Chapter 1: An Introduction to Azure Security
When cloud computing comes up in a conversation, security is, very often, the main topic. When data leaves local data centers, many wonder what happens to it. We are used to having complete control over everything, from physical servers, networks, and hypervisors, to applications and data. Then, all of a sudden, we are supposed to transfer much of that to someone else. It's natural to feel a little tension and distrust at the beginning, but, if we dig deep, we'll see that cloud computing can offer us more security than we could ever achieve on our own.
Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing service provided through Microsoft-managed data centers dispersed around the world. Azure data centers are built to top industry standards and comply with all the relevant certification authorities, such as ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and NIST SP 800-53, to name a couple. These standards guarantee that Microsoft Azure is built to provide security and reliability.
In this chapter, we'll learn about Azure security concepts and how security is structured in Microsoft Azure data centers, using the following topics:
- Exploring the shared responsibility model
- Physical security
- Azure network
- Azure infrastructure availability
- Azure infrastructure integrity
- Azure infrastructure monitoring
- Understanding Azure security foundations
