Automating Security on Azure

2 minute read | Last updated 11-Jul-2014 |  Cloud, Trend Micro

Originally posted on the Trend Micro blog.

If you’re moving your computing needs to Azure, security is probably one of your top concerns. I’ve written about this before , so I’ll assume you’ve already read it. If not, it’s worth taking a few minutes to get a grounding.

Operations

Once you’ve got a solid understanding of the security model in place on Azure, you can start moving over your computing workloads. While you’re doing that, you’re probably going to start to look at how you can optimize your operations to take advantage of the platform.

Your first stop should be a look at either Chef or Puppet . Either of these orchestration tools will help you automate your Azure deployment.

Start with the installation and configuration of your virtual machines, and then move on to patch management. Automating 100% of these activities is an achievable goal with significant returns.

Aren’t you forgetting something?

For most organizations, updating their security operations usually gets lost in the shuffle. That’s unfortunate because Azure has a lot of core functionality that can be used to update the way you run your security practice.

If you take advantage of this functionality, you can actually end up with a more secure deployment than in a traditional environment.

Automated response

The first place to start is your log stream. Every security tool out there can log at varying levels. Use these logs to create an event stream that you can monitor for security events, and then react using the Azure APIs to take immediate action.

That’s right, with minimal effort, you can start to automate your security response on Azure.

Want to know more?

I’ll be giving a breakout session at Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference on Tuesday, 15 July, 2014, from 10:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. It’s session CL751, “Automating Security on Azure With Trend Micro.”

In this session, I’m going to cover the foundations of security on Azure, as well as how to automate the deployment of your security tools and how to start automating your incident response process.

If you’re not at #WPC14, stay tuned to the blog. I’ll be posting the video of the session and the demo videos for the automation pieces. As always, you can comment below or talk to me on Twitter where I’m @marknca.