Microsoft Azure is amongst the top three cloud service providers. With cloud adoption come the risks of cyber threats, data breaches, and other security risks. No cloud platform is 100% safe, and there are many security issues with every platform. In this article, you will learn about the challenges of Azure cloud security and how you can meet them.
More Focus on Applications
Microsoft cloud platform is more focused on Azure applications than cloud infrastructure. You can see the communication is more focused on APIs and SaaS. The cloud platform does not offer information on how to migrate or build your cloud architecture.
- How to Resolve This?
Since Microsoft is more focused on its applications like Office 365, you can employ third-party security solutions to secure your cloud account. You can also improve the security of the cloud infrastructure through sandboxing Microsoft supports that.
Well-Known Characteristic Property
It is a known fact that Microsoft is a characteristic property. Many companies developing open-source tools are interested in working with Microsoft. This can create common security issues in a traditional environment.
- How to Address This?
You can use a containerized environment like Kubernetes on the Azure platform as it manages your hosted Kubernetes-containerized environment. It simplifies and fast tracks deployment of the containerized application on a cloud platform without worrying about orchestration.
More Prone to Malware Attack
Malware has always been a big concern for the Windows environment. This makes the Azure platform more vulnerable.
- How to Resolve This?
Microsoft is a development based organization, and it offers several security products. The company also has an anti-malware product that can be integrated with Azure Security Centre. You can also use other anti-malware products to resolve this issue.
Less Secure Ports
Azure offers less secure ports in comparison to leading cloud service providers. There is a specification in Azure Cloud Security Centre known as “Just in time.” This feature closes down the ports when the virtual machine is active. This seems like an added protective layer for your virtual devices. Also, it lessens the burden of the security operations center.
- How to Address This?
You can resolve this by using specific IP addresses that are used by authorized users. These ports provide you access for only a few hours. The availability of less secure ports boosts reliability in Azure security issues. You can also open a port to a virtual machine by creating a network filter on the subnet. The network filter uses standard TCP port 80.
Subject to Lots of Identity-Based Attacks
Cloud computing makes several changes to the traditional internal system management practices. Issues related to Identity Access Management are not new to cloud platforms. Microsoft has on-premise identity tools which are pushed heavily for use around Azure.
Organizations using other cloud platforms use an active directory from the cloud access security broker (CASB) tool to provide identity protection. Companies that use Azure have to use Microsoft’s identity tools for the whole company.
Attackers attempt to provision attacks against Azure by using an organization tenant ID and password across all sites. It is the main reason for Azure to experience more identity-based attacks on other cloud platforms.
How to Address This?
Companies can use separate authentication capabilities tools like CASB. The tool can work with Microsoft’s identity tools. It will put cloud administrators in a better position to correlate different types of access happening around the server at any given time.
You cannot deny the fact that Azure is a growing business for Microsoft. The cloud security challenges are not permanent, and a Microsoft Azure engineer is always working to keep your business safe from Azure security issues. To increase the security of your Azure cloud account, follow the best security practices, and you will see how it supports business growth.
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