IT Directors Introduction to Microsoft Azure Security

Concerns about cloud security are not likely to diminish anytime soon, particularly in light of recent, widely published data breaches which, in fact, may or may not have been related to cloud infrastructure. Cloud security is subject to a number of misconceptions. Surveys have revealed that multi-tenant cloud services, where companies have restricted control over their data, gives rise to security concerns that result in as many as 40 percent of companies that are considering a cloud deployment to back away from it. This is despite a lack of evidence to link security problems to multi-tenancy.

Planning for Cloud

We have now arrived at a place in the cloud computing journey where it is fair to say that any difference in security risk severity relating to on premise applications and networks and their cloud equivalents, is likely to be minimal.  The CISO’s daily headaches resulting from mobility requirements, social media, bring-your-own-device and remote working, impact IT and its security measures regardless of the nature of the underlying infrastructure.

You need a plan in place to secure each application and technology area in your infrastructure, including servers, networks and cloud services. You should consider all usage scenarios, the criticality of the data and applications to business operations. This will help you assess the level of availability you need to accomplish and the likely impact of breaches on business operations, if they are not met.

Many companies now adopt a combined on-premise/cloud approach. This hybrid approach connects on-premise and cloud-based computing workloads, which not only offers a very effective way to handle different workloads, but also provides a range of options for keeping information and applications secure.

Security Cloud Infrastructure In Microsoft Azure

In Microsoft Azure robust security is built into the service and is managed through the Azure Security Centre. In the Azure Security Centre, you can control detection, prevention, and response to potential threats. It facilitates the implementation of  policy-driven security measures for all your Azure resources and subscriptions and provides an intuitive dashboard for all security-related management tasks.

If you want to include security data in your company MI, the Security Centre can also connect with Power BI to enable a practical understanding of threats, resource states, security recommendations, and other aspects of cloud security.

Many industry analysis give Microsoft Azure high praise for some of its security features. Azure Antimalware integrates real-time protection into the cloud infrastructure and you can review any malware events through Azure Diagnostics. You can also log and analyse them in HDInsight. For identity management Azure Active Directory facilitates sync with on premise instances of Active Directory. Premium version includes multi-factor authentication.

KRYPSYS and Microsoft Azure Security

If you have, or are considering deploying IT services in Microsoft Azure or combined on-premise and Azure, hybrid infrastructure, security will be important to you. Contact KRYPSYS to find out more about planning, deploying and monitoring security in Azure on [email protected]