So you’ve finally decided that the cloud is safer than corporate data centers and digital assets and you’ve chosen to migrate them to Azure- what now? Since Azure is uniquely designed to protect your assets minus the complexities that are stereotypically involved in doing so, there are a number of ways to customise your server so that it’s tailored to your data system needs. One of the many security advantages of the Cloud Era is shifting commodity responsibilities to your provider and adding security measures you can layer. As dandy as it is, the shared responsibility can be a double-edged sword if you don’t use and manage it wisely. At Fusion Professionals, we pride ourselves in helping our clients protect, organise and manage their data using cloud providers. Here are the top five security best practices for your server on Azure:
Classify Your Data Appropriately
Data Architects can help categorise your data appropriately. This helps you determine just how your users can access information on your server. Moreover, this provides a solid foundation for your organisations subsequent data security layers.
Having your data properly stored and classified allows for a better flow of information across your data infrastructure. Doing so also minimises the mishaps that may come with incidents of poor data management.
Store Your Keys and Secrets in the Azure Key Vault
Having important data means protection and protection entails password keys and management processes. So utilise the Azure Key Vault as it is designed specifically to help you safeguard cryptographic keys and secrets that cloud apps and services require to remain secure. While the Key Vault eases the processes of key management it still gives you the ability to determine and control who you allow access. This feature also lets you create groups of users that you can assign specific permissions and access. Aside from keys and secrets, you should also store your certificates in the Key Vault. This can also jeopardise your data security if put in the wrong hands.
Get a Web Application Firewall
The Web Application Firewall (WAF) centralises the protection of web applications from common security threats. This includes malicious attacks like SQL injection attacks and cross site scripting attacks. The firewall also makes security management simpler and assures administrators protection against intrusions. The WAF also reacts to a threat faster by patching a vulnerability at a central location as opposed to securing each application individually.
Set-up Multi-Factor Verification for Users
A commonly overlooked feature or layer of protection is the multi-factor verification method. As simple as it is, it’s one of the most foolproof methods of ensuring that you are granting access to the right person. Additional authentication methods protect organisations from users that are trying to breach your security measures. It is recommended that all administrators enforce this method as an airtight security measure.
Encrypt Your Virtual Hard Disk Files
One of the ingenious features of Azure is Azure Disk Encryption. This protects your boot volume and data volumes that are at rest in storage- along with your keys and secrets.
This lets you encrypt your Windows and Linux IaaS virtual machine disks. Moreover, it partners with the Key Vault, therefore giving you the ability to control and manage the keys that protect your disk encryption along with your secrets.
While it can be overwhelming to ensure your data infrastructure is secure and managed properly, Fusion Professionals are here to help you out and maximise the features of the leading Cloud Computing service by Microsoft and apply only the best practices to protect you and your organisation’s data.
Let us know your system needs and allow us to assist you in protecting your server the way you need it and the way it should be. Drop us a line and one of our experts here at Fusion Professionals will be more than happy to assist.
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