Welcome back to our Azure series! So far, we’ve discussed the importance of simplicity by design, and future-proofing through scalability. Now, in Part 3, we turn our attention to one of the most critical pillars of any cloud strategy: security.
The reality is that security threats are constantly evolving, growing more sophisticated and more frequent every day. As organisations transition to the cloud, however, many are finding themselves managing a patchwork of disparate security solutions – an approach that makes it challenging to identify and resolve threats, potentially leaving systems exposed.
Fortunately, Microsoft offers a full suite of powerful security tools that can be used to simplify management, reduce administrative overheads, and lower reliance on costly (and often incompatible) third-party solutions – all while enhancing your organisation’s overall security posture.
The catch is that understanding the options available, in context with industry best practices and your organisation’s individual requirements, and deploying them appropriately isn’t exactly a straightforward process. Security needs to be woven into every aspect of your cloud design, ensuring that your organisation’s assets are protected and your systems remain trusted. That takes a lot of intricate planning that relies heavily on having the right foundations in place.
Fortunately, commissioning new Azure services provides the perfect opportunity to implement those foundations, rethinking your security from the ground up to ensure your solutions are:
- resilient
- able to handle evolving threats
- part of a cohesive overall security strategy
Key areas of security to consider in Azure
Security in Azure is a complex and nuanced ecosystem, but these are the core areas you’ll need to focus on:
1. Governance and Controls
Establishing strong governance is fundamental to ensuring that cloud resources are used securely and in compliance with relevant regulations. This means creating and enforcing robust policies, procedures, and controls to manage cloud usage and mitigate risks.
A comprehensive governance framework should align with industry standards and regulatory requirements, helping your organisation maintain operational integrity and meet compliance obligations. Ideally, it should also provide clarity and control over your Azure environment. After all, governance isn’t just about compliance – it’s about ensuring that your systems work seamlessly and securely, with minimal disruption.
2. Data Management
In the cloud, data security is paramount. Organisations need to carefully plan how they migrate, store, and manage their data. Key aspects include ensuring that all data is encrypted both in transit and at rest, and that strong privacy controls are in place to comply with legislation such as GDPR.
It’s also good to remember that data management should protect and enhance your efficiency and performance as well as it protects your data. That’s a lot easier to achieve when encryption and privacy measures are embedded into the heart of your cloud infrastructure, ensuring that your data remains secure, accessible, and compliant with all relevant laws.
3. Identity and Access Management (IAM)
One of the most significant areas of vulnerability in any organisation is managing who has access to what. That makes robust Identity and Access Management (IAM) crucial for maintaining the security of your cloud resources.
By implementing Single Sign-On (SSO) and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), it’s possible to dramatically reduce the risk of unauthorised access. Just remember to review and update access permissions on a regular basis to maintain security over time.
4. Standards and Best Practices
In today’s rapidly changing threat landscape, adopting recognised cloud computing standards and implementing industry best practices is the most reliable way to ensure that your security measures are up to date and effective.
Don’t fall into the trap of believing this is a one and done project, however. Threats are constantly evolving, and so should your security posture. Aim for continuous improvement by regularly benchmarking your security against the latest standards, and staying informed about emerging threats and technologies.
Security as a constant priority
In today’s landscape, security cannot be an afterthought, which is why it’s embedded into every project and every stage of our design process at Cloud Essentials. Whether we’re migrating data for a tenant migration or advising a client on SharePoint administration, security is always front and centre.
The same goes for the design and implementation of your Azure services. We’ll always ensure that your systems are resilient, your data is protected, and that your organisation can face the future with full control and confidence.
In the next part of our series, we’ll explore how Cloud Essentials helps organisations optimise costs while ensuring their cloud solutions deliver maximum value. Stay tuned to learn how you can strike the perfect balance between performance and budget.
