

10. Automate Security with Policy

• Use Azure Policy to enforce security standards (e.g., require tags, restrict locations, enforce encryption).

• Example:

az policy assignment create --policy "/providers/Microsoft.Authorization/policyDefinitions/audit-vm-managed-disks-encryption" --scope /subscriptions/<sub-id>

Common Pitfalls

• Over-permissioned accounts and service principals

• Storing secrets in code or pipelines

• Not enabling logging and alerting

• Manual patching and configuration

References

• Azure Security Best Practices

• Microsoft Defender for Cloud Docs

• Azure Policy Samples

Joke: Why did the Azure admin enable MFA? Because one factor just wasn’t secure enough!