Chapter 8: Implementing Host Security
The Azure cloud platform offers a broad range of computing services, including user-managed options such as Virtual Machines (VMs), Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSSes), and Windows Virtual Desktops (WVDs). User-managed compute options provide a greater level of flexibility when we host applications on them. This is because we can install any application or dependency that is needed since we have control of the operating system. This also means that we are responsible for securing the services from the operating system level and upward in the stack.
In this chapter, we will focus on the key security best practices that we can implement to protect user-managed computing resources in Azure. The following are the main topics that we will cover alongside this chapter's hands-on exercises:
- Using hardened baseline VM images
- Protecting VMs from viruses and malware
- Implementing system update management for VMs
- Implementing vulnerability...
